The Night of the Generals - The Paradox of Morality in Warfare
Lt. Colonel Grau:
One of them is a... a murderer.
Inspector Morand:
Only one? But murder is the occupation of generals.
Lt. Colonel Grau:
Then let's say that what is admirable on the large scale is monstrous on the small. Since we must give medals to mass murderers, let us try to give justice to the small... entrepreneurs.
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The Night of the Generals - A Colonel's Unexpected Entrance
Inspector Morand:
Welcome, Colonel Grau, to the spider's web.
Major Grau:
How did you know it was me?
Inspector Morand:
What other German Colonel would enter unannounced?
Major Grau:
Any SS Colonel would.
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Cinema Paradiso - The Burden of Film Projection
Alfredo:
Now listen. I got into this business at age ten. Back then, we didn't have fancy machines. Movies were silent. You turned the projector by hand with a crank. All the livelong day! And that damn crank was so hard. If you got tired and slowed down a bit, like a shot - voom - everything went up in flames.
Salvatore:
So why not teach me? Now that there's no crank and it's easier.
Alfredo:
Because I don't want to. This is no job for you. You're like a slave - and always by yourself. You see a film 100 times. You've nothing else to do. You talk to Greta Garbo and Tyrone Power like an idiot. You work like a dog. Even holidays - Easter, Christmas. You only get Good Friday off. And if they hadn't stuck Christ on a cross we'd even work then.
Salvatore:
So why don't you change jobs?
Alfredo:
Because I'm a nitwit. Who else around here could run a projector? Nobody. It takes an imbecile like me. I never had any luck
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Cinema Paradiso - Life's Reality Beyond Movie Illusions
Alfredo:
Living here day by day, you think it's the center of the world. You believe nothing will ever change. Then you leave: a year, two years. When you come back, everything's changed. The thread's broken. What you came to find isn't there. What was yours is gone. You have to go away for a long time... many years... before you can come back and find your people. The land where you were born. But now, no. It's not possible. Right now you're blinder than I am.
Salvatore:
Who said that? Gary Cooper? James Stewart? Henry Fonda? Eh?
Alfredo:
No, Toto. Nobody said it. This time it's all me. Life isn't like in the movies. Life... is much harder.
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Cinema Paradiso - A Farewell to the Past
Alfredo:
Get out of here! Go back to Rome. You're young and the world is yours. I'm old. I don't want to hear you talk anymore. I want to hear others talking about you. Don't come back. Don't think about us. Don't look back. Don't write. Don't give in to nostalgia. Forget us all. If you do and you come back, don't come see me. I won't let you in my house. Understand?
Salvatore:
Thank you. For everything you've done for me.
Alfredo:
Whatever you end up doing, love it. The way you loved the projection booth when you were a little squirt
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Cinema Paradiso - The Timeliness of Progress
Alfredo:
Progress always comes too late.
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The Postman - The Ownership of Poetry and Love
Mario Ruoppolo:
My dear poet and comrade, you got me into this mess, you've got to get me out of it. You gave me books to read, you taught me to use my tongue for more than licking stamps. It's your fault if I'm in love.
Pablo Neruda:
No, this has nothing to do with me. I gave you my books but I didn't authorize you to steal my poems. If you think you gave Beatrice the poem I wrote for Matilde--
Mario Ruoppolo:
Poetry doesn't belong to those who write it, but those who need it.
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The Postman - Reflections on Poetry and Emotion
Pablo Neruda: [after reading a poem]
What do you think?
Mario Ruoppolo:
It's weird.
Pablo Neruda:
What do you mean, weird? You're a severe critic.
Mario Ruoppolo:
No, not your poem. Weird... Weird... how I felt while you were saying it.
Pablo Neruda:
How was that?
Mario Ruoppolo:
I don't know. The words went back and forth.
Pablo Neruda:
Like the sea then?
Mario Ruoppolo:
Exactly. Like the sea.
Pablo Neruda:
There, that's the rhythm.
Mario Ruoppolo:
I felt seasick, in fact.
Pablo Neruda:
Because...
Mario Ruoppolo:
I can't explain it. I felt like...like a boat tossing around on those words.
Pablo Neruda:
Like a boat tossing around on my words? Do you know what you've done, Mario?
Mario Ruoppolo:
No, what?
Pablo Neruda:
You've invented a metaphor. Yes, you have!
Mario Ruoppolo:
Really? But it doesn't count because I didn't mean to.
Pablo Neruda:
Meaning to is not important. Images arise spontaneously.
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The Postman - The Dangers of Overexposure to Ideas
Pablo Neruda:
Even the most sublime ideas sound ridiculous if heard too often.
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The Postman - The Essence of Poetry and Experience
Pablo Neruda:
When you explain poetry, it becomes banal. Better than any explanation is the experience of feelings that poetry can reveal to a nature open enough to understand it.
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The Postman - The Nature of Human Engagement with Complexity
Pablo Neruda:
Man has no business with the simplicity or complexity of things.
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