Terence StampQuotes

Squeak: I hate Claggert, for what, you don't realize — I hate him.

Billy Budd: You hate him?

Squeak: Yes, I do. Don't you?

Billy Budd: No.

Squeak: You don't? You must do!

Squeak: Hey, you know when you kept finding yourself on report? That was my doing — but I was only obeying orders — his orders — Claggerts.

Billy Budd: Claggerts? I thought it was you — out of spite.

Squeak: Me? I got no spite in me!

Billy Budd: In my ignorance, I could not guess the reason. I only knew the truth, and told it.

Claggert: The sea is calm you said. Peaceful. Calm above, but below a world of gliding monsters preying on their fellows. Murderers, all of them. Only the strongest teeth survive. And who's to tell me it's any different here on board, or yonder — on dry land? You knew my reputation, and yet you dared to speak what you called the truth. Why?

Billy Budd: I know some of the men are fearful of you, hate you. But I told them — you can't be as they think you are.

Claggert: Why not, pray?

Billy Budd: No man can take pleasure in cruelty.

Claggert: No? Tell me, do you fear the lash?

Billy Budd: [nods] Aye.

Claggert: And will you speak the truth again?

Billy Budd: I'm on my honor, sir. If the captain asks—

Claggert: [laughs grimly — and Budd joins in laughing] Why are you laughing boy?

Billy Budd: Laughter's good, sir. And it's good to hear you laugh.

Claggert: Laughter's good? Even the laughter of fools aimed at nothing?

Billy Budd: No, sir, you wouldn't laugh at nothing.

Claggert: What was I laughing at then?

Billy Budd: I don't know sir, but I think you were laughing at yourself.

Claggert: [puzzled and disturbed] Why would I laugh at myself?

Billy Budd: There's time when all men do — men as you would call men. They make mistakes and behave like fools.

Claggert: They do. Tell me in all ignorance do you dare understand me, then?

Billy Budd: [nods] I think so, sir.

Claggert: Why did Jenkins die?

Billy Budd: You did not wish his death.

Claggert: No, I did not.

Billy Budd: You didn't even hate him. I think that sometimes you hate yourself. I was thinking, sir, the nights are lonely. Perhaps I could talk with you between watches when you've nothing else to do.

Claggert: Lonely. What do you know of loneliness?

Billy Budd: Them's alone that want to be.

Claggert: Nights are long — conversation helps pass the time.

Billy Budd: Can I talk to you again, then? It would mean a lot to me.

Claggert: [his expression suddenly turns suspicious and sours] Perhaps to me, too. Oh, no. You would charm me too, huh? Get away.

Billy Budd: Sir?

Claggert: Get — away!

Billy Budd: Would it be alright if I stayed topside a little bit to watch the water?

Claggert: I suppose a handsome sailor may do many things forbidden to his mess-mates.

Billy Budd: Sea's calm tonight, i'nt it? Calm and peaceful.

Claggert: You've made a good impression on the captain, Billy Budd. You have a pleasant way with you.

Billy Budd: Oh, thank you sir.

Claggert: If you wish to make a good impression with me too however, you will need to curb your tongue.

Billy Budd: Now, sir?

Claggert: Not now. Can it be that you really don't understand my words? Is it ignorance or irony that makes you speak so simply?

Billy Budd: It must be ignorance, sir — because I don't understand the other word.

William O'Daniel: [After Jenkins' burial at sea] Well, that's the end of Enoch Jenkins. Over the side he goes and his mates soon forget him.

Alan Payne: They'll not forget him so soon, I'm thinking.

Dansker: Ah, whatever happened to Jenkins, he ain't worried now. He got a hundred fathoms between him and the troubles of his life.

Billy Budd: I'd rather be buried at sea than on the shore when I come to die. Will you stand by the plank, mates, so I can shake a friendly hand before I sink?

Billy Budd: [pauses to hold back from stuttering] It's wrong to flog a man. I … d…d… … It's against his being a man.

Jenkins: Aye! Aye, lad — it is that!

Dansker: Why do you stammer boy?

Billy Budd: Because I sometimes can't find the words … for what I feel.

Jenkins: [as Billy eats his first shipboard meal] Like it Billy? Taste good?

Billy Budd: It's hot and there's a lot of it. I like everything about it except the flavor.

Billy Budd: [after witnessing a flogging] What was his crime?

Dansker: God only knows young man.

Billy Budd: You mean you don't know what he did?

Dansker: Flogging. Its the only solution to every problem. I warrant even the culprit himself doesn't know. It was just his turn.

Captain Nathaniel Graveling: [[God] ] go with you, Billy Budd, for it's a fact that you go with God!

Billy Budd: [being pressed into service aboard the H.M.S. Avenger] : Right you are! Good-bye to you too ol Rights of Man!

Billy Budd: [[truth] There are many ways to lie, Mr. Claggert, but there is only one way to tell the ].

Freddie Clegg: I kept thinking perhaps it was my fault, after all, that she did what she did and lost my respect. Then I thought, no. It was her fault. She asked for everything she got. My only mistake was aiming too high. I ought to have seen I'd never get what I wanted from someone like Miranda with all her la-di-da ideas and clever tricks. I ought to have got someone who would respect me more. Someone ordinary. Someone I could teach.

Freddie Clegg: I suppose it was the loneliness... and being far away from anyplace that made me decide to buy the house. And after I did, I told myself I'll never go through with the plan — even though I'd made all the preparations ... and knew where she was every minute of the day.

Kit: [with head covered by a paper bag; [w:Laker Girls|Laker Girls; partly opens coat to show his naked body; Laker Girls laugh; scampers off] Hey, ]. It's not funny!

Terry Stricter: You realize all courts in the country would consider this blackmail!

Bobby Bowfinger: I don't know anything about blackmail. I'm just a guy with a great film. I need a shot of Kit saying, "Gotcha, suckers" and a couple of close-ups. Or we'll use a shot of Kit wagging his thing at the Laker Girls. Which is a great ending, though not such a good ending for Kit. It could sort of stop his money flow and possibly make that family film he's about to do, just go, pfft.

Stricter: We'll have to think about it. We'll have to think about it, for Kit.

Bowfinger: Now that you've had time to think about it, what do you and the other fellows here at MindF'ng Head think?

Terry Stricter: [parts bushes and sees the film crew] Well, it seems the paranoid are sometimes actually being followed.

Robert: This film is only for Madagascar and Iran. Neither of which follow American copyright law.

Wilson: They were together how long?

Ed: Five years, a long time.

Wilson: There you go. Jenny must have liked him.

Ed: Jenny would say, "Hey, here's my friend Eddie." He'd shake my hand and everything, but the guy wouldn't even see me, you know what I mean? Jenny told me she met him at a beach, got blinded by his smile. Can you believe that shit, man? That son of a bitch never smiled at me!

Wilson: [looking at view] Wow!

Ed: Yeah, if you can afford a house like this, you buy a house like this, you know?

Wilson: [peering over railing] What are we standing on?

Ed: [pause] Trust? You know, you could see the sea out there, if you could see it.

Wilson: Could ya?

Wilson: Can't be too careful nowadays, y'know? Lot of "tea leaves" about, know what I mean?

Warehouse Foreman: Excuse me?

Wilson: Tea leaves... thieves.

Wilson: How you doin then? All right, are you? Now look, squire, you're the guv'nor here, I can see that. I'm in your manor now. So there's no need to get your knickers in a twist. Whatever this bollocks is that's going down between you and that slag Valentine, it's got nothing to do with me. I couldn't care less. Alright, mate? Let me explain. When I was in prison - second time - uh, no, telling a lie, third stretch, yeah, third, third - there was this screw what really had it in for me, and that geezer was top of my list. Two years after I got sprung, I sees him in Holland Park. He's sittin on a bench feedin bloody pigeons. There was no-one about, I could've gone up behind him and snapped his fuckin neck, *wallop!* But I left it. I could've knobbled him, but I didn't. Cause what I thought I wanted wasn't what I wanted. What I thought I was thinkin about was something else. I didn't give a toss. It didn't matter, see? This berk on the bench wasn't worth my time. It meant sod-all in the end, cause you gotta make a choice: when to do something, and when to let it go. When it matters, and when it don't. Bide your time. That's what prison teaches you, if nothing else. Bide your time, and everything becomes clear, and you can act accordingly.

DEA Special Agent-In-Charge: There's one thing I don't understand. The thing I don't understand is every motherfuckin word you're saying.

Wilson: Bide your time and everything becomes clear, and you can act accordingly.

Wilson: You tell him, you tell him I'm coming. Tell him I'm fucking coming!

Stick: [[blind] Don't look for your opponent. Know where he is. I'm ], and I see more than any of you, because I don't look.

Siegfried: Who are you?

Max: My name is Nudnis Shpilkes. Who are you?

Siegfried: I am Siegfried.

Max: Did you say SIEGFRIEEEED?

Siegfried: Yes.

Max: I understand that you're the man to see if someone is interested in acquiring items of a nuclear nature.

Siegfried: How do I know you're not CONTROL?

Max: If I were CONTROL, you'd already be dead.

Siegfried: If you were CONTROL, you'd already be dead.

Max: Well, neither of us is dead, so I'm obviously not from CONTROL.

Shtarker: ...That actually makes sense.

David Norris: So you handle the important things? The last time I checked, the world is a pretty screwed-up place.

Thompson: It's still here. If we had left things in your hands, it wouldn't be.

David Norris: [[w:Free will|Free Will] What ever happened to ]?

Thompson: [[w:Roman Empire|Roman Empire; [w:Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages; [w:Renaissance|Renaissance; [w:Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment; [w:Scientific revolution|Scientific Revolution; [w:World War I|World War I; [w:Great Depression|Depression; [w:Fascism|Fascism; [w:The Holocaust|Holocaust; [w:Cuban missile crisis|Cuban Missile Crisis] We actually tried Free Will before. After taking you from hunting and gathering to the height of the ], we stepped back to see how you'd do on your own. You gave us the ] for five centuries... until finally we decided we should come back in. The Chairman thought maybe we just needed to do a better job of teaching you how to ride a bike before taking the training wheels off again. So we gave you the ], the ], the ]. For six hundred years, we taught you to control your impulses with reason, then in 1910, we stepped back. Within fifty years, you'd brought us ], the ], ], the ] and capped it off by bringing the entire planet to the brink of destruction in the ]. At that point, a decision was taken to step back in again before you did something that even we couldn't fix. You don't have free will, David. You have the appearance of free will...You have free will over which toothpaste you use or which beverage to order at lunch, but humanity just isn't mature enough to control the important things.

Ramsley: (last words) YES!!! I tried to protect you. All these years, I've sacrificed for you. But what would you understand of sacrifice, duty, or honor? You "loved" her. Well, damn you! Damn you all to HELL!!!

Ramsley: Now, for the last time, good night, Mr. Evers.

Ramsley: No, Mr. Evers, I am a rational man.

Ramsley: (about his job as a butler) Attending to every detail. Understanding priorities. And, above all, knowing one's place!

Ramsley: (to Jim) May I confide in you? The master is not well. He must leave this house, Mr. Evers, he must move on.

Ramsley: The storm has flooded the road. There will be no leaving the mansion tonight!

Ramsley: I am Ramsley.

Ursa: Come forward. Your General wishes to speak.

General Zod: I am General Zod. Your ruler. Yes, today begins a new order! Your lands, your possessions, your very lives will gladly be given in tribute to me, General Zod. In return for your obedience, you will enjoy my generous protection. In other words, you will be allowed to live.

General Zod: So you are a general too? And who is your superior?

Army General: I answer only to the President.

General Zod: And he will answer to me! Or all of his cities will end up like this one!

Ursa: Look! They need machines to fly!

General Zod: What bravery! Be nice to them, my dear. Blow them a kiss.

General Zod: I win! (now realizing the lack of resistance he is receiving) I always win. Is there no one on this planet to even challenge me?

General Zod: No! Who else is seeing this?

Reporter: Ah . . . well, with this satellite link up, uh . . . just about everybody. I mean, the whole planet!

General Zod: The whole planet Houston?

Reporter: Earth. The whole planet Earth.

General Zod: (satisfied with the man's answer) You may continue.

Reporter: As the extraordinary story continues . . . as this extraordinary st—

Ursa: (petulantly) Enough of this nonsense! If the whole planet is watching, can't we show them something more interesting?

Army Major: (via bullhorn) Throw down your arms and surrender! This is an order!

Ursa: General Zod does not take orders. He gives them.

Deputy Dwayne: I dunno, from the look of them I'll bet ten dollars they're from Los Angeles.

Sheriff: Hey, ya hippies! Get your butts off the road!

General Zod: I like the glow that flashes red like our Krypton sun. But not this irritating noise. Make way.

Sheriff: Did I hear right? That son of a bitch give me an order?!

Sheriff: Dwayne, you take care of him.

Dwayne: But I...

Sheriff: Dwayne, you gotta learn to kick ass, you wanna be a peacemaker.

General Zod: [''to Superman''] And now, finally- take my hand, swear eternal loyalty... to Zod.

General Zod: Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Zod!

General Zod: I see you are practiced in worshipping things that fly.

General Zod: [''referring to the President''] And he will answer to me! Or all of his cities shall end up like this one!

General Zod: I win! I always win. Is there no one on this planet to even challenge me?!

General Zod: [''after shooting himself, unharmed''] Crude noisemaker.

General Zod: I like the glow. It flashes red, like the Krypton sun. But not this disturbing noise. Make way!

General Zod: [[Houston] So this is planet ]. A very strange surface!

General Zod: The vote must be unanimous Jor-El. It has therefore now become your decision. You alone will condemn us if you wish... and you alone with be held responsible by me. You will bow down before me, Jor-El! I swear it! No matter that it takes an eternity! YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME! BOTH YOU AND THEN ONE DAY... YOUR HEIRS!

General Friedrich Fromm: [Silence] If you have any last messages to your wives and children, I will hear them now. Very well. A court martial convened by me in the Führer's absence will pronounce sentence. Beck, you're under arrest. Colonel Mertz von Quirnheim, General Olbricht, Lieutenant Haeften, and the Colonel whose name I will not mention, are condemned to death.

Major Otto Remer: General, my orders are to take these men alive.

Fromm: Noted, Major.

Ludwig Beck: [General Fromm and Haaefte looks at him suspiciously] I'd like a pistol please. For personal reasons.

Fromm: [Takes pistol to a nearby table] Get on with it.

Remer: With all respect sir-

Fromm: That will be all, Major!

General Friedrich Olbricht: Killing us won't hide your involvement.

Fromm: My involvement? I don't know what you're talking about.

Lieutenant Werner von Haeften: You knew and did nothing. You're as guilty as any of us.

Fromm: [Scoffing] Spare me, Lieutenant.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg: No one will be spared.

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg: Valkyrie.

General Friedrich Olbricht: We've already considered Valkyrie, it isn't suitable.

Maj Gen Henning von Tresckow: Not as it's currently written, but the colonel has an idea I think we should consider.

Dr. Carl Goerdeler: Excuse me, what is Valkyrie?

Ludwig Beck: [[w:Operation Valkyrie|Operation Valkyrie] ]. The Reserve Army has thousands of men all over Berlin. Valkyrie is Hitler's contingency plan to mobilize those men during a national emergency.

Tresckow: The sole purpose of the order is to protect Hitler's government if he's cut off or killed.

Goerdeler: And what use is this to us?

Stauffenberg: Valkyrie is designed to contain civil unrest, but what if the SS was staging a coup? State Security is trying to overthrow Hitler; how would High Command respond?

Olbricht: We'd have no choice, we would declare a military state of emergency.

Tresckow: Exactly, and initiate Valkyrie.

Stauffenberg: Hitler's own Reserve Army, using Hitler's own plan, will have no choice but to seize power in Berlin to prevent the SS takeover. They'll think they're fighting for Hitler's government, not against it.

Tresckow: While we quietly put a new government in place.

Goerdeler: But only if he's dead. That's what you're saying, isn't it? How else are you going to convince people the SS are trying to seize power?

Stauffenberg: We have to kill Hitler.

Goerdeler: I'm disappointed in you, Colonel. I thought a man of your background would suggest a more honorable approach.

Olbricht: Your plan has a few minor obstacles, Colonel. Firstly, Valkyrie would have to be rewritten to exclude the SS.

Stauffenberg: And I'll need your help to get a copy.

Beck: Rewriting an order is one thing, distributing it is another. In this case, we'd be willfully circulating written evidence of high treason.

Olbricht: Evidence requiring Hitler's signature.

Stauffenberg: Well, we can all draw straws for that job.

Olbricht: [[w:Friedrich Fromm|Fromm] And what about ]?

Goerdeler: Fromm, who is Fromm?

Beck: He's the commander of the Reserve Army.

Olbricht: I can put the Reserve troops on alert, but only Fromm can initiate Valkyrie.

Beck: Can you get to him?

Erwin von Witzleben: We're running out of time, can you get to Fromm?

Olbricht: He's a careerist pig.

Tresckow: But one who's gone as far as he can go in Hitler's army. It's no secret he's unhappy about it.

Beck: Offer him a key position in the new regime. Make him see the light.

Jor-El: [referring to Non; referring to Ursa] This is no fantasy, no careless product of wild imagination. No, my good friends. These indictments that I have brought you today, the specific charges listed herein against the individuals, their acts of treason, their ultimate aim of sedition, these are matters of undeniable fact. I ask you now to pronounce judgment on those accused. On this...this mindless aberration, whose only means of expression are wanton violence and destruction. On the woman Ursa, whose perversions and unreasoning hatred of all mankind have threatened even the children of the planet Krypton. Finally, General Zod. Once trusted by this Council, charged with maintaining the defense of the planet Krypton itself. Chief architect of this intended revolution and author of this insidious plot, to establish a "New Order" amongst us with himself as absolute ruler. You have heard the evidence. The decision of the Council will now be heard.

Council Member 1: Guilty!

Council Member 2: Guilty!

Council Member 3: Guilty!

Council Member 4: Guilty!

General Zod: [Jor-El signals the Phantom Zone; screaming with rage] The vote must be unanimous, Jor-El. It has therefore now become your decision. You alone will condemn us if you wish, and you alone will be held responsible by me. Join us. You have been known to disagree with the Council before. Yours could become an important voice in the new order, second only to my own! I offer you a chance for greatness, Jor-El! Take it! Join us! You will bow down before me, Jor-El! I swear it! No matter that it takes an eternity! YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME!! BOTH YOU, AND THEN ONE DAY, YOUR HEIRS!!!

Bernadette Bassenger: [to Felicia] It's funny. We all sit around mindlessly slagging off that vile stink-hole of a city. But in its own strange way, it takes care of us. I don't know if that ugly wall of suburbia's been put there to stop them getting in, or us getting out. Come on. Don't let it drag you down. Let it toughen you up. I can only fight because I've learnt to. Being a man one day and a woman the next isn't an easy thing to do.

Bernadette Bassenger: Believe me, Bob, these days gentlemen are an endangered species. Unlike bloody drag queens who just keep breeding like rabbits.

Bernadette Bassenger: [to Felicia] That's just what this country needs: a cock in a frock on a rock.

Bernadette Bassenger: [to Shirley] Now listen here, you mullet. Why don't you just light your tampon, and blow your box apart? Because it's the only bang you're ever gonna get, sweetheart!