"Brothers, sisters, comrades, I am here because I believe you have made a decision with insufficient information and foresight. I am aware of your earlier vote. I am aware that it was unanimous. Nonetheless, I believe we should restore the Springboks. Restore their name, their emblem and their colors, immediately. Let me tell you why. On Robben Island, in Pollsmoor Prison, all of my jailers were Afrikaners. For 27 years, I studied them. I learned their language, read their books, their poetry. I had to know my enemy before I could prevail against him. And we did prevail, did we not? All of us here … we prevailed. Our enemy is no longer the Afrikaner. They are our fellow South Africans, our partners in democracy. And they treasure Springbok rugby. If we take that away, we lose them. We prove that we are what they feared we would be. We have to be better than that. We have to surprise them with compassion, with restraint, and generosity. I know. All of the things they denied us. But this is no time to celebrate petty revenge. This is the time to build our nation using every single brick available to us – even if that brick comes wrapped in green and gold. You elected me your leader. Let me lead you now."

"You criticize without understanding. You seek only to address your own personal feelings. That is selfish thinking, Zindzi. It does not serve the nation."

"Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon."

"However much we stumble, it is a teacher's burden always to hope, that with learning, a boy's character might be changed. And, so, the destiny of a man."

"The worth of a life is not determined by a single failure or a solitary success."

"According to Heraclitus, we cannot step into the same river twice. To put it another way, an opportunity lost stays lost forever. While I agree with the spirit of that saying, I have found that the world does allow for some second chances. When Elizabeth's marriage had ended and she returned from England, the waters were still as swimmingly lovely as when we first met. But if time made concessions for love, it made none for death. And when the school's beloved headmaster, Terrence Woodbridge, passed away, I found a sense of profound sorrow. Although the Sedgewick Bell affair tested our friendship, he had been, for a half a century, the academic and moral compass of our school. A role, that was now mine to fulfill."

"As I've gotten older, I realize I'm certain of only two things. Days that begin with rowing on a lake are better than days that do not. Second, a man's character is his fate. And as a student of history, I find this hard to refute. For most of us our stories can be written long before we die. There are exceptions among the great men of history, but they are rare, and I am not one of them. I am a teacher - simply that. I taught for 34 years. One day I stopped teaching. Those were the facts of my life's chronicle. The last chapter had been written. My book was closed."

"Caitlin O'Heaney - Mrs. Woodbridge"

"Rishi Mehta - Deepak Mehta"

"Jesse Eisenberg - Louis Masoudi"

"Paul Dano - Martin Blythe"

"Harris Yulin - Senator Hiram Bell"

"Edward Herrmann - Headmaster Woodbridge"

"Rob Morrow - James Ellerby"

"Embeth Davidtz - Elizabeth"

"Emile Hirsch - Sedgewick Bell"

"Kevin Kline - William Hundert"

"Older Deepak Mehta: A great teacher has little external history to record. His life goes over into other lives. These men are pillars in the intimate structure of our schools. They are more essential than its stones or beams, and they will continue to be a kindling force and a revealing power in our lives."

"I'm a teacher, Sedgewick. And I failed you - as a teacher. But I will give you one last lecture, if I may. All of us, at some point, are forced to look at ourselves in the mirror, and see who we really are. And when that day comes for you, Sedgewick, you will be confronted with a life lived without virtue, without principle. And for that I pity you. End of lesson."

"Great ambition and conquest without contribution is without significance. What will your contribution be? How will history remember you?"

"For me, it was an instrumental movie. I was younger then, but that movie made me write a lot as a poet, and it was absolutely accurate. It was a very sobering experience to watch this movie."

"Joe Regalbuto — Frank Teruggi"

"Jerry Hardin — Colonel Sean Patrick"

"Richard Venture — U. S. Ambassador"

"David Clennon — Consul Phil Putnam"

"Charles Cioffi — Captain Ray Tower, USN"

"John Shea — Charles Horman"

"Melanie Mayron — Terry Simon"

"Sissy Spacek — Beth Horman"

"Jack Lemmon — Edmund Horman"

"If he falls behind the power curve and something happens, then it's adiós. You gotta stay ahead of the power curve, kid."

"[voiceover] Ed Horman filed suit charging eleven government officials, including Henry A. Kissinger, with complicity and negligence in the death of his son. The body was not returned home until seven months later, making an accurate autopsy impossible. After years of litigation, the information necessary to prove or disprove complicity remained classified as secrets of state. The suit was dismissed."