"At night I see their faces: all the men I've killed. They're standing there on the far bank of the river Styx, waiting for me. They say "Welcome, brother.""

"[to Briseis] I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now, and we will never be here again."

"It's too early in the day for killing princes."

"[after Hector challenges him] Why kill you now, Prince of Troy, with no one here to see you fall?"

"[to his soldiers] Myrmidons! My brothers of the sword! I would rather fight beside you than any army of thousands! Let no man forget how menacing we are! We are lions! Do you know what's there, waiting beyond that beach? Immortality! Take it! It's yours!"

"Imagine a king who fights his own battles. Wouldn't that be a sight?"

"That's why no one will remember your name. [To the messenger boy who wouldn't want to fight Boagrius]"

"[in his journal while imprisoned] The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angkar are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive."

"Joanna Merlin - Schanberg's Sister"

"Nell Campbell - Beth"

"Patrick Malahide - Morgan"

"Graham Kennedy - Dougal"

"Athol Fugard - Dr. Sundesval"

"Bill Paterson - Dr. MacEntire"

"Spalding Gray - United States consul"

"Craig T. Nelson - Major Reeves, Military Attache"

"Julian Sands - Jon Swain"

"John Malkovich - Alan 'Al' Rockoff, Photographer"

"Haing S. Ngor - Dith Pran"

"Sam Waterston - Sydney Schanberg"

"Not Sydney Schanberg: Well, it's just too goddamn late, Alan, this country's split apart. We put this ship to sea and it breaks my heart not to help it back to a port, any port."

"I know Sid but what can we do? It could be a bloodbath here. Look, excuse the pun but we're either staying or we're living."

"[reading] Dear sir, My family and I are planning a touring vacation of southeast Asia and anticipate, uh 2 weeks in Cambodia touring the country. Would you please send tour information and brochures? Thanking you in advance, Wendal Payne. Wendal lives in Wisacky, South Carolina."

"What pisses me off is that this country has a lot of faults and a lot of strengths and we have done nothing but play to the faults. I'll tell you Sid I will be damned glad to get out of here. This thing has dragged on too long for it to end in all sweetness and light and after what the Khmer Rouge have been through I don't think they're going to be exactly affectionate toward westerners."

"Anything I eat's gotta be absolutely dead. That is why I can never eat an oyster. I read somewhere that they put that lemon juice on them just to stun them. What's the difference?"

"I can't eat eggs, someone told me they shrink with fright when you cook them."

"They brought in the whole fucking press corps. They want to sanitize the story. Bastards!"

"We must be like the ox, and have no thought, except for the Party. And have no love, but for the Angkar. People starve, but we must not grow food. We must honor the comrade children, whose minds are not corrupted by the past."

"Simon Graham [opening narration]: They say Japan was made by a sword. They say the old gods dipped a coral blade into the ocean, and when they pulled it out four perfect drops fell back into the sea, and those drops became the islands of Japan. I say, Japan was made by a handful of brave men. Warriors, willing to give their lives for what seems to have become a forgotten word: honor."

"Billy Connolly - Zebulon Gant"

"- the Silent Samurai ("Bob")"

"- Simon Graham"

"- Nobutada"

"- Emperor Meiji"

"- Colonel Bagley"

"- Katsumoto"

"Tom Cruise - Nathan Algren"

"Simon Graham [closing narration]: And so the days of the Samurai had ended. Nations, like men, it is sometimes said, have their own destiny. As for the American Captain, no one knows what became of him. Some say that he died of his wounds. Others, that he returned to his own country. But I like to think he may have at last found some small measure of peace, that we all seek, and few of us ever find."

"Colonel Bagley: [to Algren] Just tell me one thing. What is it about your own people that you hate so much?"

"[narrating] Spring, 1877. This marks the longest I've stayed in one place since I left the farm at 17. There is so much here I will never understand. I've never been a church going man, and what I've seen on the field of battle has led me to question God's purpose. But there is indeed something spiritual in this place. And though it may forever be obscure to me, I cannot but be aware of its power. I do know that it is here that I've known my first untroubled sleep in many years."

"Imagine someone who hates you with the utmost intensity grabbing a handful of your hair while you're lying prostrate and helpless. Then scraping the dull blade of a rusty knife across you scalp. And let your imagination grasp if you can, Mr. Graham, the effect that a strong, quick jerk on the turf of your hair to release any clinging particles would have on your nervous system."

"Do you not know that in the service … one must always choose the lesser of two weevils?"

"Paul Bettany – Stephen Maturin"

"Russell Crowe – Jack Aubrey"

"[Is drunk and is insulting Hollom by bringing the "Jonah theory" out into the open] It's like Killick says. Mornin' o' the battle, 'e doesn't 'ave the guts to beat to quarters. Then 'is entire gun crew's killed, 'cept for 'im. Momen' 'e goes up the mizzen, Will falls. And whose watch was it when we lost our wind?"

"[After amputating Blakeney's arm] I've never seen a braver patient."

"You know, I'm very sympathetic of mutineers – men pressed from their homes, their chosen occupations …"

"[Quoting Alexander Pope] He who would pun would pick a pocket, sir."

"We do not have time for your damned hobbies, sir!"