"One man, my lord, would not endure such tyranny. That's why you hounded him. That's why you hate him, hate his friends. And that's why you're beaten. Fletcher Christian's still free. Christian lost, too, my lord. God knows he's judged himself more harshly than you could judge him. I say to his father, 'He was my friend. No finer man ever lived.' I don't try to justify his crime, his mutiny, but I condemn the tyranny that drove him to it. I don't speak here for myself alone or for these men you condemn. I speak in their names, in Fletcher Christian's name, for all men at sea. These men don't ask for comfort. They don't ask for safety. If they could speak to you they'd say, 'Let us choose to do our duty willingly, not the choice of a slave, but the choice of free Englishmen.' They ask only the freedom that England expects for every man. If one man among you believe that - one man - he could command the fleets of England. He could sweep the seas for England. If he called his men to their duty not by flaying their backs, but by lifting their hearts, their... That's all."

"My lord, much as I desire to live, I'm not afraid to die. Since I first sailed on the Bounty over four years ago, I've known how men can be made to suffer worse things than death, cruelly, beyond duty, beyond necessity. Captain Bligh, you've told your story of mutiny on the Bounty, how men plotted against you, seized your ship, cast you adrift in an open boat, a great venture in science brought to nothing, two British ships lost. But there's another story, Captain Bligh, of ten cocoanuts and two cheeses. A story of a man who robbed his seamen, cursed them, flogged them, not to punish but to break their spirit. A story of greed and tyranny, and of anger against it, of what it cost."

"To the voyage of the Bounty. Still waters of the great golden sea. Flying fish like streaks of silver, and mermaids that sing in the night. The Southern Cross and all the stars on the other side of the world."

"[to Bligh]You have obtained degrees from the Navy, but you have not got our admiration"

"[to Byam] When you're back in England with the fleet again, you'll hear the hue and cry against me. From now on, they'll spell mutiny with my name. I regret that."

"[to Bligh] I'll take my chance against the law. You'll take yours against the sea."

"[to Bligh] Now you've given your last command on this ship. We'll be men again if we hang for it."

"[about Bligh] I've never known a better seaman, but as a man, he's a snake. He doesn't punish for discipline. He likes to see men crawl. Sometimes, I'd like to push his poison down his own throat."

"Can you understand this, Mr. Byam? Discipline is the thing. A seaman's a seaman. A captain's a captain. And a midshipman, Sir Joseph or no Sir Joseph, is the lowest form of animal life in the British Navy."

"[to a crewman who begs for water] I'll give you water. Mr. Morrison. Keel haul this man."

"During the recent heavy weather, I've had the opportunity to watch all of you at work on deck and aloft. You don't know wood from canvas! And it seems you don't want to learn! Well, I'll have to give you a lesson."

"Jena Malone - Becky Pollard"

"Clyde Kusatsu - Judge"

"Ron Canada - Elden"

"Troy Winbush - Dave"

"Wesley Jonathan - Bengel"

"Michael Peña - Guillermo"

"Kerry Washington - Ayesha"

"Matt Malloy - Charlie"

"Michael Welch - Ryan Pollard"

"Ann Magnuson - Karen Pollard"

"Martin Donovan - Harry Pollard"

"Michelle Williams - Julie Pollard"

"Sherilyn Fenn - Angela Calderon"

"Kevin Spacey - Albert T. Fitzgerald"

"Lena Olin - Marybeth Fitzgerald"

"Chris Klein - Allen Harris"

"Don Cheadle - Pearl Madison"

"Ryan Gosling - Leland P. Fitzgerald"

"Bengel: You ever think the whole thing doesn't make sense? I mean, they take all this stuff away from you; freedom, girls and sunshine - because it's supposed to make it so when you get back on the outs you never wanna screw up again. All that really does is get you to thinking that you're... just so small. You know? Like you're this... this small thing that doesn't matter for anything. And by the time you do get out - you don't even feel like a human person anymore."

"Pearl Madison: Love is when you can't get somebody out of your mind. When they are your first thought in the morning and your last thought at night. Maybe it's not in your heart but it is in your head."

"Pearl Madison: Just because what you did was wrong doesnt mean that giving up on your life is right."

"Mrs. Calderon: You have to believe that life is more than the sum of its parts, kiddo."

"Albert T. Fitzgerald: I recall when our lives were unusual and electric. When we burned with something close to fire. But now we sway to a different rhythm. Lives lived without meaning or even directed hope. The passage of time measured only by loss. Loss of a job, loss of a minivan...a son."

"The worst part is knowing that there is goodness in people. Mostly it stays deep down and buried. Maybe we don't have god because we're scared of the bad stuff. Maybe we're really scared of the good stuff. Because if there is no god, then that means it's inside of us and we can be good all the time if we wanted. So when we do bad things maybe it's because we want to, or because we have to. Or maybe we just need the bad stuff to remind us what the good stuff is in the first place."

"It covers my eyes. It's all I can see. Say there's some kids playing baseball. All I see is the one kid they won't let play because he tells corny jokes and no one thinks they're funny. Or I see a boy and a girl in love and kissing, you know. I just see that they're gonna be one of those sad old couples one day who just cheats on each other and can't even look each other in the eye. And I feel it. I feel all of their sadness. I feel it probably worse than that sad old couple or that corny kid will ever feel it."

"And that's when I figured out that tears couldn't make somebody who was dead, alive again. There's another thing to learn about tears: they can't make somebody who doesn't love you anymore love you again. It's the same with prayers. I wonder how much of their lives people waste crying and praying to God. If you ask me, the devil makes more sense than God does. I can at least see why people would want him around. It's good to have somebody to blame for the bad stuff they do. Maybe God's there because people get scared of all the bad stuff they do. They figure that God and the Devil are always playing this game of tug-of-war with them. And they never know which side they're gonna wind up on. I guess that tug-of-war idea explains how sometimes, even when people try to do something good, it still turns out bad."

"I think there are two ways you can see the world. You either see the sadness that's behind everything or you choose to keep it all out. Your heart can't break if you don't let the world touch it."

"You want a why. Well, maybe there isn't one. Maybe...maybe this is just something that happened."

"I know what they want from me. They want a reason. Something to tie up with a little bow and bury in the backyard. Bury it down so deep it's like it never happened. They want me to say how I'm so sorry, and it was my mom's fault. Or maybe it was my dad's fault. Or it happened because of TV or movies or some junk like that. Or maybe I blame some girl."

"This one is something a friend of mine said to me. "You have to believe that life is more than the sum of its parts, kiddo." I remember it right now to the "kiddo" part. But when I think about what she said, the same thing always comes into my head. What if you can't put the pieces together in the first place?"

"When I say I don't remember that day, I'm not lying. Wish I did, but I just don't. Sometimes the most important stuff goes away. Goes away so bad, it's like it was never there to begin with. It's funny the stuff that sticks in your head. I could tell you forward and backward about one day when I was five, and my dad bought me a stupid ice cream cone. I could tell you the flavor of the ice cream. It was pink bubblegum. Even stuff about the girl who scooped it out. Her hair was fire red. All that stuff is there like it was happening right now, but I don't remember that day."

"[to Taylor] You are right, I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself."