"It seems Donna Bastiana is a kind of animal. She can't read, write, or tell time. She can barely talk. She's even incapable of loving her own daughter. Good for bed, and that's all. But what can you expect? You know whose daughter she is? She's the daughter of one of your peasants from Runci. His name was Peppe Giunta. He was so filthy and savage that everyone called him Peppe Cowshit."

"We're not blind in spirit, Father. We're just human beings in a changing world."

"Yes, love, of course! Fire and flames for a year, ashes for thirty. I too know what love is."

"Things will have to change in order that they remain the same."

"[to Father Pirrone] You're used to naked souls. You should know that naked bodies are far more innocent."

"I belong to an unlucky generation, astride between two worlds and ill-at-ease in both. And what is more, I am completely without illusions. Now, what would the Senate do with me, an inexperienced legislator who lacks the faculty for self-deception, an essential requisite for wanting to guide others. No, I cannot lift a finger in politics. It would be bitten off."

"You know what is happening in our country? Nothing... simply an imperceptible replacement of one class for another. The middle class doesn't want to destroy us. It simply wants to take our place... and very gently."

"[of the Sicilians] They never want to improve. They think themselves perfect. Their vanity is greater than their misery."

"Sleep, my dear Chevalley, eternal sleep, that is what Sicilians want. And they will always resent anyone who tries to awaken them, even to bring them the most wonderful of gifts. And, between ourselves, I doubt very strongly whether this new Kingdom has very many gifts for us in its luggage. All Sicilian expression, even the most violent, is really a wish for death. Our sensuality, wish for oblivion. Our knifings and shootings, a hankering after extinction. Our laziness, our spiced and drugged sherbets, a desire for voluptuous immobility, that is... for death again."

"We were the leopards, the lions, those who take our place will be jackals and sheep, and the whole lot of us - leopards, lions, jackals and sheep - will continue to think ourselves the salt of the earth."

"Why should I kill myself worrying when I'll end up just as dead?"

"Your mother and her prayers can't help us."

"I've been cursed since the day I was born."

"Carlo Jachino - a Beggar"

"Elena Altieri - the Charitable Lady"

"Giulio Chiari - a Beggar"

"Vittorio Antonucci - Bicycle thief"

"You live and you suffer."

"Ida Bracci Dorati - La Santona"

"Gino Saltamerenda - Baiocco, Antonio's friend who helps search"

"Lianella Carell - Maria Ricci, Antonio's wife"

"Enzo Staiola - Bruno Ricci, Antonio's son"

"Lamberto Maggiorani - Antonio Ricci"

"The Beggar: I mind my own business, I bother nobody, and what do I get? Trouble."

"There's a cure for everything except death."

"[to Bruno] Do you fancy a pizza? Come on, then! Come on, let's go! What the hell. We might as well go out in style. What's the point in worrying about it all?"

"Terence Alexander - Lieutenant-General Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge"

"Jack Hawkins - Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton"

"Virginia McKenna - Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond"

"Dan O'Herlihy - Marshal Michel Ney"

"Rupert Davies - Colonel Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon"

"Philippe Forquet - Brigadier-General Charles de la Bédoyère"

"Gianni Garko - Major-General Antoine Drouot"

"Ivo Garrani - Marshal Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult"

"Ian Ogilvy - Colonel Sir William Howe DeLancey"

"Michael Wilding - Major-General The Honourable Sir William Ponsonby"

"Sergo Zakariadze - Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt"

"Andrea Checchi - Soldier of the Old Guard"

"Donal Donnelly - Corporal O'Connor (as Donald Donnelly)"

"Charles Millot - Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy"

"Yevgeny Samoylov - Brigadier-General Pierre Cambronne"

"Oleg Vidov - Tomlinson"

"Charles Borromel - Mulholland"

"Peter Davies - Ensign James Hay, Lord Hay"

"Veronica De Laurentiis - Magdalene DeLancey"

"Vladimir Druzhnikov - Gerard"

"Willoughby Gray - Ramsey"

"Roger Green - Duncan"

"Orso Maria Guerrini - Officer"

"Richard Heffer - Mercer"