"Right lads, now, I know there's not a faint heart among you, and I know you're as anxious as I am to get into close action. But we must bring them right up beside us before we spring this trap. That will test our nerve, and discipline will count just as much as courage. The Acheron is a tough nut to crack … more than twice our guns, more than twice our numbers, and they will sell their lives dearly. Topmen, your handling of the sheets to be lubberly and un-navy like. Until the signal calls, you're to spill the wind from our sails, this will bring us almost to a complete stop. Gun crews, you must run out and tie down in double quick time. With the rear wheels removed, you've gained elevation, but without recoil, there'll be no chance for re-load, so gun captains, that gives you one shot from the larboard battery … one shot only. You'll fire for her mainmast. Much will depend on your accuracy … however … even crippled, she will still be dangerous, like a wounded beast. Captain Howard and the marines will sweep their weather deck with swivel gun and musket fire from the tops. They'll try and even the odds for us before we board. They mean to take us as a prize. And we are worth more to them undamaged. Their greed … will be their downfall. England is under threat of invasion, and though we be on the far side of the world, this ship is our home. This ship is England. So it's every hand to his rope or gun, quick's the word and sharp's the action. After all, Surprise is on our side."

"For England, for home, and for the prize!"

"What is it with this man, did I kill a relative of his in battle perhaps? His boy, God forbid?"

"This is the second time he's done this to me. There will not be a third."

"What's the butcher's bill?"

"Name a shrub after me – something prickly and hard to eradicate."

"Men must be governed. Often not wisely, I will grant you, but they must be governed nonetheless."

"Look, these people... they have no jobs, no food, no education, no future. I just figure that you know, I mean, we have two things we can do. We can help, or we can sit back and watch a country destroy itself on CNN. Right?"

"Leave No Man Behind"

"When I go home, people ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do you do it, man? Why? You some kind of war junkie?" I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand it's about the men next to you... and that's it. That's all it is."

"Y'know what I think? Don't really matter what I think. Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all that shit just goes right out the window."

"Patrick Magee - Surgeon Major Reynolds"

"Richard Burton - Narrator"

"Paul Daneman - Sergeant Maxfield"

"Ulla Jacobsson - Margareta Witt"

"Gert Van den Burgh - Lt. Josef Adendorff"

"Ivor Emmanuel - Private Owen"

"Dennis Folbigge - Commissary Dalton"

"Dickie Owen - Corporal "Dutchy" Schiess"

"Denys Graham - Private Jones 716"

"Richard Davies - Private Jones 593"

"David Kernan - Private Fred Hitch"

"Peter Gill - Private Williams"

"Glynn Edwards - Corporal Allen"

"Nigel Green - Colour Sergeant Bourne"

"James Booth - Private Hook"

"Jack Hawkins - Reverend Otto Witt"

"Michael Caine - Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead"

"Stanley Baker - Lieutenant John Chard"

"These are the days and nights of fury and honor and courage and cowardice that an entire century of empire-making and film-making can never surpass!"

"The epic story of courage, honour and pride."

"The supreme spectacle that had to come thundering out of the most thrilling continent!"

"Dwarfing The Mightiest! Towering Over The Greatest!"

"What do you think? It's Mr. Flamin' Bromhead shooting flamin' defenseless animals for the flamin' officers' flamin' dinner."

"Right- nobody told you to stop workin'."

"A prayer's as good as a bayonet on a day like this."

"Volley by ranks! First rank, FIRE! Second rank, FIRE! Third rank, FIRE!"

"At one hundred yards, volley fire present! Aim! FIRE!"

"[At an extreme peak in the battle, Lieutenant Chard starts to buckle under the pressure and becomes unresponsive] Stay in the fight, man! We need you, damn it! We need you!"

"[Upon being told the rifles the Zulu are firing were taken from British soldiers] Well, that's a bitter pill, our own damn rifles!"

"Still, a chap ought to look smart in front of the men, don't you think?"

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Commander of the Armies of the North. General of the Felix Legions. Loyal servant to the true Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife – and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

"Djimon Hounsou – Juba"

"Ralf Moller – Hagen"

"At my signal, unleash hell."

"Derek Jacobi – Senator Gracchus"

"Richard Harris – Marcus Aurelius"

"Fratres! Three weeks from now I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line. Stay with me. If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled; for you are in Elysium, and you're already dead! [The soldiers laugh] Brothers, what we do in life, echoes in eternity."

"Oliver Reed – Proximo"