"Four years ago, something terrible happened here. We did nothing about it. Nothing! The whole town fell into a sort of settled melancholy, and all the people in it closed their eyes, and held their tongues, and failed the test with a whimper. And now something terrible's going to happen again. And, in a way, we're lucky because we've been given a second chance."

"I was just wondering what all you people are worrying about...Not that I have the slightest idea...I hold no truck with silence. I've got nothing to hide...It's just that you worry about the stranger only if you look at him from a certain aspect. From my perspective, I look upon him with the innocence of a fresh-laid egg."

"The lovin'est musical in many a moon!"

"Ellen Corby - Miss Mary Stevens"

"Mary Wickes - Stella"

"Rosemary DeCamp - Alice Winfield"

"Leon Ames - George Winfield"

"Jack Smith - Hubert Wakely"

"Billy Gray - Wesley Winfield"

"Gordon MacRae - William Sherman"

"A happy screenful of sun-kissed melody and kiss-by-moonlight romance."

"Doris Day - Marjorie Winfield"

"Put on your straw boater and cuddle up a little closer."

"With those moonlight bay-bees and bay-eautiful songs!"

"I hate the British! You are defeated, but you have no shame. You are stubborn, but have no pride. You endure, but you have no courage. I hate the British!"

"Keiichiro Katsumoto - Lt. Miura"

"Heihachiro Okawa - Capt. Kanematsu"

"Ann Sears - Nurse at Siamese hospital"

"Geoffrey Horne - Lt. Joyce"

"James Donald - Maj. Clipton"

"Sessue Hayakawa - Col. Saito"

"Jack Hawkins - Maj. Warden"

"William Holden - Cmdr. Shears"

"Alec Guinness - Col.Nicloson"

"Is this your soldier's code? Murdering unarmed men?"

"The fact is, what we're doing could be construed as, forgive me sir, collaboration with the enemy. Perhaps even as treasonable activity...Must we work so well? Must we build them a better bridge than they could have built for themselves?"

"[after Nicholson objects to the above speech by trying to point out what the Geneva Convention specifies] You speak to me of code? What code?! The Coward's Code! What do you know of the Soldier's Code? Of Bushido? Nothing! You are unworthy of command!"

"Attention, English prisoners! Notice I do not say "English soldiers". From the moment you surrendered, you ceased to be soldiers. You will finish the bridge by the twelfth day of May. You will work under the direction of a Japanese engineer, Lieutenant Miura. Time is short. All men will work. Your officers will work beside you. This is only just. For it is they who betray you by surrender. Your shame is their dishonour. It is they who told you: 'Better to live like a coolie than die like a hero.' It is they who brought you here, not I. Therefore, they will join you in useful labour. That is all."

"[speaking to Nicholson for the first time] I am Colonel Saito. [to the British prisoners] In the name of His Imperial Majesty, I welcome you. I am the commanding officer of this camp, which is Camp 16 along the great railroad which will soon connect Bangkok with Rangoon. You British prisoners have been chosen to build a bridge across the River Kwai. It will be pleasant work, requiring skill, and officers will work as well as men. The Japanese Army cannot have idle mouths to feed. If you work hard, you will be treated well, but if you do not work hard, you will be punished! A word to you about escape: there is no barbed wire, no stockade, no watch tower. They are not necessary. We are an island in the jungle. Escape is impossible. You would die. Today you rest. Tomorrow you will begin. Let me remind you of General Yamashita's motto: be happy in your work. Dismissed!"

"[watching the British prisoners walk into the camp] We're going to be a busy pair of gravediggers."

"Mostly Aussies, some Lime, some British, Indians, Burmese, Siamese...They died, of malaria, dysentery, beriberi, gangrene. Other causes of death: famine, overwork, bullet wounds, snake bites, Saito. And then there were some who just got tired of living."

"Here lies Corporal Herbert Thompson, serial number 01234567, valiant member of the King's own, and Queen's own, or something, who died of beriberi in the year of our Lord 1943. For the greater glory of...[pause] what did he die for?...I don't mock the grave or the man. May he rest in peace. He found little enough of it while he was alive."

"What have I done?"

"[on feeling down] It is quite understandable. It's a very natural reaction. But one day, in a week, a month, a year, on that day when God willing, we all return to our homes again, you're going to feel very proud of what you have achieved here in the face of great adversity. What you have done, should be, and I think will be, an example to all our countrymen, soldier and civilian alike. You have survived with honour, that and more: here in the wilderness, you have turned defeat into victory. I congratulate you. Well done."

"[To Saito, after the bridge is finished] I've been thinking. Tomorrow it will be 28 years to the day that I've been in the service. 28 years in peace and war. I don't suppose I've been at home more than ten months in all that time. Still, it's been a good life. I love India. I wouldn't have had it any other way. But there are times when suddenly you realise you're nearer the end than the beginning. And you wonder, you ask yourself, what the sum total of your life represents, what difference your being there at any time made to anything, or if it made any difference at all really. Particularly in comparison with other men's careers. I don't know whether that kind of thinking is very healthy, but I must admit I've had some thoughts on those lines from time to time. But tonight—tonight!"

"[To Clipton, after Clipton questions the bridge's construction] One day the war will be over. And I hope that the people that use this bridge in years to come will remember how it was built and who built it. Not a gang of slaves, but soldiers, British soldiers, Clipton, even in captivity."

"I tell you, gentlemen, we have a problem on our hands. Thanks to the Japanese, we now command a rabble. There's no order, no discipline. Our task is to rebuild the battalion. It isn't going to be easy, but fortunately, we have the means at hand, the bridge...We can teach these barbarians a lesson in Western methods and efficiency that will put them to shame. We'll show them what the British soldier is capable of doing...It's going to be a proper bridge. Now here again, I know the men. It's essential that they should take a pride in their job."

"[in Richard's fantasy] It shakes me! It quakes me! It makes me feel goose-pimply all over!"

"Doro Merande - Waitress in the vegetarian restaurant"

"Carolyn Jones - Miss Finch"

"Victor Moore - the Plumber"

"Donald MacBride - Mr. Brady"

"Marguerite Chapman - Miss Morris"

"Oskar Homolka - Dr. Brubaker"

"Robert Strauss - Kruhulik"

"Sonny Tufts - Tom MacKenzie"

"Evelyn Keyes - Helen Sherman"

"Tom Ewell - Richard Sherman"

"When it's hot like this, you know what I do? I put my undies in the Ice Box!"

"Marilyn Monroe - The Girl"