Conan the Barbarian Quotes
A vengeful barbarian warrior sets off to get his revenge on the evil warlord who attacked his village and murdered his father when he was a boy.
Mongol General: Hao! Dai ye! We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?
Mongol: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.
Mongol General: That is good! That is good.
Mongol: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.
Mongol General: That is good! That is good.
Conan: Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom... so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!
Conan's Father: Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky. But Crom is your god, Crom and he lives in the earth. Once, giants lived in the Earth, Conan. And in the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and they took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered. And the Earth shook. Fire and wind struck down these giants, and they threw their bodies into the waters, but in their rage, the gods forgot the secret of steel and left it on the battlefield. We who found it are just men. Not gods. Not giants. Just men. The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan. You must learn its discipline. For no one - no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts.
[Points to sword]
Conan's Father: This you can trust.
[Points to sword]
Conan's Father: This you can trust.
Thulsa Doom: I wish to speak to you now. Where is the Eye of the Serpent? Rexor says that you gave to a girl, probably for a mere night's pleasure, hmm? What a loss. People have no grasp of what they do. You broke into my house, stole my property, murdered my servants, and my PETS! And that is what grieves me the most! You killed my snake. Thorgrim is beside himself with grief! He raised that snake from the time it was born.
Conan: You killed my mother! You killed my father, you killed my people! You took my father's sword... ah -
[Rexor twists his arm]
Thulsa Doom: Ah. It must have been when I was younger. There was a time, boy, when I searched for steel, when steel meant more to me than gold or jewels.
Conan: The riddle... of steel.
Thulsa Doom: Yes! You know what it is, don't you boy? Shall I tell you? It's the least I can do. Steel isn't strong, boy, flesh is stronger! Look around you. There, on the rocks; a beautiful girl. Come to me, my child...
[coaxes the girl to jump to her death]
Thulsa Doom: That is strength, boy! That is power! What is steel compared to the hand that wields it? Look at the strength in your body, the desire in your heart, I gave you this! Such a waste. Contemplate this on the tree of woe. Crucify him!
Conan: You killed my mother! You killed my father, you killed my people! You took my father's sword... ah -
[Rexor twists his arm]
Thulsa Doom: Ah. It must have been when I was younger. There was a time, boy, when I searched for steel, when steel meant more to me than gold or jewels.
Conan: The riddle... of steel.
Thulsa Doom: Yes! You know what it is, don't you boy? Shall I tell you? It's the least I can do. Steel isn't strong, boy, flesh is stronger! Look around you. There, on the rocks; a beautiful girl. Come to me, my child...
[coaxes the girl to jump to her death]
Thulsa Doom: That is strength, boy! That is power! What is steel compared to the hand that wields it? Look at the strength in your body, the desire in your heart, I gave you this! Such a waste. Contemplate this on the tree of woe. Crucify him!
[first lines]
The Wizard: Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!
The Wizard: Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!
Conan: What gods do you pray to?
Subotai: I pray to the four winds... and you?
Conan: To Crom... but I seldom pray to him, he doesn't listen.
Subotai: [chuckles] What good is he then? Ah, it's just as I've always said.
Conan: He is strong! If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me, "What is the riddle of steel?" If I don't know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me. That's Crom, strong on his mountain!
Subotai: Ah, my god is greater.
Conan: [chuckles] Crom laughs at your four winds. He laughs from his mountain.
Subotai: My god is stronger. He is the everlasting sky! Your god lives underneath him.
[Conan shoots Subotai a skeptical look. Subotai laughs]
Subotai: I pray to the four winds... and you?
Conan: To Crom... but I seldom pray to him, he doesn't listen.
Subotai: [chuckles] What good is he then? Ah, it's just as I've always said.
Conan: He is strong! If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me, "What is the riddle of steel?" If I don't know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me. That's Crom, strong on his mountain!
Subotai: Ah, my god is greater.
Conan: [chuckles] Crom laughs at your four winds. He laughs from his mountain.
Subotai: My god is stronger. He is the everlasting sky! Your god lives underneath him.
[Conan shoots Subotai a skeptical look. Subotai laughs]
[director's cut]
Conan: I remember days like this when my father took me to the forest and we ate wild blueberries. More than 20 years ago. I was just a boy of four or five. The leaves were so dark and green then. The grass smelled sweet with the spring wind.
[pause]
Conan: Almost 20 years of pitiless cumber! No rest, no sleep like other men. And yet the spring wind blows, Subotai. Have you ever felt such a wind?
Subotai: They blow where I live too. In the north of every man's heart.
Conan: It's never too late, Subotai.
Subotai: No. It would only lead me back here another day. In even worse company.
Conan: For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm.
Conan: I remember days like this when my father took me to the forest and we ate wild blueberries. More than 20 years ago. I was just a boy of four or five. The leaves were so dark and green then. The grass smelled sweet with the spring wind.
[pause]
Conan: Almost 20 years of pitiless cumber! No rest, no sleep like other men. And yet the spring wind blows, Subotai. Have you ever felt such a wind?
Subotai: They blow where I live too. In the north of every man's heart.
Conan: It's never too late, Subotai.
Subotai: No. It would only lead me back here another day. In even worse company.
Conan: For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm.
Subotai: Food... FOOD! I have not eaten for days.
Conan: And who says you will?
Subotai: Give me food, so I have strength when the wolves come. Let me die, not in hunger, but in combat!
Conan: Who are you?
Subotai: [jumps to his feet] I am Subotai! Thief and archer! I am Hyrkanian... the great order of Kerlait!
Conan: So what are you doing here?
Subotai: [holds up chains] Dinner for wolves.
[Conan laughs, Subotai laughs]
Conan: And who says you will?
Subotai: Give me food, so I have strength when the wolves come. Let me die, not in hunger, but in combat!
Conan: Who are you?
Subotai: [jumps to his feet] I am Subotai! Thief and archer! I am Hyrkanian... the great order of Kerlait!
Conan: So what are you doing here?
Subotai: [holds up chains] Dinner for wolves.
[Conan laughs, Subotai laughs]
Subotai: The old man says the Mountain of Power is hollow. Thulsa Doom is in the mountain.
Valeria: What else does he say?
Subotai: That in the back of the mountain there's a gorge. Many caves. A good thief could get in there, steal the princess, and be off before she's missed in the darkness.
Valeria: Good thieves could do that, but not vengeful ones.
[looks at Conan]
Subotai: [turning to Conan, who's been sharpening his sword the entire time] Only the girl. We kill Thulsa Doom another day. Agreed?
Subotai: [Conan just keeps sharpening] Conan!
[Conan stops, glances at him then Valeria, then continues without a word]
Valeria: What else does he say?
Subotai: That in the back of the mountain there's a gorge. Many caves. A good thief could get in there, steal the princess, and be off before she's missed in the darkness.
Valeria: Good thieves could do that, but not vengeful ones.
[looks at Conan]
Subotai: [turning to Conan, who's been sharpening his sword the entire time] Only the girl. We kill Thulsa Doom another day. Agreed?
Subotai: [Conan just keeps sharpening] Conan!
[Conan stops, glances at him then Valeria, then continues without a word]
[last lines]
Title Card: So, did Conan return the wayward daughter of King Osric to her home. And having no further concern, he and his companions sought adventure in the West. Many wars and feuds did Conan fight. Honor and fear were heaped upon his name and, in time, he became a king by his own hand... And this story shall also be told.
Title Card: So, did Conan return the wayward daughter of King Osric to her home. And having no further concern, he and his companions sought adventure in the West. Many wars and feuds did Conan fight. Honor and fear were heaped upon his name and, in time, he became a king by his own hand... And this story shall also be told.
The Wizard: He did not care any more... life and death... the same. Only that the crowd would be there to greet him with howls of lust and fury. He began to realize his sense of worth... he mattered. In time, his victories could not easily be counted... he was taken to the east, a great prize, where the war masters would teach him the deepest secrets. Language and writing were also made available, the poetry of Khitai, the philosophy of Sung; and he also came to know the pleasures of women, when he was bred to the finest stock. But, always, there remained the discipline of steel.
Corin: What is most important when making a sword, fire or ice?
Young Conan: Fire.
[Corin looks at Young Conan with some disbelief]
Young Conan: [pause] ... Ice?
Corin: Are you sure?
[pause; then Corin strikes the anvil with a newly-forged sword which breaks]
Corin: Fire... and ice. That is the mystery of steel.
Young Conan: Fire.
[Corin looks at Young Conan with some disbelief]
Young Conan: [pause] ... Ice?
Corin: Are you sure?
[pause; then Corin strikes the anvil with a newly-forged sword which breaks]
Corin: Fire... and ice. That is the mystery of steel.
[Thulsa Doom's final speech to his followers in the director's cut]
Thulsa Doom: Purging is at last at hand. Day of Doom is here. All that is evil, all their allies; your parents, your leaders, those who would call themselves your judges; those who have lied and corrupted the Earth, they shall all be cleansed.
Thulsa Doom: Purging is at last at hand. Day of Doom is here. All that is evil, all their allies; your parents, your leaders, those who would call themselves your judges; those who have lied and corrupted the Earth, they shall all be cleansed.
The Wizard: The mounds have been here since the time of the Titans. Kings buried in them... great kings... domains once glittered like the light on a windy sea. Fire won't burn there... no fire at all. That's why I live down here in the wind.
Conan: Do you care for these places?
The Wizard: I sing to them. On nights, when they wish, I sing of the tales of battles, heroes, witches and women. Nobody bothers me down here. Not even... Thulsa Doom.
Conan: Do flowers grow around here?
The Wizard: Flowers?
[laughs]
The Wizard: Flowers.
Conan: Do you care for these places?
The Wizard: I sing to them. On nights, when they wish, I sing of the tales of battles, heroes, witches and women. Nobody bothers me down here. Not even... Thulsa Doom.
Conan: Do flowers grow around here?
The Wizard: Flowers?
[laughs]
The Wizard: Flowers.
The Wizard: The ashes were trampled into the Earth, and the blood became as snow. Who knows what they came for... weapons of steel, or murder? It was never known, for their leader rode to the south, while the children went north with the Vanir. No one would ever know that my lord's people had lived at all. His was a tale of sorrow.
Corin: [Corin has just put an egg in each of the student's mouths, except Young Conan's, in preparation for a test] The first to circle the hills and return, the egg unbroken, earns the right to fight with the warriors.
[Sends the students on the way as a Young Conan is looking disappointed]
Corin: Oh, by Crom, boy. What are you waiting for?
[Gives Young Conan an egg as he rushes on his way]
[Sends the students on the way as a Young Conan is looking disappointed]
Corin: Oh, by Crom, boy. What are you waiting for?
[Gives Young Conan an egg as he rushes on his way]
Narrator: In between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world. Then came the dark empire of Acheron, where cruel necromancers sought secrets of resurrection. They crafted a mask from the bones of kings, and awakened its wrath with the pure blood of their daughters. The mask summoned spirits of unspeakable evil giving them power no mortal men should possess. Acheron enslaved the civilized world. Only the barbarian tribes were left to rise up against them. The mask was shattered and Acheron fell. Each tribe kept a single shard so that no man might attempt to join them back together and drive the world once again into chaos and ruin. The pieces were scattered across the land and remained hidden for ages. But prophecy spoke of a man who would some day try to reassemble the mask and rule the world. So came the dawn of Hyborian age, a time both bleak and brutal. And so came a child, born of battle...
Corin: When a Cimmerian feels thirst, it is a thirst for blood. When he feels cold, it is the cold edge of steel. For the courage of a Cimmerian is tempered: he neither fears death... nor rushes foolishly to meet it. To be a Cimmerian warrior, you must have both cunning and balance as well as speed and strength.
Valeria: Let's take what we have while we live. I have never had so much as now. All my life I've been alone. Many times I've faced my death with no one to know. I would look into the huts and the tents of others in the coldest dark and I would see figures holding each other in the night. And I always passed by. You and I, we have warmth. That's so hard to find in this world. Please. Let someone else pass by in the night. Let us take the world by the throat and make it give us what we desire.
Subotai: How about two snakes coming together over a black sun? A magnificent standard!
Black Lotus Street Peddler: The only snakes I know of are those of Set and his cursed towers. Their evil has spread to every city. Two or three years ago it was just another snake cult, now... they're everywhere. It is said that they are deceivers... they murder people in the night... I know nothing.
[peddler opens a jar and offers it to Conan and Subotai]
Black Lotus Street Peddler: Hey... black lotus... Stygian... the best!
Subotai: This had better not be Haga!
Black Lotus Street Peddler: I would sell Haga to a slayer such as you?
Black Lotus Street Peddler: The only snakes I know of are those of Set and his cursed towers. Their evil has spread to every city. Two or three years ago it was just another snake cult, now... they're everywhere. It is said that they are deceivers... they murder people in the night... I know nothing.
[peddler opens a jar and offers it to Conan and Subotai]
Black Lotus Street Peddler: Hey... black lotus... Stygian... the best!
Subotai: This had better not be Haga!
Black Lotus Street Peddler: I would sell Haga to a slayer such as you?
