A Matter of Life and Death

A Matter of Life and Death Quotes

A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court.

Doctor Frank Reeves: A weak mind isn't strong enough to hurt itself. Stupidity has saved many a man from going mad.
Conductor 71: One is starved for Technicolor up there.
Peter: [over radio] Where were you born?
June: Boston.
Peter: Mass.?
June: Yes.
Peter: That's a place to be born, history was made there. Are you in love with anybody? No, no don't answer that.
June: I could love a man like you, Peter.
Peter: I love you, June. You're life and I'm leaving you.
[first lines]
Narrator: This is the universe. Big, isn't it.
Chief Recorder: Don't you know that any slip must be reported immediately?
Conductor 71: I lost my head.
Chief Recorder: Not long in the service?
Conductor 71: I joined in the so-called Second Germinal of the so-called glorious French Revolution.
Chief Recorder: I see. Natural death?
Conductor 71: I lost my head.
The Judge: Members of the jury, as Sir Walter Scott is always saying... In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed; In war, he mounts the warrior's steed; In halls, in gay attire is seen; In hamlets, dances on the green. Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, and men below, and saints above; For Love is heaven, and heaven is Love. Will you please consider your verdict.
Peter: June, are you pretty?
June: Not bad.
Peter: Can you hear me as well as I hear you?
June: Yes.
Peter: You've got a good voice. You've got guts too. It's funny - I've known dozens of girls: I've been in love with some of them, but an American girl whom I've never seen and who I never shall see will hear my last words. That's funny. It's rather sweet.
Peter: June, if you're around when they pick me up, turn your head away?
Abraham Farlan: Child, where were you born?
June: In Boston Sir.
Abraham Farlan: Do you know this man?
June: I think so.
Abraham Farlan: You think so?
June: I only met him a few days ago.
Abraham Farlan: You hardly know him. How can you think you love him?
June: But I do love him.
Abraham Farlan: Nonsense my child.
Doctor Frank Reeves: I object. Council will withdraw the expression.
June: It's all right Frank. he's right. There's no sense in love.
Abraham Farlan: Wisdom still flowers in Boston.
June: [opening words, before faces shown on screen] Request your position. Come in, Lancaster. Come in, Lancaster.
Peter: Position - nil, repeat nil. Age - 27, 27, did you get that? Very important. Education - interrupted, violently interrupted. Religion - Church of England. Politics - Conservative by nature, Labour by experience. What's your name?
[last lines]
[waking up after operation]
Peter: Hello.
June: Hello.
Peter: We won.
June: I know darling.
Conductor 71: You are determined to get me into this... salade.
Peter: And what about the salad you got me into?
Conductor 71: After all, what is time? A mere tyranny.
Doctor Frank Reeves: Ah, there's June. She walks in beauty, like the night... Only she's cycling and it's daytime.
Abraham Farlan: Be careful, doctor Reeves. In the whole Universe, nothing is stronger than The Law.
Doctor Frank Reeves: Yes, Mr. Farlan, nothing is stronger than The Law in the Universe, but on Earth nothing is stronger than Love.
Conductor 71: Ah, these English! What is the good of kissing a girl if she does not feel it?
Peter: Don't be upset about the parachute, I'll have my wings soon anyway, big white ones. I hope it hasn't gone all modern, I'd hate to have a prop instead of wings!
Abraham Farlan: You claim you love her.
Peter: I do love her!
Abraham Farlan: Can you prove it?
Peter: Well give me time, sir. Fifty years will do.
Abraham Farlan: But can you prove it?
Peter: Well, can a starving man prove he's hungry except by eating?
Abraham Farlan: Would you die for her?
Peter: I would, but, er, I'd rather live.
Conductor 71: [On the Stairway to Heaven, passing by various statues representing important figures in history, points to a statue of Abraham Lincoln] What about him?
Peter: Lincoln? No, it's hardly fair to drag him in. I don't believe *he'd* be prejudiced.
Conductor 71: Plato. How would you like to be defended by Plato? Nobody knew more about reasoning than Plato.
Peter: He was eighty-one when he died, he might be too old to think love important.
Conductor 71: You think so? Anyhow, Plato had very elementary ideas about love.
Peter: Besides, didn't he quote Sophocles when somebody asked him if he was still able to appreciate a woman?
Conductor 71: What did the old boy say?
Peter: Well, he said, uh, "I'm only too glad to be rid of all that. It's like escaping from bondage to a raving madman."
Conductor 71: [scoffs] These Greeks, cold as their marble. Now, if he had been French... Richelieu, for example, irresistible at eighty. How *about* Richelieu?
Peter: No, I never liked him much in "The Three Musketeers".
Abraham Farlan: Your smile is not unattractive, sir. Did you use it to enamor this young American lady?
Peter: I love her sir.
Abraham Farlan: Answer the question.
Peter: Would you repeat the question? It, erm, had "enamored" in it.
Conductor 71: [speaking with strong French accent] Your time was up. But they missed you because of your ridiculous English climate.
Doctor Frank Reeves: Sir, may I bring you up to date? We are living in the 20th century, not in the 18th.
Abraham Farlan: May I bring you up to date, sir? We are not alive at all.
Abraham Farlan: An American baby sucks in freedom with the milk of the breast on which he hangs.
June: Received your message. We can hear you. Are you wounded? Repeat. Are you wounded? Are you bailing out?
Peter: What's your name?
June: June.
Peter: Yes June, I'm bailing out. I'm bailing out but there's a catch, I've got no parachute.
Doctor Frank Reeves: This is a court of justice, not of law.
Doctor Frank Reeves: [talking to Peter] I've got bad news for you.
June: Then why the grin?
Doctor Frank Reeves: You're going with me.
June: Where to?
Doctor Frank Reeves: [talking to both June and Peter] To my house, for two reasons, first I want to meet this chap next time he drops in and second I like a nice girl around the house and she only come to see me to borrow a book, and she's a slow reader
Peter: "Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope's true gage; And thus I'll take my pilgrimage." Sir Walter Raleigh wrote that. I'd rather have written that than flown through Hitler's legs!
Doctor Frank Reeves: The rights of the uncommon man must always be respected.
Peter: [to dead radio operator] So long, Bob. I'll see you in a minute. You'll know what we wear by now - a prop or wings!
Peter: Look at her.
Bob: Holy smoke! She looks like a nice girl.
Doctor Frank Reeves: She is a nice girl.
Bob: Hardly your type, Skip.
Peter: I've fallen in love with her. Her accent is foreign, but it sounds sweet to me. We were born thousands of miles apart, but we were made for each other.
Doctor Frank Reeves: Tell me, do you believe in the survival of human personality after death?
Peter: I thought you said you read my verses.
[to June]
Doctor Frank Reeves: Do you?
June: I don't know, er, I'd never thought about it, do you?
Doctor Frank Reeves: I don't know, I've thought about it too much.
Doctor Frank Reeves: Milord, I submit that this court is concerned with the life and death of Peter Carter and not with past history or present plumbing.

Popular Movies view all

The Shawshank Redemption The Godfather The Godfather: Part II The Dark Knight The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Schindler\'s List Pulp Fiction Fight Club 12 Angry Men The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back Inception