The Patriot

The Patriot Quotes

Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.

Colonel William Tavington: Kill me before the war is over, will you? It appears that you are not the better man.
Benjamin Martin: You're right. My sons were better men.
Benjamin Martin: Before this war is over, I'm going to kill you.
Colonel William Tavington: Why wait?
[first lines]
[repeated line]
Benjamin Martin: I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me, and the cost is more than I can bear.
Benjamin Martin: Aim small, miss small.
John Billings: There's a story going around 'bout how some twenty Redcoats got killed by a ghost or some damn thing, carried a Cherokee tomahawk.
Benjamin Martin: Aren't you a little old to be believing in ghost stories?
Col. Harry Burwell: This is not a war for the independence of one or two colonies, but for the independence of one nation.
Capt. Wilkins: Tell me, Colonel, what nation is that?
Mr. Howard: An American nation!
Capt. Wilkins: There is no such nation, and to speak of one is treason.
Mr. Howard: We ARE citizens of an American nation! And our rights are being threatened by a tyrant three thousand miles away!
Benjamin Martin: Would you tell me please, Mr. Howard, why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man's rights as easily as a king can.
Col. Harry Burwell: Captain Martin, I understood you to be a patriot.
Benjamin Martin: If you mean by patriot, am I angry about taxation without representation, well, yes I am. Should the American colonies govern themselves independently? I believe that they can, and they should. But if you are asking me, am I willing to go to war with England? Well, then the answer is most definately NO!
Reverend Oliver: [explaining to his church why he is marching off to war] A shepherd must tend his flock. And at times... fight off the wolves.
Major Jean Villeneuve: Are you sure this is the right place to recruit for a militia?
Benjamin Martin: [shouts] God save King George!
[Music stops and the pub regulars pull out their guns and begin throwing stuff at them. The two men run outside and shut the door behind them]
Benjamin Martin: I think we came to the right place!
Gabriel Edward Martin: I've come to call on Anne.
[Anne's father puts an ear piece in his ear to hear. Gabriel leans in and tries again louder]
Gabriel Edward Martin: I've come to call on Anne.
Mr. Howard: Well of course you call yourself a man!
Miss Anne Howard/ Mrs. Anne Martin: Father stop it! You heard him!
Colonel William Tavington: You know, it's an ugly business doing one's duty... but just occasionally it's a real pleasure.
Charlotte: You have done nothing for which you should be ashamed.
Benjamin Martin: I have done nothing. And for that I am ashamed.
Capt. Wilkins: [after they have locked the townspeople in the church] Ready to fire the town on your order, sir.
Colonel William Tavington: [laughs] The town? Burn the church.
Lord General Cornwallis: Their names and ranks?
Benjamin Martin: They refuse to give me their names, but the ranks are nine lieutenants, five captains, three majors, and one very fat colonel who called me a... "cheeky fellow."
[to Benjamin Martin, after killing his son Thomas]
Colonel William Tavington: Stupid boy.
[Grooming himself before battle]
Major Jean Villeneuve: If I die I will die well dressed.
[All of the Martin children are sitting around at dinner]
Nathan Martin: [referring to the British if they arrive] We're going to have to fight them off.
Samuel Martin: Won't father do that?
Nathan Martin: They'll probably kill us men.
[Nathan turns to Abigaile, the Housekeeper]
Nathan Martin: And do "Lord-Knows-What" to you women.
Abigale the Housekeeper: [scoldingly] Nathan!
Benjamin Martin: He cannot be held as a spy.
Colonel William Tavington: Oh, we're not going to hold him. We're going to hang him.
Gabriel Edward Martin: [shouting] I'm not a child.
Benjamin Martin: [shouting] You're my child.
Colonel William Tavington: Quite impressive for a farmer with a pitchfork, wouldn't you say?
Lord General Cornwallis: Fine soldier you are, bested by a bedtime story.
Susan Martin: Papa! Papa, don't, I'll say anything! Please, papa, I'll say anything you want, tell me what you want me to say and I'll say it... Papa please don't go!
[last lines]
Occam: Gabriel said if we won the war, we could build a whole new world. Just figured we'd get started right here with your home.
Benjamin Martin: Sounds good. Thank you.
Colonel William Tavington: Would you like a lesson, sir, in the rules of war? Or perhaps your children would?
Lord General Cornwallis: [referring to a replacement formal coat] It's horse blanket.
Colonel William Tavington: Oh, I don't know, my Lord. It's really... quite nice.
General O'Hara: Very nice, my Lord.
Lord General Cornwallis: Very well, it's nice horse blanket.
Major Jean Villeneuve: [to Occam] Here. A proper musket for you.
Dan Scott: I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't like the idea of giving muskets to slaves.
Major Jean Villeneuve: [to Dan] Your sense of freedom is as pale as your skin.
Colonel William Tavington: [Tavington's searching for Martin] ... I wish to know his whereabouts. So, anyone who comes forward may be forgiven their treason.
[silence]
Colonel William Tavington: Very well, you had your chance.
[turns about to leave]
Hardwick: Wait!
[Hardwick tells Tavington everything]
Colonel William Tavington: Thank you very much. Shut the doors!
Hardwick: But you said... we'd be forgiven!
Colonel William Tavington: And indeed you may! But that's between you and God.
Colonel William Tavington: Let it be known if you harbor the enemy you will lose your home.
General O'Hara: [carrying a British uniform stuffed like a scarecrow] Your grace, one of our captured officers.
John Billings: I say we drink the wine, eat the dogs, and use the paper for musket wading.
Reverend Oliver: [alarmed] Eat the dogs?
Benjamin Martin: [going along with Billings' joke] A dog is a fine meal.
Reverend Oliver: [still alarmed] G-G-Good Heavens!
[Billings and Martin laugh]
Colonel William Tavington: Tell me, Captain Wilkins, where do your loyalties lie?
Capt. Wilkins: To king and country, sir.
Colonel William Tavington: And why should I trust a man who'd betray his neighbors?
Capt. Wilkins: Those neighbors of mine who stand against England deserve to die a traitor's death.
Colonel William Tavington: We'll see.
Benjamin Martin: When you have a family of your own, perhaps you'll understand.
Gabriel Edward Martin: When I have a family of my own, I won't hide behind them.
Lord General Cornwallis: Colonel Tavington, why, after six weeks, am I still here at Middleton place attending a ball in South Carolina while I should be attending balls in NORTH CAROLINA?
Benjamin Martin: I'm a parent. I haven't got the luxury of principles.
Miss Anne Howard/ Mrs. Anne Martin: You know who I am, Gabriel Martin. The last time you saw me I was 11 and you put ink in my tea.
Gabriel Edward Martin: Oh, I believe that was one of my younger brothers, perhaps Samuel or Nathan.
Miss Anne Howard/ Mrs. Anne Martin: It was you. And it turned my teeth black for a month.
Nathan Martin: Father?
Benjamin Martin: Yes?
Nathan Martin: I killed those men.
Benjamin Martin: You did what I told you to do. You did what you had to. There was no wrong in it.
Nathan Martin: I'm glad I killed them. I'm glad.
Benjamin Martin: May I sit with you?
Charlotte: It's a free country. Or at least it will be.
Col. Harry Burwell: I'll help you bury him.
[referring to Martin's recently killed son]
Benjamin Martin: I'll bury him.
Col. Harry Burwell: My wife Alexandria is with child, my first. I fight for that child... Benjamin nothing will replace your sons, but if you come with us you can justify their sacrifice.
Benjamin Martin: Why?... Why do men feel they can justify death? Is it arrogance or...
[voice trails off]
Benjamin Martin: I have long feared, that my sins would return to visit me... and the cost is more then i can bear.
Col. Harry Burwell: Benjamin, we have a chance. Green and Dan Morgen are down from Virginia. If we win this next battle victory in the war is within our grasp.
Benjamin Martin: Go then, seek your victory. I'm a small issue to it.
Col. Harry Burwell: You're wrong Benjamin, you matter to your men, and to others as well. Your victories and... and your losses, are shared by more then you know. Stay with us. Stay the course!
Benjamin Martin: I have run my course.
[after Benjamin removes a British soldier's uniform off of Thomas]
Benjamin Martin: Not yet... Thomas.
Thomas: When?
Benjamin Martin: 17.
Thomas: That's two years... it's already been two. The war could be over by then!
Benjamin Martin: God willing.
Gabriel Edward Martin: [as he is lying there wounded, and sees his father appear] Father...
Benjamin Martin: Shh... don't talk, don't talk.
Gabriel Edward Martin: [gasps for air, groans] Father. I'm sorry...
Benjamin Martin: Ssh, be quiet. I'm going to take care of you. You're going to be all right.
Gabriel Edward Martin: Pa. I'm sorry about Thomas.
Benjamin Martin: Oh son, that wasn't your fault.
[Gabriel lets out a soft groan]
Benjamin Martin: That was mine.
[Gabriel gasps for final breaths of air]
Benjamin Martin: Hold on, you're gonna be all right... Don't go. Gabriel, don't...
[Ben sobs quietly while touching his son's face]
Benjamin Martin: [cries and whispers] Oh! God help me. God help me.
Lord General Cornwallis: These rustics are so inept. It nearly takes the honor out of victory. Nearly.
Lord General Cornwallis: Everything will change. Everything has changed.
Hardwick: They hanged my brother down at Acworth. Every damned one of them redcoats deserves to die.
[At the Battle of Cowpens]
General O'Hara: My Lord, if we re-form and wheel right, we may be able to turn their flank.
Lord General Cornwallis: You dream, General.
Gabriel Edward Martin: I'm sorry about Thomas
Benjamin Martin: Oh, son, that wasn't your fault
[pause]
Benjamin Martin: That was mine.
Colonel William Tavington: [after reading the dispatching note] Who carried this?
[pause]
Colonel William Tavington: Hmm?
[Tavington looks up; Gabrielle looks away as Benjamin turns his head towards him, looking worried]
Colonel William Tavington: [yells] WHO CARRIED THIS?
Gabriel Edward Martin: [emerges from in front of the house] I did, Sir!
[he walks towards Tavington]
Gabriel Edward Martin: I was wounded and these people gave me care. They have nothing to do with the dispatchers.
[Benjamin walks up behind Gabriel]
Colonel William Tavington: [Tavington nods and gives the note to one his men] Take this one to Camden. He is a spy; hang him, put his body on display...
Benjamin Martin: [as Tavington's men move to grab Gabriel, Martin quickly intervenes] He's a dispatch rider and that's a marked case!
Colonel William Tavington: [ignores Benjamin] Destroy the livestock. Set fire to the house and barns.
Benjamin Martin: No! Colonel, he's a uniformed dispatcher, he's a carrying a marked case. He cannot be held as a spy...
Colonel William Tavington: [smirks] Oh no, we're not going to hold him. We're going to hang him!
Benjamin Martin: [as Gabriel is grabbed again] Colonel!
Gabriel Edward Martin: [whispers] Father!
Colonel William Tavington: Oh, I see. He's your son...
[pause]
Colonel William Tavington: Then perhaps you should have told him the rules of loyalty.
Dan Scott: It's October now.
Occam: I know.
Dan Scott: It's more than twelve months. You're a free man
Occam: I'm here now on my own accord.
Dan Scott: I'm honored to have you with us. Honored.
Benjamin Martin: This battle was over before it began.
General O'Hara: [At the Battle of Cowpens watching the Colonial Militia retreat] Congratulations My Lord.
Lord General Cornwallis: Infantry reserve into the center.
General O'Hara: But My Lord, you've taken the field.
Lord General Cornwallis: Now we will take their spirits! Send the entire battalion over that hill and crush them! It ends today!
Loyalist Simms: Massachusetts and Virginia may be at war, but South Carolina is NOT!
General O'Hara: My Lord, I beseech you. You must order the surrender.
Lord General Cornwallis: Tavington. Damn him! Damn that man!

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