Top 50 Quotes From The Last Samurai

Algren: Your highness... if you believe me to be your enemy, command me, and I will gladly take my life

Katsumoto: You fought against your Red Indians?
Algren: Yes.
Katsumoto: Tell me of your part in this war.
Algren: Why?
Katsumoto: I wish to learn.
Algren: Read a book.
Katsumoto: I would rather have a good conversation.

Algren: Sergeant Gant, report to the rear and see to the disposition of the supply trains.
[Gant does not move, but continues loading his rifle]
Algren: Sergeant Gant, did you hear my order?
Zebulon: I did indeed, sir.
Algren: Good, then you will obey it. Now!
Zebulon: No disrespect intended, sir, but shove it up your ass.

[Algren and Katsumoto ride up to Bagley, who sees that Algren has turned against him]
Colonel: Good God... Sir, the Imperial Army of Japan demands your surrender. If you and your fellas lay down your arms, you will not be harmed.
Katsumoto: This is not possible, as Mr. Omura knows.
Colonel: Captain Algren. We will show you no quarter. You ride against us, and you're the same as they are.
Algren: I'll look for you on the field.

Simon: I came over with the British trade mission, oh, years ago. I was soon relieved of my position. I had a rather unfortunate tendency to tell the truth in a country where no one ever says what they mean. So now, I very accurately translate other people's lies.

[last lines]
Simon: [narrating] And so the days of the Samurai had ended. Nations, like men, it is sometimes said, have their own destiny. As for the American Captain, no one knows what became of him. Some say that he died of his wounds. Others, that he returned to his own country. But I like to think he may have at last found some small measure of peace, that we all seek, and few of us ever find.

Algren: What do you want?
Katsumoto: To know my enemy.
Algren: I've seen what you do to your enemies.
Katsumoto: The warriors in your country do not kill?
Algren: They don't cut the heads off defeated, kneeling men.
Katsumoto: General Hasegawa asked me to help him end his life. A samurai cannot stand the shame of defeat. I was honored to cut off his head.

Silent: Algren-San.
[he rushes in front of Algren to protect him from being shot, and is consequently shot himself]
Algren: Bob.

Algren: I have questions.
Katsumoto: Questions come later.

Algren: How's your poem coming?
Katsumoto: The end is proving difficult.

[about General Hasegawa]
Algren: He fought with the Samurai?
Simon: He IS Samurai.

Algren: There was once a battle at a place called Thermopylae, where three hundred brave Greeks held off a Persian army of a million men... a million, you understand this number?
Katsumoto: I understand this number.
Algren: For two days, the Greeks made them pay so dearly that the Persian army lost all taste for battle and was defeated soon after.

Colonel: Just tell me one thing, what is it about your own people you hate so much?

Katsumoto: And who was your general?
Algren: Don't you have a rebellion to lead?
Katsumoto: People in your country do not like conversation?
Algren: He was a lieutenant colonel. His name was Custer.
Katsumoto: I know this name. He killed many warriors
Algren: Oh, yes. Many warriors.
Katsumoto: So he was a good general.
Algren: No. No, he wasn't a good general. He was arrogant and foolhardy. And he got massacred because he took a single battalion against two thousand angry Indians.
Katsumoto: Two thousand Indians? How many men for Custer?
Algren: Two hundred and eleven.
Katsumoto: I like this General Custer.
Algren: He was a murderer who fell in love with his own legend. And his troopers died for it.
Katsumoto: I think this is a very good death.
Algren: Well, maybe you can have one just like it someday.

Katsumoto: The Emperor could not hear my words. His army will come. For nine hundred years, my ancestors have protected our people. Now... I have failed them.
Algren: So you will take your own life? In shame? Shame for a life of service? Discipline? Compassion?
Katsumoto: The way of the Samurai is not necessary anymore.
Algren: Necessary? What could be more necessary?
Katsumoto: I will die by the sword. My own, or my enemy's.
Algren: Then let it be your enemy's.

Simon: [first lines]
Simon: [narrating] They say Japan was made by a sword. They say the old gods dipped a coral blade into the ocean, and when they pulled it out four perfect drops fell back into the sea, and those drops became the islands of Japan. I say, Japan was made by a handful of brave men. Warriors, willing to give their lives for what seems to have become a forgotten word: honor.

Katsumoto: Many of our customs seem strange to you. And the same is true of yours. For example, not to introduce yourself is considered extremely rude, even among enemies.

Algren: You want me to kill Jappos, I'll kill Jappos.
Colonel: I'm not asking you to kill anybody.
Algren: You want me to kill THE ENEMIES of Jappos, I'll kill THE ENEMIES of Jappos... Rebs, or Sioux, or Cheyenne... For 500 bucks a month I'll kill whoever you want. But keep one thing in mind: I'd happily kill you for free.

[With his dying breath]
Katsumoto: Perfect... They are all... perfect...

[watching the Imperial Army's target practice]
Algren: I suppose we should be grateful they're all firing in the same direction.
Zebulon: Couldn't have put it better myself, sir.

Algren: There is Life in every breath...
Katsumoto: That is, Bushido.

Zebulon: [shouting loudly] Right, you little bastards! You will stand up straight or I will personally shit kick every far eastern buttock that appear before me eyes!
Algren: Well done, sergeant.
Zebulon: When you understand the language, sir, everything falls into place.

Simon: You insolent, useless son of a peasant dog! How dare you show your sword in his presence! Do you know who this is?
[pointing to Algren]
Simon: This is the President of the United States of America! He is here to lead our armies in victorious battle against the rebels!
Guard: It is not my responsibility...
Simon: Now get over there and help those men with their equipment!
Guard: [to his men] Carry the equipment.
[Algren and Graham go through]
Algren: The President of the United States?
Simon: Sorry. I think I'm going to be sick.

Algren: What else has she told you?
Katsumoto: That you have nightmares.
Algren: Every soldier has nightmares.
Katsumoto: Only one who is ashamed of what he has done.
Algren: You have no idea what I have done.

Katsumoto: I have introduced myself. You have introduced yourself. This is a very good conversation.

Algren: [narrating] Winter, 1877. What does it mean to be Samurai? To devote yourself utterly to a set of moral principles. To seek a stillness of your mind. And to master the way of the sword.

Algren: [shouting] What do you want from me?
Katsumoto: What do you want for yourself?

Algren: This is Katsumoto's sword. He would have wanted you to have it. He hoped with his dying breath that you would remember his ancestors who held this sword, and what they died for. May the strength of the Samurai be with you always.

Algren: I killed her husband?
Katsumoto: It was a good death.

Algren: I will miss our conversations.

[Katsumoto hands a samurai sword to Algren, it has a message written on it]
Algren: What does it say?
Katsumoto: "I belong to the warrior in whom the old ways have joined the new."

Nobutada: Father, let me stay. It is my time.

Katsumoto: If I am no use, I will happily end my life.
Emperor: No, I need your voice in the Council.
Katsumoto: It is your voice we need, Highness. You are a living god. Do what you think is right.
Emperor: [ruefully] I am a living god, as long as I do what *they* think is right.
Katsumoto: What sad words you speak.

Katsumoto: What happened to the warriors at Thermopylae?
Algren: Dead to the last man.

[Nobutada is shamed by Imperial Guards who cut off his top knot and take his swords, leaving him in a heap in the street]
Algren: C'mon, I'll take you home.
Nobutada: Jolly good.

Katsumoto: The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.

Algren: [narrating] They are an intriguing people. From the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seem such discipline. I am surprised to learn that the word Samurai means, 'to serve', and that Katsumoto believes his rebellion to be in the service of the Emperor.

Emperor: [Referring to Katsumoto] Tell me how he died.
Algren: [Referring to Katsumoto] I will tell you how he lived.

Katsumoto: You believe a man can change his destiny?
Algren: I think a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed.

Katsumoto: You do not have to die here.
Algren: I should have died so many time before.

Taka: Japanese men do not help with this
Algren: [grabs firewood basket] I am not Japanese

Emperor: I have dreamed of a unified Japan. Of a country strong and independent and modern. We have railroads and cannon, Western clothing. But we cannot forget who we are. Or where we come from.

Katsumoto: When I took this, you were my enemy.

Algren: [narrating] Spring, 1877. This marks the longest I've stayed in one place since I left the farm at 17. There is so much here I will never understand. I've never been a church going man, and what I've seen on the field of battle has led me to question God's purpose. But there is indeed something spiritual in this place. And though it may forever be obscure to me, I cannot but be aware of its power. I do know that it is here that I've known my first untroubled sleep in many years.

Nobutada: [after Algren is defeated in fencing pratice] Please forgive; too many mind.
Algren: [puzzeled] "Too many mind?"
Nobutada: Hai, mind the sword, mind the people watch, mind enemy - -too many mind.
[seriously]
Nobutada: No mind.
Algren: [pretending getting it] No mind.
[returns to training only to be defeated yet again, much to the laughter of Nobutada and his cousin]

Higen: Will you fight the white men, too?
Algren: If they come here, yes.
Higen: Why?
Algren: Because they come to destroy what I have come to love.

Algren: Mr. Graham. Tell this man to fire at me.
Simon: I beg your pardon?
Algren: Tell this man that if he does not shoot me, I will kill him.

Algren: [Narrating] I have been hired to suppress the rebellion of yet another tribal leader. Apparently, this is the only job for which I am suited. I am beset by the ironies of my life.

Algren: There is some comfort in the emptiness of the sea, no past, no future.

Emperor: Ambassador Swanbeck, I have concluded that your treaty is NOT in the best interests of my people.
Ambassador: Sir, if I may...
Emperor: So sorry, but you may not.