The Winslow Boy (1948)

Robert Donat: Sir Robert Morton

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Quotes 

• Sir Robert Morton : Let right be done!

• Catherine Winslow : You still haven't answered my question, Sir Robert.

  Sir Robert Morton : Very well then, if you must have it. I wept today because right had been done.

  Catherine Winslow : Not justice?

  Sir Robert Morton : No, not justice - right. It's easy to do justice. Very hard to do right. But right has been done.

• Sir Robert Morton : I wept today because right had been done.

  Catherine Winslow : Not justice?

  Sir Robert Morton : No, not justice, right. It's easy to do justice, very hard to do right.

• Sir Robert Morton : The House of Commons is a peculiarly trying place you know - far too little ventilation and far too much hot air.

• Catherine Winslow : I was in court yesterday during your cross-examination of Lynn Rogers.

  Sir Robert Morton : Oh, yes?

  Catherine Winslow : It was masterly.

  Sir Robert Morton : Thank you.

  Catherine Winslow : The verdict must have pleased you enormously.

  Sir Robert Morton : Three years hard labor.

  Catherine Winslow : Yes. Many believe him to be innocent, you know.

  Sir Robert Morton : So I believe. As it happens, however, he was guilty.

• Desmond Curry : A subject can sue the king by petition of right. And it's the custom of the attorney general on behalf of the king, to endorse the petition and allow the case to come to court.

  Sir Robert Morton : It is interesting to note that the exact words he uses on such occasions are, "Let right be done."

  Arthur Winslow : Let right be done. I like that phrase.

  Sir Robert Morton : It has a certain ring about it, hasn't it? Let right be done.

• Sir Robert Morton : That's a most charming hat, Miss Winslow.

  Catherine Winslow : I'm glad you like it.

  Sir Robert Morton : It seems decidedly wrong to me that a lady of your political persuasion should be allowed to adorn herself with such a truly feminine allurement. It's awful like trying to have the best of both worlds.

  Catherine Winslow : Yes, but then I'm not a militant. I don't go about throwing bricks in shop windows and making speeches from soap boxes.

  Sir Robert Morton : I'm very glad to hear it. Both of those activities would be highly unsuitable in that hat.

  Catherine Winslow : Well, I hope that what my father has just said won't prevent you from making your speech, Sir Robert. After all, the principle is still involved.

  Sir Robert Morton : What principle?

  Catherine Winslow : The principle of right and wrong.

  Sir Robert Morton : Oh. Quite. Quite.

• Arthur Winslow : Sir Robert, whatever the result of the debate may be, I must ask you to drop the case.

  Sir Robert Morton : What has happened?

  Arthur Winslow : I made many sacrifices for it. Some of them I had no right to make, but nevertheless, I made them. There's a limit, and I've reached it.

  Sir Robert Morton : What has happened?

  Arthur Winslow : I'm sorry, Sir Robert. More sorry than you, perhaps, but the Winslow case is closed.

  Sir Robert Morton : Balderdash!

  Catherine Winslow : My father doesn't mean what he's been saying, Sir Robert. I think I should tell you that he had a letter...

  Arthur Winslow : No, Catherine.

  Catherine Winslow : ...from the father of the man that I'm engaged to, saying that if we go on with the case, he will use every influence he has to prevent this son from marrying me.

  Sir Robert Morton : I see. An ultimatum.

  Catherine Winslow : Yes, but a pointless one.

  Sir Robert Morton : He has no influence over his son?

  Catherine Winslow : Well of course, but John's of age and his own master.

• Sir Robert Morton : And, at his inquiry, did Ronald Winslow have anyone to defend him?

  Captain Flower : Oh, that was different.

  Sir Robert Morton : Oh, yes, of course it was different. You were a man of 22 but he was a child of 13. Thank you captain, that is all.

• Lord Chief Justice : Sir Robert, that observation was certainly uncalled for. You are prejudicing your case by these interruptions.

  Sir Robert Morton : Oh? Do you really think so, my Lord? As your lordship pleases.

• Sir Robert Morton : If I know the attorney general at all, he will fully tell the jury that a verdict for Ronnie will simultaneously cause mutiny in the Royal Navy and triumphant jubilation in Berlin.

• Sir Robert Morton : I thought you might like to hear the exact words of the attorney general's statement. So, I jotted them down for you, sir. "I say now, on behalf of the admiralty, that I accept the declaration of Ronald Arthur Winslow, that he did not write the name on the postal order, that he did not take it, and that he did not cash it. And that subsequently, he was entirely innocent of the charge which was brought against him two years ago. I make that statement without any reservation or any description, intending it to be a complete acceptance of the boy's statement."

• Arthur Winslow : I must thank you, Sir Robert, for all that you've done for us. I hope you don't mind if I confess to a certain feeling of relief that after today, you shall hear no more of the Winslow boy.

  Sir Robert Morton : Oh? Do you really think so?

• Sir Robert Morton : Nevertheless, I have every intention of applying a slight but decisive spur to the first lord's posterior in the House of Commons.

• Arthur Winslow : Hmmm. What shall I say?

  Sir Robert Morton : Why I hardly think it matters, that whatever you say will have very little bearing on what they write.

• Catherine Winslow : Sir Robert, I have a confession and an apology to make to you.

  Sir Robert Morton : Dear lady, I'm sure that one is rash and the other is superfluous. I'd far rather hear neither.

  Catherine Winslow : I'm afraid you must. You see, it's a better penance for me to say it then to write it. I have entirely misjudged your attitude in this case.

• Sir Robert Morton : Still pursuing your feministic activities, miss Winslow?

  Catherine Winslow : Oh yes.

  Sir Robert Morton : Pity. It's a lost cause.

  Catherine Winslow : How little you know women, Sir Robert.

• Catherine Winslow : Goodbye. I doubt if we should meet again.

  Sir Robert Morton : Oh, do you really think so? How little you know men, Miss Winslow.