Salome (1953)

Charles Laughton: King Herod

Photos 

Quotes 

• King Herod : She descends upon me like a plague of locusts!

• King Herod : Commander, welcome back to Galilee.

  Commander Claudius : I'm very happy to be here.

  King Herod : I trust you - relaxed properly in Rome. I shall enjoy hearing of your conquests, as if they were my own. You must give me an account in detail, my dear Commander. In detail.

• King Herod : The blossom does justice to the bud.

  Princess Salome : Thank you, Your Majesty.

  King Herod : Or, should I say the radiant flower that bloomed in Rome: beautiful, beyond my expectations.

• Princess Salome : Your Majesty need not trouble. I will find ways to make the time pass.

  King Herod : I'll help you!

• Queen Herodias : You threaten me?

  King Herod : You will learn, I am King here. I command who lives and who dies.

• King Herod : What am I to do? Am I to wait like a lamb for my own slaughter?

• King Herod : Why does the prophet visit me with worse than the tribulations of Job?

• John the Baptist : I have never told the people that I am the Messiah! Only that the Lord has sent me to awaken the conscious of mankind to the coming of the Holy One.

  King Herod : Many people, who hear you denounce me, hear you say you are the Messiah.

  John the Baptist : Then, I have failed him who follows me. For I have not prepared the way as I should have done.

• King Herod : Speak only of religion. Leave the House of Herod to itself.

  John the Baptist : I cannot - for it stands on a foundation of sin. And I have been ordained to root out sin, offer repentance to all who listen. I offer it to you now. Return to God.

  King Herod : How?

  John the Baptist : Give up the throne.

  King Herod : You know that I cannot do. It is my life.

  John the Baptist : I speak of a life everlasting.

• King Herod : Lying dog of a Roman!

• King Herod : To be a realist is the beginning of wisdom.

• King Herod : The wise know that nothing matters except to find pleasure in the present.

• Princess Salome : [King Herod presents a jeweled necklace]  It is more fitting that you give it to the Queen.

  King Herod : It is mine to give as I wish.

  Princess Salome : Not mine, to accept.

  King Herod : Then wear it for me. That will be a token between us, that you may know how much - how much you please me.

  Princess Salome : Allow the Queen to please Your Majesty.

• King Herod : Am I to be denied what I want above all? One woman with whom I can find forgetfulness.

  Princess Salome : Your Majesty takes much for granted, even though he is King, and he forgets - the Queen is my mother.

• King Herod : Where is the Princess? You keep her from me. Command her to appear.

  Queen Herodias : Command her, yourself!