Burn! (1969)

Marlon Brando: Sir William Walker

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Quotes 

• Sir William Walker : Gentlemen, let me ask you a question. Now, my metaphor may seem a trifle impertinent, but I think it's very much to the point. Which do you prefer - or should I say, which do you find more convenient - a wife, or one of these mulatto girls? No, no, please don't misunderstand: I am talking strictly in terms of economics. What is the cost of the product? What is the product yield? The product, in this case, being love - uh, purely physical love, since sentiments obviously play no part in economics.

  [general laughter] 

  Sir William Walker : Quite. Now, a wife must be provided with a home, with food, with dresses, with medical attention, etc, etc. You're obliged to keep her a whole lifetime even when she's grown old and perhaps a trifle unproductive. And then, of course, if you have the bad luck to survive her, you have to pay for the funeral!

  [general laughter] 

  Sir William Walker : It's true, isn't it? Gentlemen, I know it's amusing, but those are the facts, aren't they? Now with a prostitute, on the other hand, it's quite a different matter, isn't it? You see, there's no need to lodge her or feed her, certainly no need to dress her or to bury her, thank God. She's yours only when you need her, you pay her only for that service, and you pay her by the hour! Which, gentlemen, is more important - and more convenient: a slave or a paid worker?

• Sir William Walker : The man that fights for an idea is a hero. And a hero who is killed becomes a martyr and a martyr immediately becomes a myth. A myth is more dangerous than a man because you can't kill a myth. Don't you agree, Shelton? I mean, think of his ghost running through the Antilles. Think of the legends and the songs.

  Shelton : Better songs than armies.

  Sir William Walker : Better silence than songs.

• Sir William Walker : So, you did not steal them? Then why did you say you did? Because I said you did?

  José Dolores : Yes, Señor.

  Sir William Walker : Because anything a white man says is right, isn't it?

  José Dolores : Yes, Señor.

  Sir William Walker : If I were to say that your mother was a whore - would that be true? Is it true?

  José Dolores : My mother is dead.

• Sir William Walker : Stinking, lying, black ape! You filthy thief, you did steal my bags, didn't you?

• José Dolores : You can tell the white men. Tell your friends.

  Sir William Walker : They're not my friends, José.

  José Dolores : Well, no matter. You tell them, "Be careful". Very careful. They may know how to sell sugar but we are the ones who cut the cane!

• Sir William Walker : I'm also not sure just why I do what I'm doing. Perhaps it's only for the pleasure of it. Or, perhaps I'm unable to do anything else. Perhaps I've nothing else to do, but I do know that whenever I try to do something, I try to do it well.

• Sir William Walker : Now we must realize, gentlemen, that if we are to succeed in eliminating José Dolores, it's not because we're better than he is or that we're braver than he is, it's simply because we have more arms and more men than he has. And we must also realize that the soldier either fights to earn his pay or because his country forces him to do so. But the guerrilla, on the other hand, fights for an idea.

• Sir William Walker : Do you know why this island is called Queimada? Because it was already burnt once, and do you know why? Because even then, it was the only way to conquer the resistance of the people and after that, the Portuguese exploited the island in peace for nearly 300 years.

• Sir William Walker : I think it's a rather simple calculation. What does a guerrilla have to lose, except his life? Whereas you, General, have a lot to lose. Wife, children, house, career, savings, personal pleasures and private aspirations and it's nothing to be ashamed of that's simply the way of it.

• Sir William Walker : Who'll govern your island, José? Who'll run your industries? Who'll handle your commerce? Who'll cure the sick? Teach in your schools? This man? Or that man? Or the other? Civilization is not a simple matter, José. You cannot learn its secrets overnight. Today civilization belongs to the white man - and you must learn to use it. Without it, you cannot go forward.

• Sir William Walker : That's the logic of profit, isn't it, my dear Shelton? One builds to make money. And to go on making it or to make more, sometimes it's necessary to destroy.

• Sir William Walker : You know that fire can't cross the sea because it goes out! But certain news, certain ideas travel by ships' crews.

• Shelton : There are no more plantations, they're all burnt to the ground.

  Sir William Walker : They'll rise again.

  Shelton : In 10 years, Sir William.

  Sir William Walker : Well, you have another 89 years to exploit them.

• Marsina : José Dolores says that if what we have in our country is civilization, civilization of white men, then we are better uncivilized because it is better to know where to go and not know how than it is to know how to go and not know where.

  Sir William Walker : And then?

  Marsina : And then, José Dolores says that if a man works for another, even if he's called a worker he remains a slave. And it will always be the same, since there are those who own the plantations and those who own the machete to cut cane for the owners.

  Sir William Walker : And then?

  Marsina : And then, José Dolores says that we must cut heads instead of cane.

  Sir William Walker : There's a tidy program.

  Marsina : Yes.

• Sir William Walker : A fine specimen, isn't he? You know, it's an exemplary story. In the beginning he was nothing. A porter, a water carrier. And England makes him a revolutionary leader and when he no longer serves her, he's put aside. And when he rebels again more or less in the name of those same ideals which England's taught him - England decides to eliminate him. Don't you think that's a small masterpiece?

• Sir William Walker : Now, listen to me, you black ape! Listen to me. It wasn't I that invented this war. And furthermore, in this case, I didn't even start it. I arrived here and you were already butchering one another.

• Sir William Walker : You can't tell what a man will do to stay alive. Until you put him to the test, you'll really never know.