Out of Africa Movie Quotes
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Karen Blixen
Perhaps he knew, as I did not, that the Earth was made round so that we would not see too far down the road.
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Karen Blixen
It's an odd feeling, farewell. There is such envy in it. Men go off to be tested, for courage. And if we're tested at all, it's for patience, for doing without, for how well we can endure loneliness.
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Karen Blixen
When you go away... you don't always go on safari, do you? Just want to be away.
Denys
It's not meant to hurt you.
Karen Blixen
It does.
Denys
I'm with you because I choose to be with you. I don't want to live someone else's idea of how to live. Don't ask me to do that. I don't want to find out one day that I'm at the end of someone else's life.
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[last lines]
Karen Blixen
The mail has come today, and a friend writes this to me. "The Masai have reported to the district commissioner at Ngong that many times, at sunrise and sunset, they have seen lions on Finch-Hatton's grave. A lion and a lioness have come there, and stood or lain on the grave for a long time. After you went away, the ground around the grave was leveled out into a sort of terrace. I suppose that the level place makes a good site for the lions. From there, they have a view over the plain, and the cattle and the game on it." Denys will like that. I must remember to tell him.
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Baron Bror Blixen
[while Denys is living with Karen and while they eat breakfast on her veranda, Karen's estranged husband drives up to borrow money from her. He passes by Dennis before he leaves]
You could have asked, Denys.
Denys
I did.
[pauses]
Denys
She said yes.
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Baron Bror Blixen
That's a fine kiss goodbye.
Karen Blixen
I'm better at hello.
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[about to leave Africa, Karen Blixen gives Denys' compass to Farah]
Karen Blixen
This is very dear to me. It has helped me to find my way.
Farah
Thank you, Msabu.
[She goes to board the train. Looks back at him]
Karen Blixen
I want to hear you say my name.
Farah
You are Karin, Msabu.
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Karen Blixen
If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?
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Denys
This tribe, we think we can tame them but we won't. They die in prison.
Karen Blixen
Why?
Denys
They live now. They have no concept of the future; that one day they will be let out. They think it's permanent and so they die.
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Karen Blixen
[Voiceover]
I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up; near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.
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Denys
I won't be closer to you and I won't love you *more* because of a piece of paper.
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Karen Blixen
What's wrong with marriage anyway?
Denys
Have you ever seen one you admire?
Karen Blixen
Yes, I have, many. Belfield's, for one.
Denys
He sent her home for the rains in 1910. Didn't tell her they were over until 1913.
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Denys
[to Karen, whose horse has run away, leaving her at the mercy of an approaching lion]
I wouldn't run. If you do, she'll think you're something good to eat.
Denys
She won't like the smell of you.
Karen Blixen
Shoot - shoot it.
Denys
She's had breakfast.
Karen Blixen
Please shoot her.
Denys
Well, let's give her a moment.
[Lion approaches Karen then wanders off into brush]
Karen Blixen
Just how much closer did you expect to let her come?
Denys
A bit. It wanted to see if you'd run. That's how they decide. A lot like people that way.
Karen Blixen
She almost had me for lunch!
Denys
Well, it wasn't her fault, Baroness. She's a lion.
Karen Blixen
Well, it wasn't mine.
Denys
Doesn't that outfit come with a rifle?
Karen Blixen
Ye-ah, uh.
[looks around]
Karen Blixen
On my saddle.
Denys
Better keep it with you. Your horse isn't much of a shot.
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Karen
He has got lovely books. Does he lend them?
Berkeley
We had a friend... Hopworth, he'd got a book from Denys and didn't return it. Denys was furious. I said to Denys... "You wouldn't lose a friend for the sake of a book." He said, "No, but he has, hasn't he?"
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Farah
Msabu's bleeding. She does not have this ox. This lion is hungry. He does not have this ox. This wagon is heavy. It doesn't have this ox. God is happy, msabu. He plays with us.
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Karen Blixen
Now take back the soul of Denys George Finch-Hatton whom you have shared with us. He brought us joy, and we loved him well. He was not ours. He was not mine.
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Baron Bror Blixen
You're not going to fall in love, are you?
Karen Blixen
Not with someone who's always leaving.
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Berkeley Cole
He likes giving gifts... but not at Christmas.
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Karen Blixen
Forget it. This water lives in Mombassa anyway.
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[after placing a gramophone in a field near wild baboons]
Denys
Think of it: never a man-made sound... and then Mozart!
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Baron Bror Blixen
Say what you like.
[laughs]
Baron Bror Blixen
Whatever it is, I've probably done it.
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Kamante
I think that you had better get up. I think that God is coming.
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Karen Blixen
If you say anything now... I'll believe it.
[to Denys, immediately after they kiss in her tent]
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Denys
I'll mate for life. One day at a time.
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Karen Blixen
Oh! Get away from there! Shoo! Shoo!
Denys
Shoo?
Karen Blixen
Oh! That's all my crystal, my Limoges.
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Denys
There's country there you ought to see... it won't last long now.
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Karen Blixen
"The time you won your town the race, we chaired you through the marketplace; man and boy stood cheering by, as home we brought you shoulder-high. Smart lad, to slip betimes away from fields where glory does not stay. Early though the laurel grows, It withers quicker than a rose. Now you will not swell the rout of lads that wore their honors out. Runners whom renown outran, and the name died 'fore the man. And round that early-laureled head will flock to gaze the strengthless dead and find unwithered on its curls a garland briefer than a girl's."
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Karen Blixen
[Denys lands his two-seater aircraft, and Karen runs to greet him]
Where did you get it?
Denys
Mombasa. Get in!
Denys
Yesterday!
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Karen Blixen
Is there a prince in there?
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Denys
I like animals. Nothing they do is half-hearted. Everything they do is for the first time: they hunt, they eat, they mate...
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Karen Blixen
Offers this as a drink toast: "Rose-lipped maidens, Lightfoot lads."
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Denys
They didn't know it was Limoges.
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[first lines]
Karen Blixen
He even took the gramophone on safari. Three rifles, supplies for a month, and Mozart. He began our friendship with a gift. And later, not long before Tsavo, he gave me another. An incredible gift. A glimpse of the world through God's eye. And I thought, "Yes, I see. This is the way it was intended."
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Karen Blixen
When the old mapmakers got to the edge of the world, they used to write: "Beyond this place, there'll be dragons."
Karen Blixen
Is that where I am?
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Karen Blixen
How do you manage it - to keep us friends?
Baron Bror Blixen
We started that way.
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Farah
This Chief says, "British can read, and what good has it done them?"
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Berkeley Cole
He likes to give presents - but not at Christmas.
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Karen Blixen
When the gods want to punish you, they answer your prayers.
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Karen Blixen
Why is your freedom more important that mine?
Denys
It isn't. And I've never interfered with your freedom.
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Karen Blixen
I'm not allowed to need you. Or rely on you, or expect anything from you. I'm free to leave. But I do need you.
Denys
You don't need me. If I die, will you die? You don't *need* me.
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Karen Blixen
I used to think that there was nothing that you really wanted, but that's not it, is it? You want to have it all.
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Denys
You're confused. You've mixed up need with want. You always have.
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Denys
I want things that don't matter not to matter.
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Farah
This Chief says, "Children higher than this - must not learn to read."
Karen Blixen
Tell him all the children must go to school.
Farah
No, Msabu. This is a *Chief*. You are not a Chief.
Karen Blixen
That's absurd.
Farah
It's not good for tall people to know more than this Chief. When these children are tall, then this Chief can be dead.
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Karen Blixen
What stake do you have in keeping them ignorant?
Denys
They're not ignorant. I just don't think they should be turned into little Englishmen.
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Karen Blixen
Now, if you put a dam here, to stop the water, then I can make a pond here. Do you know how to make a pond?
Farah
Msabu, his water must go home to Mombasa.
Karen Blixen
Yes, well, it can go home after we make a pond.
Farah
Msabu, this water lives at Mombasa.
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Karen Blixen
I stayed in the room where I was born - in Rungstedlund - and tried to remember the colors of Africa.
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Denys
You do like to change things, don't you?
Karen Blixen
For the better, I hope.
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Karen Blixen
I want my Kikuyu to learn to read.
Denys
"My Kikuyu." "My Limoges." "My farm." It's an awful lot to own, isn't it?
Karen Blixen
I have paid a price for everything I own.
Karen Blixen
And what is it, exactly, that's yours? We're not owners here, Karen. We're just passing through.
Karen Blixen
Is life really so damn simple for you, Finch-Hatton?
Denys
Perhaps I ask less of it than you do.
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Karen Blixen
If you like me at all, don't ask me to do this.
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Karen Blixen
[driving back from a New Year's Eve party] Someone has left her underclothes in the back. I want you to take a place in town.
Baron Bror Blixen
Are you sure, Tanne?
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Denys
Crank it again, will you? Almost. Crank it again. Again. Once more. Well done.
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Baron Bror Blixen
My brother's only dull, but not stupid.
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Denys
I'm glad you came.
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Karen Blixen
It really began in Denmark. And there I knew two brothers. One was my lover - and one was my friend.
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Karen Blixen
It's not the way we thought it would be. Is it? But I like it that you're honest with me.
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Karen Blixen
Bror, listen to me. I've got no life at all. They wouldn't teach me anything useful. And now I've failed to marry. You know the punishment for that. "Miss Dinesen's at home." And you've gone through all your money. You're off seducing the servant girls. We're a pair, you and I. I mean, at least we're friends!
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Karen Blixen
You could marry me.
Baron Bror Blixen
I have to marry a virgin.
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Karen Blixen
[Voiceover]
[Voiceover]
Karen Blixen
I had a farm in Africa. I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.
[Voiceover]
Karen Blixen
I had a farm in Africa...
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Baron Bror Blixen
It's not as though you loved him. You'd like to be a baroness, that's all.
Karen Blixen
He lied to me.
Baron Bror Blixen
Of course. Would you be in bed with him otherwise?
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Baron Bror Blixen
You will love it here. Servants are wonderful.
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Baron Bror Blixen
I didn't come to Africa to sit with silly cows.
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Belknap
In Ohio we put up scarecrow to keep the birds away. Here, you hope there's enough leopard to keep down the baboon. They'll take your dog too. But that's Africa.
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Delamere
Sarah, where's your muddle-headed husband?
Lady Belfield
The governor's at the punch bowl hoping to avoid you. Would you like to meet the bride - or did you just come for the whisky?
Delamere
Not for the company, God knows.
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Denys
Do you sing?
Karen Blixen
Never.
Denys
Can you tell a story?
Karen Blixen
I happen to be very good at stories.
Denys
I believe that.
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Berkeley Cole
Did you come out through London?
Karen Blixen
No, from Rome, actually.
Berkeley Cole
Ah, I thought you might have a newspaper.
Karen Blixen
No. Sorry.
Berkeley Cole
Oh, nothing in them - anyway.
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Baron Bror Blixen
Karen, have you met Vicky Gresham?
Victoria
Hello, Baroness. I'd curtsy, but I'm drunk.
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Karen Blixen
Did you intend to tell Berkeley what a fool I was?
Denys
She had a lion a bit interested.
Karen Blixen
A bit? A bit. But not enough to bite.
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Delamere
A Swede, are you?
Karen Blixen
No. Danish, actually.
Delamere
Ahh, the little country next to Germany. If it comes to war, where will Denmark stand?
Karen Blixen
On its own, I hope. We do have that history.
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Delamere
"Did you hear about Shuttleworth?" "No," I said. "He's living up country," he says. "in a tree with a baboon." "Male or female?" I said to him. "Female, of course." he says. "There's nothing queer about old Shuttleworth."
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Denys
When you traveled before, in your mind, did you carry so much luggage?
Karen Blixen
A mental traveller hasn't the need to eat or sleep - *or* entertain.
Denys
You're right.
Karen Blixen
Anyway, aren't you pleased that I brought my crystal and china?
Denys
And your stories, yes.
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Denys
Had you been to those places?
Karen Blixen
I have been - a mental traveller.
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Denys
Denys, Berkeley Cole: [singing] The conquering heroes come, Sound the trumpets, Beat the drums...
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Karen Blixen
I want you to come often.
Berkeley Cole
I'd like that very much.
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Denys
Did you know that in all of literature, there's no poem celebrating the foot. There's lips, eyes, hands, face, hair, breasts, legs, arms, even the knees. But not one verse for the poor foot. Why do you think that is?
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Felicity
Someday, I'd like to run my own show the way you do.
Karen Blixen
Is that what I do?
Felicity
Well, you don't seem to need us much.
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Felicity
Baroness, may I ask you something? I don't know much about - men. I want them to like me, but I - I want to be let alone too. Um. I'm supposed to want to be taken, aren't I? Eh, I've got this book. But, how do you know when to do what they want you to and when - not to?
Karen Blixen
I suppose you ought to call me Karen.
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Karen Blixen
We should have crossed the Sand River today. I may have got us lost.
Farah
God is great, Msabu.
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Farah
Msabu's bleeding. She does not have this ox. This lion is hungry. He does not have this ox. This wagon is heavy. It does not have this ox. God is happy, Msabu. He plays with us.
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Karen Blixen
I've got this little thing that I've learned to do lately. When it gets so bad, and I think I can't go on, I try to make it worse. I make myself think about our camp on the river- and Berkeley - and the first time that you took me flying. How good it all was. And when I'm certain that I can't stand it, I go one moment more. And then I know I can bear anything. Would you like to help me?
Denys
Yes.
Karen Blixen
Come dance with me then.
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Denys
He was half Masai. That's what you remember about him. They're like nobody else. We think we'll tame them, but we won't. If you put them in prison, they die.
Karen Blixen
Why?
Denys
Because they live now. They don't think about the future. They can't grasp the idea that they'll be let out one day. They think it's permanent. So they die. They're the only ones out here that don't care about us - and *that* is what will finish them.
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Karen Blixen
So, you knew I would come.
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Denys
We might scare up a gazelle or two, but we'll be going through buffalo country again. They get cocky when you're on foot.
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Karen Blixen
I still have your compass.
Denys
Why don't you keep it? You've earned it. Besides, I don't always want to know where I'm going anyway.
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Karen Blixen
Good Lord. Your leg has got worse. You should go to hospital.
Kamante
This leg may be foolish. It may think not to go to hospital.
Karen Blixen
This leg will do as it pleases. But if you will take it to hospital, I will think that you are wise. And such a wise man as this, I would want to work in my house - for wages.
Kamante
How much wages would come to such a wise man as that?
Karen Blixen
More wages than come from tending goats.
Kamante
I will speak to this leg.
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