Ulysses Movie Quotes
Circe
What are you doing, Ulysses? Do you really think you can leave me?
Ulysses
I left you a long time ago. The day my men died in the storm.
Circe
And do you think your journey will last any longer than theirs?
Ulysses
You will not hold me here.
Circe
Listen to me! I shall give you something that will make you forget all your petty dreams. Your miserable kingdom. Your wife who grows old. Remain, and this very night, Olympus shall welcome a new god: Ulysses!
Ulysses
Immortal?
Circe
This is my gift - the greatest gift that has ever been offered to a man!
Ulysses
[after a pause]
No. There are greater gifts. To be born and to die, and in between to live like a man.
Circe
To live like a man? Filled with petty fears?
Ulysses
Only the fearful can know the value of courage.
Circe
And old age? That fool flesh will rot one day! And at the end, nothing but death. This is the terrible heritage of man!
Ulysses
I accept that inheritance. I no longer see myself falling in battle or in the fury of a storm. It would take much less. A puff of cool air... A sudden chill one night... But even so, this - this vulnerable mass of fears has dared to battle with a god - and has not yet been defeated! If it should be that one day men shall speak of me, I hope they say with pride that I was one of them.
Circe
Their pride will not serve to warm you in the kingdom of darkness. I will bring centuries of light!
Ulysses
I do not think it will sadden me too much to close my eyes, when the time comes.
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Polyphemus
[after eating one of Ulysses' men]
You Greeks are tough. What stringy meat!
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Ulysses
Why do you not speak? Where is Circe? Deaf and dumb. The perfect virtues for a servant in this house.
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Ulysses
The gods are mocking and merciless, Eurylochus. And their deceptions are fierce. Ithaca seems so distant now!
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Ulysses
Nausicaa, I shall carry your tears with me. In a world of malice and hatred, they are proof of the love I have found.
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Ulysses
My name. My deeds. Day and night, I hunt them in the dark.
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[first lines]
Eurycleia
Be gone now, ladies. Be gone. The day is over. Stay in your rooms. Do not follow the example of Melantho and the other maids, who infringed the laws of this house to flatter the vanity of the guests. Go.
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Penelope
As the light in the sky starts to dim, and night breaks, dark and silent, my sorrow and my torment grow ever sharper. At times, I fear I can bear it no longer.
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Antinoos
Hail, Penelope. Your beauty is beyond any poet's imagination.
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Antinoos
You were a widow before you were ever a wife.
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Penelope
What do you seek in my home?
Antinoos
You. But I have not come here for your money, like the others, or to sleep under your roof for months. I didn't cross the sea just to look into your eyes, Penelope. I am here to fulfill your destiny.
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Ulysses
I understand your haste, but you shouldn't miss out on something as precious as wine.
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Nausicaa
Will he like this dress, Mother? Isn't it too plain?
Arete
Do not worry. He loves your youth, not anything we can add to it.
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Antinoos
The ghost of Ulysses has lingered in this house for too long. Now, you need a man who will lead. One who will drive out the swarm of suitors. One who will bring you back to life.
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Alicinous
It's not uncommon for a girl to marry a stranger. But it is rare indeed to wed a man who is a stranger to himself.
Nausicaa
What else do I need to know? If the tree is fair and its fruit sweet - why should the roots matter?
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Ulysses
Fear makes you forget your hunger, huh?
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Ulysses
There's a strange smell in the air.
Eurylochus
Yes, I can smell it.
Ulysses
A dry, dusty smell, like that of dead flowers.
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Ulysses
There are two natures within me. One loves home, family, the hearth. The other longs for travel, the open sea, the strange shapes of unknown islands, demons, giants. Yes, Eurylochus, many times I feel homesick for things I have never seen!
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Penelope
If you truly knew my husband, then speak to me of him. Why don't you speak? Who are you?
Ulysses
[disguised as a beggar] A friend of Ulysses. We were comrades beneath the walls of Troy. On many nights, as we waited for battle, he would speak of you, filled with sorrow.
Penelope
What would he say?
Ulysses
"She is dark-haired," he would say. "Radiant in her youth. With a sweet, gentle smile. She has a curious habit of tucking back her hair, absentmindedly, while spinning wool. Or watching over the sleeping child." Sometimes he spoke to me of his son, Telemachus, who slept smiling in his cradle on the day the ships set off for Troy. And sometimes, he spoke of that farewell day, when you stood by the ship, weeping in his embrace, and whispered, "I'll be here when you return."
Penelope
When will you return?
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Antinoos
Your beauty shines upon us, like the sun in the sky, Penelope.
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Ulysses
Perhaps one can return too late.
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Antinoos
When a man is in love, he doesn't have much patience.
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Eurimaco
You are too cruel with your beauty, Penelope. And far too young to sleep with nothing but your memories.
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Telemachus
Father, why are you dressed like this? Why do you return as a stranger to your own home?
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Circe
What is it?
Ulysses
It is strange. You have the same proud face, the same look as Penelope. It is strange.
Circe
Why strange? Does not the difference between women dwell in the minds of men?
Ulysses
No. The difference is Penelope would never yield to a stranger's embrace.
Circe
Not even if the stranger were Ulysses?
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Circe
You stubborn mortal. So proud of that fleeting dream you name life. So enamored of your frailties and sins. Fascinated by death. Against such defiance, even the gods stand helpless.
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Ulysses
It's been years since I've known a bed this soft.
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Ulysses
They were my men. And I abandoned them.
Circe
They abandoned you first.
Ulysses
I abandoned them.
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Ulysses
You took advantage of my sleep to turn heroes into pigs!
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Achilles
I'd rather be the slave of a landless people than the king of all the dead.
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Penelope
I've been waiting too many years. At first, only news from the war. And the war never seemed to end. First months, then years. And I spent my days wondering, "Where is he? Is he with his soldiers? Perhaps there are women there. Beautiful women, full of life. Maybe he has forgotten me." But Penelope is loyal! It's so easy for Penelope to be loyal. And then, one fine day, word comes that the war is over. And you feel joy. Everyone else comes home. Kings, servants! But not him! He alone does not return! And so the waiting begins again. More months. More years. And the years are made of a thousand hours, of days, and nights. Nights. And you lie awake in your empty bed - and you wait.
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Ulysses
I am Ulysses, son of Laertes, King of Ithaca, breaker of Troy's might. Beyond the sea lies my home, my people, my son. My wife. For years I have wandered, harried by the gods' wrath. I battled storms. I heard the Sirens' fatal song. I was spellbound. I looked death in the eye. Yet here I stand, still alive!
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Ulysses
Across the sea, my homeland beckons.
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