Memorable quotes for
Paths of Glory (1957)

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General Broulard: Colonel Dax, you're a disappointment to me. You've spoiled the keenness of your mind by wallowing in sentimentality. You really did want to save those men, and you were not angling for Mireau's command. You are an idealist - and I pity you as I would the village idiot. We're fighting a war, Dax, a war that we've got to win. Those men didn't fight, so they were shot. You bring charges against General Mireau, so I insist that he answer them. Wherein have I done wrong?
Colonel Dax: Because you don't know the answer to that question, I pity you.

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[the condemned men are awaiting execution]
Corporal Paris: See that cockroach? Tomorrow morning, we'll be dead and it'll be alive. It'll have more contact with my wife and child than I will. I'll be nothing, and it'll be alive.
[Ferol smashes the roach]
Private Ferol: Now you got the edge on him.

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General Broulard: Colonel Dax! You will apologize at once or I shall have you placed under arrest!
Colonel Dax: I apologize... for not being entirely honest with you. I apologize for not revealing my true feelings. I apologize, sir, for not telling you sooner that you're a degenerate, sadistic old man. And you can go to hell before I apologize to you now or ever again!

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General Broulard: Colonel Dax, are you trying to blackmail me?
Colonel Dax: It's an ugly word, but you are in a difficult situation.

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General Mireau: If those little sweethearts won't face German bullets, they'll face French ones!

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General Mireau: I can't understand these armchair officers, fellas trying to fight a war from behind a desk, waving papers at the enemy, worrying about whether a mouse is gonna run up their pants leg.
Colonel Dax: I don't know, General. If I had the choice between mice and Mausers, I think I'd take the mice every time.

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Saint-Auban: How far did you advance?
Private Ferol: To about the middle of no man's land, sir.
Saint-Auban: Then what did you do?
Private Ferol: ...Well, I saw that me and Meyer, sir...
Saint-Auban: I didn't ask you what you saw. The court has no concern with your visual experiences.
Private Ferol: I went back, sir.
Saint-Auban: In other words, Private Ferol, you retreated.
Private Ferol: Yes, sir.

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Colonel Dax: Too much has happened. Someone's got to be hurt. The only question is who. General Mireau's assault on the Ant Hill failed. His order to fire on his own troops was refused. But his attempt to murder three innocent men to protect his own reputation will be prevented by the General Staff.

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General Broulard: There are few things more fundamentally encouraging and stimulating than seeing someone else die.

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General Mireau: Hello there, soldier. Ready to kill more Germans?
Private Ferol: Yes, sir.
General Mireau: What's your name, soldier?
Private Ferol: Sir, Private Ferol, Company A.
General Mireau: Aha. You married, soldier?
Private Ferol: No, sir.
General Mireau: I'll bet your mother's proud of you.
Private Ferol: Yes, sir.
General Mireau: Carry on, Private, and good luck.
Private Ferol: Thank you, sir.

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Colonel Dax: Gentlemen of the court, there are times that I'm ashamed to be a member of the human race and this is one such occasion.

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