- Teresa: We have two ears, but only one mouth; so a good leader will listen twice as much as he shouts.
- Teresa: If you were French, I would take a knife and you would tell me all I wanted to know.
- Richard Sharpe: But we are allies.
- Teresa: Allies? Do allies keep secrets from each other?
- Richard Sharpe: Lovers keep secrets from each other, yet they still make love.
- Major Hogan: Surprised to see me, Richard? Well you've done a grand job, a grand job. But now, at dawn tomorrow, with the help of my agent Commandante Teresa, who I believe you've met, I want you to seize the chapel at Torre Castro and hold it against all comers until Major Vivar has raised the gonfalon of Santiago over the chapel roof.
- Richard Sharpe: Seize Torre Castro? With six men and a straggle of Spaniards? Can't be done! May I remind you of our main mission, sir? To find a missing gentleman?
- Major Hogan: Not now, Richard. Our mission is Torre Castro. Spain is a sleeping tiger! If the people of Torre Castro rise up, even for an hour, the shock will shake the whole of Spain. Carry on, sir.
- Richard Sharpe: Rise up? Do you really believe men will fight and die for a rag on a pole?
- Major Hogan: You do, Richard, you do.
- Richard Sharpe: Gimme a pick-lock, Cooper.
- Cooper: Pick-lock, sir? Catch me with a pick-lock!
- Patrick Harper: They did, Coop. But when you got out of Newgate prison, you got another set, and that's the one the officer wants.
- Cooper: Do I get it back, sir?
- Richard Sharpe: Trust me.
- Cooper: It's very hard to trust a man who wants to borrow your pick-lock, sir.
- Patrick Harper: There are two kinds of officers, sir: killin' officers and murderin' officers. Killin' officers are poor old buggers that get you killed by mistake. Murderin' officers are mad, bad, old buggers that get you killed on purpose - for a country, for a religion, maybe even for a flag. You see that Major Hogan, sir? That's what I call a murderin' officer.
- Cooper: Can I ask you a question, sir? Where'd you learn to fight so dirty, sir?
- Richard Sharpe: Same place as you, Cooper. Saturday night in the gutters.
- Cooper: Long way from home, sir.
- Richard Sharpe: Never was much of a home, Cooper.
- Cooper: No, sir. That it weren't.
- Richard Sharpe: Did you volunteer for this lot, Cooper?
- Cooper: Uh no, not exactly sir. I was invited to join... by a magistrate.
- Richard Sharpe: So... the Chosen Men, eh? Well, I didn't choose you. But I know you, you and your kind, all my life. All I know is how to fight. So if there's any man among you expecting a quick ramble through this war, now's the time.
- [No one speaks up]
- Richard Sharpe: You're sure, now? Right! Join the column, at the double!
- Rifleman Hagman: Daniel Hagman, poacher.
- Richard Sharpe: You a good shot, then, Hagman?
- Rifleman Hagman: Aye, I can shoot, sir.
- Richard Sharpe: Go on, then. Show me.
- [He pulls a beret out of Hagman's belt, and tosses it into the air. Hagman fires his rifle. Sharpe picks up the beret and shows him the hole in it]
- Richard Sharpe: You've defaced the King's uniform, Hagman. I could put you up on a charge for that.
- Richard Sharpe: [glares at his riflemen] Now listen. I'm in charge here. Not them, not Harper; I'm in command. You follow me.
- Richard Sharpe: [is helping Hagman through the marsh, and winces] Damn knee! Old leg wound, Hagman. Rain plays the devil with it!
- Rifleman Hagman: Aye. Brown paper and paraffin oil is the only cure for a contrary leg!
- Man in Black: I will give you one hundred guineas in gold, and safe passage to America.
- Patrick Harper: America? That'd be nice. But you see, the King of England, owes me last month's wages. And I'd never sleep easy in America knowing that that bastard owes me a shilling!
- Man in Black: You would die for a shilling?
- Patrick Harper: That's what I signed on to do.
- Man in Black: You will have to do it.
- Patrick Harper: [hefts his rifle] It's a grand day for it!
- [riding in the coach with Sharpe and Teresa, Mr. and Mrs. Parker check that they are asleep, then Mr. Parker lights up a cigar and passes it to his wife, who drags contentedly. Sharpe wakes up, and Mr. Parker hurriedly takes the cigar back]
- Richard Sharpe: I didn't know a Methodist smoked.
- Mr. Parker: Oh, it's, uh, for my lungs.
- [Sharpe drifts back asleep. Mr. Parker says something under his breath in Yiddish. Mrs. Parker replies in the same language, and Louisa smothers a giggle]
- Wellesley: Pity about James Rothschild. I presume he's left the country?
- Major Hogan: On the contrary, sir...
- Richard Sharpe: He's here in this room, sir.
- [to Hogan's surprise, Sharpe turns and plucks off "Mrs. Parker's" wig. James Rothschild laughs and pulls an envelope from under his skirt]
- James Rothschild: Your banker's draft, Sir Arthur.
- [to Sharpe]
- James Rothschild: How did you know?
- Richard Sharpe: You smelled of Turkish tobacco, the kind you can't get in Spain. You wouldn't eat your roast pork at the monastery. And I remember you speaking Yiddish in the coach.
- James Rothschild: [laughs] Sir, you are an edel mensch - a gentleman.
- Major Hogan: [tosses a coin to Sharpe] What's that, Sharpe?
- Richard Sharpe: A shilling, sir.
- Major Hogan: The King's Shilling, Sharpe. Our last shilling. London's late, the Army's broke, and we owe the lads two months' wages... What do you do when you're out of cash, Sharpe?
- Richard Sharpe: Do without, sir.
- Major Hogan: You borrow, Richard! From a bank!
- Man in Black: There are two Spains, Lieutenant. My brother's Spain is a monastery - Silence and superstition. My Spain is a court - Science and scholarship. If you were Spanish, which would you choose?
- Richard Sharpe: I'm neither monk nor prince. So I would choose a tavern.
- Wellesley: [after Sharpe has just saved his life] I'm much obliged to you. You did me a damn good turn. Now I'm going to do you a damn bad one - I'm giving you a field commission, Sharpe! From now on you're a lieutenant in the 95th.
- Patrick Harper: We don't want to go south, sir.
- Richard Sharpe: And what the hell do I care what you and the lads want, eh? You think the British Army's a bloody dem...
- [searches]
- Richard Sharpe: Dem...
- Harris: Democracy, sir. Comes from the Greek word "demos" and means "rule by-"
- Richard Sharpe: Shut up, Harris!
- Richard Sharpe: Name?
- Cooper: Cooper, sir.
- Richard Sharpe: Where you from, Cooper?
- Cooper: Shoreditch, sir.
- Richard Sharpe: Previous employment?
- Cooper: By way of a trader, sir. In... property and the like.
- Richard Sharpe: Would that be other people's property, Cooper?
- Rifleman Tongue: Isiah Tongue, sir!
- Richard Sharpe: Yes, I know that. Where you from, Tongue?
- Rifleman Tongue: [mumbling] No, sir...
- Richard Sharpe: Speak up, man!
- Rifleman Tongue: Don't know, sir!
- Richard Sharpe: What about your family?
- Rifleman Tongue: Don't know, sir!
- Richard Sharpe: Previous employment?
- Rifleman Tongue: Army, sir. Just army.
- Man in Black: You say you are an Irishman. Why should you be loyal to the British dogs, who want to take you to Lisbon to shoot you?
- Patrick Harper: Jesus, you took the words right out of my mouth.
- Man in Black: I can help you. Give me the box?
- Patrick Harper: And if I do?
- Man in Black: You will be rich.
- Patrick Harper: And if I don't?
- Man in Black: You will be dead.
- Patrick Harper: Hmm... well, you're having the best of the argument so far.
- Patrick Harper: [about Sharpe] He's no proper officer. Never seems to tire, hard to catch him off guard.
- Cooper: He let you off light, Harps. Back in the village. So why so hard?
- Patrick Harper: It's just not right, Cooper. He's not happy being an officer. And mark my words, he'll bring us bad luck.
- [thinks it over]
- Patrick Harper: We'll do it tomorrow. In the mountains.
- Richard Sharpe: [hands Perkins the flag of the regiment] Perkins, I want you to protect this pennant with your life!
- Rifleman Perkins: Yes sir.
- Richard Sharpe: [Teresa and the Spanish have Sharpe and the riflemen at gunpoint, interrupting the brawl between Sharpe and Harper] Who the devil are you?
- Major Blas Vivar: [enters] Allow me to introduce Commandante Teresa. The commander of the guerrillas who fight the French in these mountains.
- Richard Sharpe: And who are you?
- Major Blas Vivar: I am Major Blas Vivar. Count of Mataomoro, Major General in the most holy armies of his Majesty the King of Spain. And you?
- Richard Sharpe: Lieutenant Sharpe. 95th Rifles.
- Major Blas Vivar: Only a lieutenant? Perhaps they do not promote you because you fight with your men?
- Richard Sharpe: That man is a mutineer, sir. He'll be taken back to Lisbon and shot!
- Major Blas Vivar: A toast. 'Death to the French!'
- [Sees that Sharpe is not drinking]
- Major Blas Vivar: - Why do you not drink?
- Richard Sharpe: I never liked that toast, Major. I'm a soldier, not an assassin.
- Major Blas Vivar: Will you not laugh if I tell you a story about Torrecastro, dear Miss Parker?
- Louisa: I love stories.
- Major Blas Vivar: [smiles] You have the soul of a Spaniard.
- Teresa: [both are speaking in Spanish about Sharpe] Be careful, he's very clever.
- Major Blas Vivar: But his men don't like him.