If I Were King (1938)

Ronald Colman: François Villon

Photos 

Quotes 

• King Louis XI : If it is so easy to be king, how would you begin?

  François Villon : First, by eating... my next step would be to clean house. The vermin who infest the palace I'd hang in clusters.

  King Louis XI : What would you do next?

  François Villon : Try to know my subjects and try to earn their devotion and loyalty instead of their loathing.

  King Louis XI : By abolishing taxes, I suppose?

  François Villon : No! By abolishing despair and substituting hope. By knowing the longings in their hearts as a man of the people would, seeing them as they are and admitting that their vices are as deep rooted as their virtues. I'd treat them as my children instead of as my enemies, so by knowing the worst in them, I'd bring out the best in them.

• François Villon : Francois Villon to Katherine DeVaucelles: If I were king. Love, if I were king. What tributary nations would I bring to stoop before your sceptre. And to swear allegiance to your lips and eyes and hair. Beneath your feet what treasures I would fling. The stars should be your pearls upon a string. The world a ruby. - Milady. The world a ruby for your finger ring. And you should have the sun and moon to wear if I were king.

• Colette : Epitaph? What's that?

  François Villon : Oh, usually something good about somebody bad... after they're dead.

• Rene : Fine time to be writing poetry.

  François Villon : What better time? If a man isn't inspired by his own death, he's beyond inspiration.