“Gettysburg” quotes

(1993)
Movie Gettysburg
Title Gettysburg
Year 1993
Director Ron Maxwell
Genre Drama, History, War
Plot – According to General Robert E. Lee, the battle of Gettysburg would have changed Civil War's fate, but it turned into a disastrous defeat, which caused more soldiers casualties among any other battles in US history, at least 53.000.
All actors – Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, Richard Jordan, Andrew Prine, Cooper Huckabee, Patrick Gorman, Bo Brinkman, James Lancaster, William Morgan Sheppard, Kieran Mulroney, James Patrick Stuart
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  • “- Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart: General Lee, there were reasons...
    - Gen. Robert E. Lee: Perhaps you misunderstood my orders? Perhaps I did not make myself clear. Well sir, this must be made very clear. You, sir, with your cavalry, are the eyes of this army. Without your cavalry, we are made blind. That has already happened once. It must never, never...” (continue)
    (continue reading)

    Joseph Fuqua - Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart
    Martin Sheen - Gen. Robert E. Lee
  • “You call yourselves Americans, but you're really just transplanted Englishmen. Look at your names: Lee, Hood, Longstreet, Jackson, Stuart... and the same for your adversaries: Meade, Hooker, Hancock, and - shall I say - Lincoln! The same God, same language, same culture and history, same songs, stories, legends, myths - different dreams....” (continue)(continue reading)
    James Lancaster - Lieut. Col. Arthur Fremantle
  • “To be a good soldier you must love the army. To be a good commander you must be able to order the death of the thing you love.”

    Martin Sheen - Gen. Robert E. Lee
  • “- Gen. Robert E. Lee: We have never concerned ourselves with being outnumbered.
    - Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet: That is true, sir. If we move to the south to Washington, they have to pursue us, and then we can fight on ground of our choosing.
    - Gen. Robert E. Lee: But the enemy is here! We did not want the fight but the fight is here! How can I...” (continue)
    (continue reading)
    Martin Sheen - Gen. Robert E. Lee
    Tom Berenger - Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet
  • “We are here for something new, this has not happened much, in the history of the world. We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, all of it, not divided by a line between slave states and free - all the way from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow. No man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do,...” (continue)(continue reading)

    Jeff Daniels - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
    [Tag:army, purpose, slavery]
  • “All science trembles at the searing logic of your fiery intellect.”
    Richard Jordan - Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead
  • “Gentlemen, I think if we lose this fight we lose the war, so if you choose to join us I will be personally very grateful.”

    Jeff Daniels - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
    [Tag:gratitude, losing, war]
  • “Some came mainly because we were bored at home, thought this looked like it might be fun. Some came because we were ashamed not to. Many of us came because it was the right thing to do. And all of us have seen men die. This is a different kind of army. If you look back through history you will see men fighting for pay, for women, for some other...” (continue)(continue reading)

    Jeff Daniels - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
    [Tag:army, motive, purpose]
  • Here you can be something. Here is the place to build a home. But it's not the land, there's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value - you and me. What we are fighting for, in the end, we're fighting for each other.”

    Jeff Daniels - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
  • “They do not die for us. Not for us. That at least is a blessing. If this war goes on, and it will... what else can we do but go on, you and I? It's always the same question forever. What else can we do? If they fight, we must fight with them. And does it matter after all who wins?”
    Martin Sheen - Gen. Robert E. Lee
  • “Generals can do anything. There's nothing so much like a god on earth as a General on a battlefield.”
    Jeff Daniels - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
  • “- Gen. Robert E. Lee: When the fight is coming, I want you to stay back from the main line. This army has already lost far too many of it's veteran commanders, and you sir have a very bad habit of moving too far forward.
    - Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet: Can't lead from behind.”

    Martin Sheen - Gen. Robert E. Lee
    Tom Berenger - Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet
  • “No man will call me a coward.”
    Barry McEvoy - 2nd Maine Soldier
    [Tag:cowardice, threat]
  • “I've been ordered to take you men with me, I'm told that if you don't come I can shoot you. Well, you know I won't do that. Maybe somebody else will, but I won't, so that's that. Here's the situation, the Whole Reb army is up that road aways waiting for us, so this is no time for an argument like this, I tell you. We could surely use you fellas,...” (continue)(continue reading)

    Jeff Daniels - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
  • “Whether you fight or not, that's up to you, whether you come along is... well, you're coming. You know who we are and what we are doing here, but if you are going to fight alongside us there are a few things I want you to know. This regiment was formed last summer, in Maine. There were a thousand of us then, there are less than 300 of us now....” (continue)(continue reading)

    Jeff Daniels - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
  • - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: Tell me something, Buster: what do you think of Negroes?
    - Sgt. "Buster" Kilrain: If you mean the race, I don't really know. This is not a thing to be ashamed of. The thing is, you can not judge a race. Any man who judges by the group is a pea-wit. You take men one at a time.

    Jeff Daniels - Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
    Kevin Conway - Sgt. "Buster" Kilrain
  • “We are never quite prepared for so many to die. Oh, we do expect the occasional empty chair. A salute to fallen comrades. But this war goes on and on and the men die and the price gets ever higher. We are prepared to loose some of us, but we are never prepared to loose all of us.”
    Martin Sheen - Gen. Robert E. Lee
  • “Colonel, you're a lovely man. I see a great difference between us, yet I admire you. You're an idealist, praise be.”

    Kevin Conway - Sgt. "Buster" Kilrain
  • “I don't think race or country matters a damn. What matters, Colonel, is justice. Which is why I'm here. I'll be treated as I deserve, not as my father deserved. I'm Kilrain and I damn all gentlemen. There is only one aristocracy, and that is right here [points to his head]. And that's why we've got to win this war.”

    Kevin Conway - Sgt. "Buster" Kilrain
  • “What I'm fighting for is to prove I'm a better man than the others. There's many a man worse than me, and some better. But I don't think race or country matters a damn. What matters is justice. And that's why I'm here. I'll be treated as I deserve, not as my father deserved.”
    Kevin Conway - Sgt. "Buster" Kilrain
  • “Your mission was to free this army from the enemy cavalry and report any movement by the enemy's main body. That mission was not fulfilled. You left here with no word of your movement or movement of the enemy for several days. Meanwhile, we were engaged here and drawn into battle without adequate knowledge of the enemy's strength or position,...” (continue)(continue reading)

    Martin Sheen - Gen. Robert E. Lee
    [Tag:duty, enemy, ignorance]
  • “No good trying to get yourself killed, General. The Lord'll come for you in his own good time.”

    Ivan Kane - Cap. Thomas J. Goree
  • “- Lieut. Col. Arthur Fremantle: We have so much in common, your country and mine. I earnestly hope that we shall become allies.
    - Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet: Your government will never ally itself with a Confederacy that had the institution of slavery. You know that, and so do I.”

    James Lancaster - Lieut. Col. Arthur Fremantle
    Tom Berenger - Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet
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