Charles Laughton movie quotes

“- Brogan-Moore: Touching isn't it? The way he counts on his wife.
- Sir Wilfrid: Yes, like a drowning man clutching at a razor blade.”
John Williams - Brogan-Moore
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts

“Why was I not made of stone - like thee?”

Charles Laughton - The Hunchback Quasimodo

“Corpulence makes a man reasonable, pleasant and phlegmatic. Have you noticed the nastiest of tyrants are invariably thin?”
Charles Laughton - Gracchus

“- Julius Caesar: I thought you had reservations about the gods.
- Gracchus: Privately I believe in none of them - neither do you. Publicly, I believe in them all.”
John Gavin - Julius Caesar
Charles Laughton - Gracchus

“- Sir Wilfrid: Your husband loves you very much, does he not?
- Christine Vole: Leonard? He worships the ground I walk on.
- Sir Wilfrid: And you?
- Christine Vole: You want to know too much. Auf wiedersehen, gentlemen.”
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts
Marlene Dietrich - Christine

“I have done an unethical thing. I have taken your cigar and I am not taking your case.”
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts

“- Miss Plimsoll: It's beddy-bye. We better go upstairs now, get undressed and lie down.
- Sir Wilfrid: We? What a nauseating prospect.”
Elsa Lanchester - Miss Plimsoll
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts

“- Miss Plimsoll: Is there too much of a draft? Should I roll up the window?
- Sir Wilfrid: Just roll up your mouth, you talk too much. If I had known how much you talk I'd never have come out of my coma.”
Elsa Lanchester - Miss Plimsoll
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts

“Doctors! They've deprived me of everything: alcohol, tobacco, female companionship!”
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts

“- Leonard Vole: But this is England, where I thought you never arrest, let alone convict, people for crimes they have not committed.
- Sir Wilfrid: We try not to make a habit of it.”
Tyrone Power - Leonard Vole
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts

“I am constantly surprised that women's hats do not provoke more murders.”
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts

“- Sir Wilfrid: I'd better take that thermos of cocoa with me. It helps me wash down down the pills.
- Miss Plimsoll: Let me see. My learned patient is not above substituting brandy for cocoa.”
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts
Elsa Lanchester - Miss Plimsoll

“The question is, Frau Helm, were you lying then, are you lying now, or are you not in fact a chronic and habitual liar?!”
Charles Laughton - Sir Wilfrid Roberts

“- Judy Flaquer: Men are such horrible beasts. I wish I were married to Anthony Keane for just one hour. I'd make him jump through hoops.
- Judge Lord Thomas Horfield: I wish you were married to someone. Perhaps he could put up with your clap-clap better than I can!”
Joan Tetzel - Judy Flaquer
Charles Laughton - Judge Lord Thomas Horfield

“I do not like to be interrupted in the middle of an insult.”
Charles Laughton - Judge Lord Thomas Horfield

“Once you started making money it's hard to stop, especially if you're like me. There isn't much else you're good at.”
Charles Laughton - Sir William Porterhouse

“They respect but one law - the law of fear. I expect you to carry out whatever orders I give, whenever I give them.”

Charles Laughton - Bligh

“The most beautiful thing of all is the complete stillness of an audience so intent that it hardly breathes.”
Charles Laughton

“Every time I walk into a restaurant I get not only soup but an impersonation of Captain Bligh.”
Charles Laughton

“They can't censor the gleam in my eye.”
Charles Laughton

“I have a face like the behind of an elephant.”
Charles Laughton

“Method actors give you a photograph. Real actors give you an oil painting.”
Charles Laughton

“The truth can't be allowed to live under the occupation. It's too dangerous. The occupation lives upon lies!”
Charles Laughton - Albert Lory

“- Bligh: Mr. Christian, I give you your last chance to return to duty.
- Christian: I'll take my chance against the law. You'll take yours against the sea.”

Charles Laughton - Bligh
Clark Gable - Christian

“I'm not looking at you as a... man looks. I'm a painter. Painters have a different way of looking at things.”

Charles Laughton - Rembrandt