War and Peace (1956)

Henry Fonda: Pierre Bezukhov

Photos 

Quotes 

• Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : There must be something you want to do.

  Pierre Bezukhov : I want to discover... everything! I want to discover why I know what's right and still do what's wrong. I want to discover what happiness is, and what value there is in suffering. I want to discover why men go to war, and what they really say deep in their hearts when they pray. I want to discover what men and women feel when they say they love.

• Platon Karatsev : [explaining why a boy was executed]  Where there's law, there's injustice.

  [to his dog] 

  Platon Karatsev : C'mon, boy, get up, get up!

  [to Pierre] 

  Platon Karatsev : But the maggot eats the cabbage - yet dies first.

  Pierre Bezukhov : What did you say?

  Platon Karatsev : I say things happen not as we plan them but as God judges.

• Pierre Bezukhov : I have sinned, Lord, but I have several excellent excuses.

• Pierre Bezukhov : Each morning I wake up, I'm disgusted with myself with what I did the night before. I tell myself, "Today, a change."

• Pierre Bezukhov : [Before the Battle of Borodino]  Such an enormous event! All our lives will be different from now on because of what is going to happen here tomorrow.

• Pierre Bezukhov : You can't hate something you've never known or understood.

• Platon Karatsev : [about the camp followers of Napoleon's retreating army]  Russian women!

  Pierre Bezukhov : They're the lice that live on the conquerors. They have to leave or die.

• Pierre Bezukhov : [opens the bedroom drapes, while his spoiled wife sleeps on]  Come on, Helene! We've got lots to do if we want to leave for the country.

  Helene Kuragina : [very sleepy]  Oh Pierre, it's so early!

  [he kisses her, and she gets a crafty look on her face] 

  Helene Kuragina : Besides, it's so boring in the country.

  Pierre Bezukhov : [Seriously]  I'm sorry, my dear, but I promised those peasants I'd come and see them. They need a new hospital, and a new school, and many other things besides.

  Helene Kuragina : [very spoiled]  Well they can starve just as well without a school, and they can die just as well without a hospital!

  [catches herself, changes her tune] 

  Helene Kuragina : Pierre, why don't you go on without me? You can do what you have to do, and I'll come visit you in a few months time.

  [Slyly] 

  Helene Kuragina : You'll appreciate me so much more after a few months of sleeping alone.