Lord Jim (1965)

Eli Wallach: The General

Photos 

Quotes 

• The General : Have you ever considered what makes pain unbearable? One thing. The brain.

  [He gets out a knife and sticks it into a stone iron] 

  The General : Put the brain to sleep, and the flesh can be burned, torn, twisted, chopped, without pain.

  [He works a bellows to heat up the iron] 

  The General : Awaken the brain, anticipate pain, and every touch, sight, sound, becomes exaggerated. The body betrays the mind. Finally, the pain becomes unbearable.

• Cornelius : Do their spears not frighten you?

  The General : Fools frighten me.

• Cornelius : What do you think of before a battle? Death? Killing? God? A woman!

  The General : I think only of what the enemy is thinking.

• The General : [Sarcastically, to Cornelius]  Ah, the sign of the true believer. You wear the Jesus medal, yet you beseech Buddha. Last week it was Mohammed. Before that, Confucius.

• The General : For one hour, he is not to be molested. Attend his comfort. Indulge your senses. Feel life. Eat, smoke, dream, make love. If he wishes privacy with her, permit. Look. The essence of pleasure. Warm, sweet, ripe. A woman can satisfy all your senses at the same time. She is the only reality. She is life. Death is the end of all things real. It is the end of all feeling, desire, hope. Death is nothingness. And that is what you fear most. Death. Not pain, but oblivion. In one hour, I will ask for the weapons. I will ask but once. If you refuse, if you lie - oblivion. One hour.

• The General : No man is a stranger to fear. Fear is the perfect tool for persuasion.

• The General : Never test another man by your own weakness. Science bores you?

• The General : What fear could turn you into a coward?

• Cornelius : [talking about his abdomen]  Oh, I feel a gripping pain here, probably something I ate.

  The General : Probably a precious stone perhaps. Like all thingsgreat and small, it will pass, and when it does, give it back.

• The General : I like men of business. We have a common language: Money. You bring the ammunitions...

  [He shrugs amiably] 

  The General : I buy.

  Lord Jim : They're gone. Blown up. Exploded.

  The General : [Knocks the wooden bowl from Jim's hand]  One explosion.

  [He strokes the shaven sides of his head in frustration and puts his hands on his hips impatiently] 

  The General : You bring nine separate barrels of powder. So there should be many separate explosions. Correct?

  Lord Jim : [Weakly]  Correct.