The Patriot

The Patriot (2000)

19 quotes

(15 votes)

Movie Quote Quiz

Colonel William Tavington: Kill me before the war is over, will you? It appears that you are not the better man.
Benjamin Martin: You're right. My sons were better men.

Susan Martin: Papa! Papa, don't, I'll say anything! Please, papa, I'll say anything you want, tell me what you want me to say and I'll say it... Papa please don't go.

Lord General Cornwallis: Colonel Tavington, why, after six weeks, am I still here at Middleton place attending a ball in South Carolina while I should be attending balls in north carolina?

Benjamin Martin: Before this war is over, I'm going to kill you.
Colonel William Tavington: Why wait?

Colonel William Tavington: Let it be known if you harbor the enemy you will lose your home.

Colonel William Tavington: Tell me, Captain Wilkins, where do your loyalties lie?
Capt. Wilkins: To king and country, sir.
Colonel William Tavington: And why should I trust a man who'd betray his neighbors?
Capt. Wilkins: Those neighbors of mine who stand against England deserve to die a traitor's death.
Colonel William Tavington: We'll see.

Benjamin Martin: He cannot be held as a spy.
Colonel William Tavington: Oh, we're not going to hold him. We're going to hang him.

Hardwick: They hanged my brother down at Acworth. Every damned one of them redcoats deserves to die.

Colonel William Tavington: Quite impressive for a farmer with a pitchfork, wouldn't you say?

General O'Hara: My Lord, I beseech you. You must order the surrender.

Lord General Cornwallis: Tavington. Damn him! Damn that man.

Lord General Cornwallis: Fine soldier you are, bested by a bedtime story.

Benjamin Martin: When you have a family of your own, perhaps you'll understand.
Gabriel Edward Martin: When I have a family of my own, I won't hide behind them.

Miss Anne Howard/ Mrs. Anne Martin: You know who I am, Gabriel Martin. The last time you saw me I was 11 and you put ink in my tea.
Gabriel Edward Martin: Oh, I believe that was one of my younger brothers, perhaps Samuel or Nathan.
Miss Anne Howard/ Mrs. Anne Martin: It was you. And it turned my teeth black for a month.

Loyalist Simms: Massachusetts and Virginia may be at war, but South Carolina is not.

Nathan Martin: Father?
Benjamin Martin: Yes?
Nathan Martin: I killed those men.
Benjamin Martin: You did what I told you to do. You did what you had to. There was no wrong in it.
Nathan Martin: I'm glad I killed them. I'm glad.

Colonel William Tavington: Would you like a lesson, sir, in the rules of war? Or perhaps your children would?

John Billings: There's a story going around 'bout how some twenty Redcoats got killed by a ghost or some damn thing, carried a Cherokee tomahawk.
Benjamin Martin: Aren't you a little old to be believing in ghost stories?

Factual error: When Benjamin is handing a store clerk some money, he is giving him a $5 bill with Abraham Lincoln on it. This happened more than 80 years before he was president. And they didn't even use dollars during the Revolutionary war. They would have used British pounds.

More mistakes in The Patriot

Trivia: The character Benjamin Martin was based very strongly on the real life militia leader Gen. Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox". In the original drafts of the script even the character's name was to be Francis Marion. However, during filming certain historical sources revealed that Francis Marion was perhaps a very dubious character who was accused of hunting Native Americans for sport and raping his female slaves. Historical debate rages over the veracity of these accusations; but Sony Pictures changed the name of the character to Benjamin Martin to avoid any potential controversy around the film.

More trivia for The Patriot

Question: Who was the baby in Charlotte's arms in the closing scene? Why was the baby not alluded to previously?

Answer: At the end of the film, it is implied that Charlotte and Benjamin Martin have married and had a child together. It wasn't alluded to earlier because it is meant to show that a person's life can start over, even after tragedy and loss.

raywest

Answer: Additionally, in the film Charlotte says to Benjamin "I am not my sister," alluding that they were different people as Benjamin gets closer to her. As colonials were religious given the time, in the Bible in Leviticus 18:18 it says "do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living." Since his wife was dead, this no longer applied and they believed in starting over, as the above post states.

More questions & answers from The Patriot
More movie quotes

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.