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Maximus Decimus Meridius Quotes

Total quotes: 17
“Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again, for all else is dust and air.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: prayer
“[one of the assassins tries to draw his sword to kill Maximus but the sword is stuck]

The frost, sometimes it makes the blade stick.

[Maximus then swings the sword at the guard, cutting him across the face and killing him]”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: swordplay, assassins, frost
“Maximus: Quintus, look at me. Look at me! Promise me that you’ll look after my family.

Quintus: Your family will meet you in the afterlife.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Family, Afterlife
“[after Maximus sees the dead body of Marcus Aurelius]

Commodus: Your Emperor asks for your loyalty, Maximus. Take my hand, I only offer it once.

Quintus: Maximus, please be careful, that was not prudent.

Maximus: Prudent! The Emperor has been slain.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: prayer, Ancestors, Honor, dignity
“Maximus: Do you find it hard to do your duty?

Cicero: Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Duty, Free Will
“Ancestors, I ask you for your guidance. Blessed mother, come to me with the gods’ desire for my future. Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again. Ancestors, I honor you and will try to live with the dignity that you have taught me.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: prayer, Ancestors, Honor, dignity
“Lucilla: What did my father want with you?

Maximus: To wish me well before I leave for home.

Lucilla: You’re lying, I could always tell when you were lying because you were never any good at it.

Maximus: I never acquired your comfort with it.

Lucilla: True, but then you never had to, life is more simple for a soldier. Or do you think me heartless?

Maximus: I think you have a talent for survival.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: lying, Comfort, Soldier, Survival
“[Maximus leaves Marcus’ tent he hesitates outside. Lucilla steps out from the adjacent tent]

Lucilla: My father favors you now.

Maximus: My lady.

Lucilla: It was not always so.

Maximus: Many things change.

Lucilla: Many things, not everything.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: favoritism
“Commodus is not a moral man. You have known that since you were young. Commodus cannot rule. He must not rule [looking at Maximus] You’re the son that I should have had. Commodus will accept my decision. He knows that you command the loyalty of the army.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Moral, Loyalty, army
“
Marcus Aurelius: There is one more duty that I ask of you before you go home.

Maximus: What would you have me do Caesar?

Marcus Aurelius: I want you to become the protector of Rome after I die. I will empower you to one end alone, to give power back to the people of Rome and end the corruption that has crippled it. [Maximus looks amazed and sad] Do you accept this great honor that I have offered you?

Maximus: With all my heart, no.

Marcus Aurelius: Maximus, that is why it must be you.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: caesar, Rome
“Marcus Aurelius: When was the last time you were home?

Maximus: Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days and this morning.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Homesick
“[Maximus enters Marcus’s darkened tent]

Marcus Aurelius: Tell me again, Maximus, why are we here?

Maximus: For the glory of the Empire, sire. Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe that they fought and died for nothing.

Marcus Aurelius: And what would you believe?

Maximus: They fought for you and for Rome.

Marcus Aurelius: And what is Rome, Maximus?

Maximus: I’ve seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

Marcus Aurelius: Yet you have never been there. You have not seen what it has become. I am dying, Maximus. When a man sees his end… he wants to know there was some purpose to his life. How will the world speak my name in years to come? Will I be known as the philosopher? The warrior? The tyrant? Or will I be the emperor who gave Rome back her true self? There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish… it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter. Maximus, let us whisper now, together you and I. You have a son?

[Maximus nods his head]

Marcus Aurelius: Tell me about your home.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Empire, Battle, glory, Rome
“[seeing his daughter Lucilla spying in through the slit in the tent wall]

Marcus Aurelius: If only you had been born a man, what a Caesar you would have made.

Lucilla: Father.

[kisses him on his cheeks]

Marcus Aurelius: You would have been strong. I wonder, would you have been just?

Lucilla: I would have been what you taught me to be.

Marcus Aurelius: Enough of politics. Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter, and I am a good father.

Lucilla: This is a pleasant fiction, isn’t it?”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: caesar, Politics, Fatherhood
“Maximus: Highness, when your father releases me I intend to return home.

Commodus: Well, no one has earned it more. Don’t get too comfortable, I may call on you before long.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Going Home, comfortable
“Marcus Aurelius: You have proved your valor yet again, Maximus. Let us hope for the last time.

Maximus: There is no one left to fight, sire.

Marcus Aurelius: There is always someone left to fight. How can I reward Rome’s greatest general?

Maximus: Let me go home.

Marcus Aurelius: Ah, home.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Fighting, Going Home
“[addressing his troops] Fratres! [cavalry addresses Maximus] Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you’re already dead! [cavalry laughs] Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Hold the Line, Eternity, Elysium
“[to Quintus before the battle with Germanian troops begins]

Strength and honor. [gets on his horse and addresses Quintus again] At my signal, unleash hell.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: strength, Honor, Hell
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