William Pedecaris: (on Raisuli) He has the way about him, doesn't he? He sure has the way...
Vice Consul Richard: (to Bashaw) Now, listen here! We represent a modern power! We are talking about Marines, battleships, big guns - we are not fooling about!
Gummere: Richard, we are not here to make threats, only entreaties...
John Hay: (read as voice-over as the President poses for a photograph, his hand on a globe) Secretary of State to the President. I regret to inform you that I have received the following dispatch from Samuel Gummere, United States Consul-General, Tangier, Morocco. On October 15th, Mrs. Eden Perdicaris and her children were kidnapped from their residence in Tangier after the brutal murder of her servants and a guest, Sir Joshua Kenyon Smith, a British subject. This act of barbarous criminality appears perpetrated by Mulai el-Raisuli, Sheriff of the Riffian Berbers and the last of the Barbary Pirates. The British minister and myself concur that there exist alarming prospects of danger for all foreigners in Morocco. Request warships.
Theodore Roosevelt: Gentlemen, nothing in this world is certain - absolutely nothing. The fate of the nation will be decided by the American people in November, and the fate of Morocco will be decided tomorrow by me. And now, if you don't mind, I'd just like to be alone with my bear!
Raisuli: The lion takes long strides but the path is worn smooth by pygmy armies.
Eden: (during the shootout between Joseph and Raisuli's men) Joseph, over there!
Sir Joseph: Get down, Eden!
(shoots a brigand, and aims at another, but finds he's out of ammunition)
Sir Joseph: Damn.
(is run down by another brigand)
(repeated line)
Raisuli: Mrs. Pedecaris, you are a lot of trouble!
(last lines)
Sherif of Wazan: Great Raisuli, we have lost everything. All is drifting on the wind as you said. We have lost everything.
Raisuli: Sherif, is there not one thing in your life that is worth losing everything for?
(they both begin to laugh)
William Pedecaris: What are they singing?
Raisuli: They are singing songs to God.
William Pedecaris: Why are you not singing?
Raisuli: I am the sultan. They do the singing.
William Pedecaris: That is ridiculous.
John Hay: Not having any, Mr. President?
Theodore Roosevelt: Oh, no cake for me, John, birthday or no. Have to remain fit and trim, vigorous and active. After all, this Raisuli fellow is reputed to be over fifty and still a formidable brigand.
John Hay: Well, you might well make a formidable brigand yourself. You've made a good start in life, and we all have high hopes for you - when you grow up! And now I shall have some of your cake. "Let them eat cake" - thank you!
Theodore Roosevelt: Not good for you, John - neither are those cigars.
John Hay: At my age, I can afford it.
William Pedecaris: He's got a knife in his back!
Eden: And this is your way? Abducting women and children?
Raisuli: I prefer to fight the European armies, but they do not fight as men - they fight as dogs! Men prefer to fight with swords, so they can see each other's eyes! Sometimes, this is not possible. Then, they fight with rifles. The Europeans have guns that fire many times promiscuously and rend the Earth. There is no honor in this - nothing is decided from this. Therefore, I take women and children when it pleases me!
Eden: Do you pray often?
Raisuli: I pray to Mecca five times a day.
Eden: Is that so? I wonder how you find time, when you are so busy cutting off men's heads and kidnapping women and children!
Raisuli: If I miss the morning prayer, I pray twice in the afternoon. Allah is very understanding!
Raisuli: It is the wind that passes but the sea remains.
John Hay: Gentlemen, the Presidency was never won by a Vice-President filling out his fallen predecessor's term of office. Now, that may not obtain in this instance but...
Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge: The only thing people will remember about McKinley is that he had the good sense to get himself shot! Teddy's the most popular president since Washington.
Elihu Root, Secretary of War: Why drag in Washington?
John Hay: Ah, you know it and I know it, but that damned cowboy doesn't know it. What he wants is some issue to hang his campaign on - something to arouse the populace.
Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge: Cavalry charge?
John Hay: So to speak.
