Gladiator (2000) – Movie Quotes

Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how, but we can decide how we meet that end, in order that we are remembered as men.

Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity.

Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the emperor of Rome.

— I knew a man who once said, «Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back».
— I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death?
— You must know. He was your father.

You know, dirt cleans off a lot easier than blood.

— There's no one left to fight, sire.
— There is always someone left to fight.

Maximus. Maximus. Maximus... They call for you. The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. A striking story. Now the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do.

When a man sees his end, He wants to know there was some purpose to his life.

— When was the last time you were home?
— Two years, 264 days and this morning.

— How can I reward Rome's greatest general?
— Let me go home.

You have a great name. He must kill your name before he kills you.

— What do you say to them?
— To my boy, I tell him I will see him again soon, and to keep his heels down when he's riding his horse. To my wife, that is not your business.

Nothing happens to anyone that he is not fitted by nature to bear.

— Have you ever embraced someone dying of plague, sire?
— No, but if you interrupt me again, I assure you that you shall.

Is Rome worth one good man's life? We believed it once. Make us believe it again. He was a soldier of Rome. Honor him.

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.