Waterloo (I) (1970)

Dan O'Herlihy: Marshal Michel Ney

Photos 

Quotes 

• Napoleon Bonaparte : Cross the river. Tomorrow we will dry our boots in Brussels.

  Michel Ney : God willing, sire.

  Napoleon Bonaparte : God? God has nothing to do with it.

• King Louis XVIII : I know you loved this man.

  Michel Ney : I did, once. But I promise you, that I will bring him back to Paris in an iron cage.

  [exits] 

  King Louis XVIII : How they exaggerate, these soldiers, "In an iron cage"? Nobody asked for that.

• Michel Ney : Wellington's on the run! I caught him at Quatre Bras! He's retreating!

  Napoleon Bonaparte : If Wellington's retreating, what are you doing here?

  Michel Ney : But, Sire...

  Napoleon Bonaparte : If Wellington's retreating, what are you doing here? Why didn't you follow him? Why didn't you pursue?

  Michel Ney : [Raises voice]  where are the reinforcements you promised me?

  Napoleon Bonaparte : [shouting]  Don't you dare criticize me! Don't you dare! Don't you see if Wellington's free to choose his ground then everything I've won in this campaign you've lost!

• Napoleon Bonaparte : Well they've done it! The whole of Europe has declared war against me! Not against France, but against me.

  Le Bedoyere : They dignify you sire by making you a Nation!

  Napoleon Bonaparte : [laughing]  Dignify? Dignify? They deny me the decency of law! They make it legal that any clown can kill me.

  Michel Ney : Well we've fought with mud in our boots before!

  Napoleon Bonaparte : Yes well, I'll discuss peace over Wellington's dead body, that's my peace table!

• Michel Ney : You have no choice. You have to give up the throne.

  Napoleon Bonaparte : Oh, Ney, Ney, Ney. The throne? You know what the throne is, Ney? The throne is an overdecorated piece of furniture. It's what's behind the throne that counts. My brains, my ambitions, my desires, my hope, my imagination, and above all, my will.

• Michel Ney : [as elite French soldiers retreat in disorder]  Are you France? Are you the Guard?