- Denzil Holles: At last we all can sleep soundly, knowing that for once the King cannot impose a new tax on us in the morning.
- Sir Thomas Fairfax: You make it sound as if you fought the war only to save your profits, Holles!
- King Charles I: No man commands a king, no man tells a king his limits. A king rules by God's grace.
- Cousin Henry: [to Thomas Fairfax] The Lord chose you to be the nation's warrior as he chose our cousin Oliver to be its conscience.
- Sir Thomas Fairfax: We are not butchers, Oliver. This is not war!
- Oliver Cromwell: Is that so, Tom? When did it end? I must have missed it.
- Oliver Cromwell: [showing the crowd the blood stain on his hand after the king's execution] Red. It is red blood, like our own.
- Oliver Cromwell: Where are the law reforms? The guarantees of basic freedoms?
- Denzil Holles: If you read it carefully you will find them. We removed the King's power to appoint judges.
- Oliver Cromwell: You do not say why. Every man has a right to fair trial and opportunity. It is a fundamental principle. If you have not the guts to write it, then let me.
- King Charles I: It is hard to forget the day you came of age, when I laid my hand on this shoulder and named you Lord Thomas Fairfax. Amusing to think you swore loyalty to me then for evermore.
- Sir Thomas Fairfax: I swore to honour and defend my king as he is meant to be.
- King Charles I: I think your mother omitted something from your early education, Mr. Cromwell. Most men learn in the cradle that I am the King! By divine appointment! I will not be taught good government by you.
- Oliver Cromwell: Name one reason why a man should hold power over a nation.
- Doubter: Because he is born to it.
- Oliver Cromwell: I said a reason. Not an excuse.
- Oliver Cromwell: [to Lady Anne Fairfax] I underestimated you, Anne. I see there are two generals in this house.
- King Charles I: [on the scaffold, to Oliver Cromwell] I have good cause and a gracious God. I will say no more.
- Sir Thomas Fairfax: [to Oliver Cromwell] I find I cannot kill you. But one day soon a man who loves you less than I will raise his gun to stop you, and he'll be right.
- Sir Thomas Fairfax: [to Oliver Cromwell] Lord Protector is but another name for King, and you're a cruel one.
- Sir Thomas Fairfax: [last lines]
- Sir Thomas Fairfax: [voice over] Two years later we had a king once more. On his return Prince Charles ordered that Oliver's corpse be dug up and displayed on a public gallows. I see his face still. Hear him asking: "What has changed?" I tell him that I have. I wonder after all these years how things might have turned out had I stayed by his side. To be true to myself I had to let him down. He was a man I loved, but one I failed.