The Seven Samurai quotes

26 total quotes

Gorobei Katayama
Grandfather
Heihachi Hayashida
Kambei Shimada
Kikuchiyo

View Quote Danger always strikes when everything seems fine.

View Quote This is the nature of war. By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you’ll only destroy yourself.

View Quote Kambei Shimada: Go to the north. The decisive battle will be fought there.
Gorobei Katayama: Why didn't you build a fence there?
Kambei Shimada: A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war.

View Quote Katsushiro: He has the real samurai spirit. He is totally fearless. Yet at the same time, he is gentle, and modest- look how he acted after he went and got that gun. And how he went too- just as though he were going up into the hills to look for mushrooms.
Kikuchiyo (sarcastically): Delightful. Your yapping is absolutely riveting.

View Quote Kikuchiyo: What's that?
Yohei: ... It's my horse.
Kikuchiyo: Horse? I thought it was a big mouse.

View Quote Villager: How can we find a samurai we can pay with only rice?
Gisaku: Find hungry samurai.

View Quote [after discussing how Shichirōji managed to survive the last battle they fought together]
Kambei Shimada: As a matter of fact, I'm preparing for a tough war. It will bring us neither money nor fame. Want to join?
Shichirōji: Yes!
Kambei Shimada: Maybe we die this time.
[Shichirōji smiles]

View Quote [Kikuchiyo drags a captured bandit, bound by a rope, into a circle of peasants, and gives the prisoner a vicious kick every once in a while]
Bandit: Help! Help me!
[The bandit is close to tears]
Bandit: Help!
[As the bandit continues to scream for mercy, the other samurai try to restrain the crowd. Kambei rushes into the middle of the circle]
Kambei: Back off! He's a prisoner of war. He confessed. He's begging for his life. We can't just chop him to pieces.
[Heihachi tries to restrain a peasant lunging forth with a spear]
Peasant: Stay out of this!
[Kambei tries to hold back Rikichi, who is also full of murderous vengeance]
Rikichi: Let me at him!
[The shouting suddenly dies down, and they all turn to look at something: the old woman approaching menacingly with a hoe. The samurai watch as she walks past. Gisaku also approaches the crowd]
Gisaku: Let her avenge her son's death in her own way. Make way there. Somebody help her!
[Rikichi pushes past Kambei and charges forth with his spear. The other peasants follow suit. The samurai turn away dejectedly]

View Quote [The men arrive at the village]
Kikuchiyo: I'd hate to die on that dung heap.
Heihachi: Nobody's asking you to.

View Quote [The samurai look over into a stable at Kikuchiyo, who is asleep on a pile of straw]
Katsushiro Okamoto: Is he really a samurai?
Kambei Shimada: He only thinks he is.

View Quote [While Heihachi is chopping wood]
Gorobei Katayama: You're good.
Heihachi Hayashida: Yeah, yeah. But I'm better at killing enemies.
Gorobei Katayama: Killed many?
Heihachi Hayashida: Well — it's impossible to kill 'em all, so I usually run away.
Gorobei Katayama: A splendid principle!
Heihachi Hayashida: Thank you.
Gorobei Katamaya: And how do you feel about killing thirty bandits?
[Heihachi is so surprised that he completely misses the wood]

View Quote [After having rung the alarm] Don't be so scared! No bandits are coming. Look here, you idiots. We came all this way and look at the welcome you give us! Yet when I ring the alarm a few times... [He runs up and down, mimicking the farmers] ... you all rush out screaming for us to help you! You bunch of suckers.

View Quote [Kikuchiyo shambles into Rikichi's stable where the farmer had been staying.] It's me. I'm sleeping here from now on. Those guys cramp my style. [Humbled, Rikichi starts to hurry out, but Kikuchiyo grabs him] Stop cowering, you idiot! This is your place! You hand over your house and sleep in a barn and you still can't stand up for yourself! Go lie back down, you! [Kikuchiyo hurls Rikichi onto the straw, then lies down on the straw himself, with a straw mat over his body for a blanket. He sighs] Brings back memories.

View Quote [To a bunch of kids laughing at his impression of Yohei] Hey! I'm gonna start charging admission, you know.

View Quote [To Rikichi, who is farming] Couples always work harder together. You ought to get married yourself. [Rikichi drops everything and runs off, upset] Hey, come back! I was just kidding!