Nicholas quotes

View Quote [A moment alone with his wife after she has given birth to a baby boy]

The boy will bring us luck. It has all changed. I have a son to fight for now. We will smash the Japanese and drive them from Korea and I do not care what the cost will be!

View Quote [After hearing the advice of his prime minister and supreme commander that the Russo-Japanese War is costing too many Russian lives and recommended a troop withdrawal]

The Russia my father gave me never lost a war. What shall I say to my son when his time comes? That I was weak? That I had no pride? We shall fight on to victory.

View Quote [Soldiers have opened fire on the peasants, culminating in the infamous Bloody Sunday. Ambulance drivers are taking away the killed and wounded; Petya's wife Sonya is among the dead. His toddler is crying for his mother and he is in shocked having been now widowered by the massacre. Father Gapon is dishevled and his idealism in peaceful reform is shattered]

He did not come. He never came. Nicholas the murderer. The bloody, bloody murderer!

View Quote [Addressing a group of peasants about taking their grievances to the Tsar]

The Tsar is here in Saint Petersburg to bless the troops. He is staying at the Winter Palace. This Sunday, hundreds of us will walk to the palace in a peaceful parade. I will meet him on the balcony and read this: Your Majesty, we the working men and women of Saint Petersburg come to you seeking justice and protection. Only you can hear our grievances. If you do not help us, we will stay here and die, right in this very courtyard.

View Quote [Considering the fact that Russia is the last European nation, and the only European country during the 20th Century, to still have an autocracy, or absolute monarchy]

The Windsors have a parliament. Our British cousins gave their rights away. So did the Hapsburgs, and the Hohrenzollens too. The Romanovs will not. What I was given, I will give my son.

View Quote [Describing to Nicholas II the logistics problems of the Russo-Japanese War; holding a bullet]

Well, Nicky, let me put it this way. This is a bullet, munitioned in Saint Petersburg. I send it off to war. How does it get there? On a single spur of railroad track four thousand miles long, and in the middle, no track at all. God help us, it spends three days packed on sleds. It works the same way for every pair of boots, first aid kit, or pound of tea we send. Get out now, Nicky. While there is time!

View Quote [After her doctors have concluded that her son Alexei has hemophilia; she tells her reaction to her husband]

Tell them they are mistaken. Tell them we shall go to other doctors. Tell them to get out! My son is perfect! He will lead a long life, and grow up to be a great Tsar, like his father!

View Quote [At an opera performance in Kiev; Prime Minister Stolypin has just been assassinated. A woman screams and a panic ensues. The Tsar is taken to an upper level floor where an aide briefs him on the current developments of the situation. Although the aide is listening, it appears more that the Tsar is talking to himself as his men are moving rapidly.]

Stolypin is a good man. They always kill the good ones. I cannot find a match. Does anyone have a match? [The Tsar is nervously fumbling trying to light a cigarette. One of his aides lights the cigarette, then tells him the assassin has been apprehended, and informs him it was a revolutionary] It happened with my grandfather too. He helped the serfs; he freed them. So how did the peasants express their gratitude? They threw a bomb at him. Damn those revolutionaries. You try to help them by giving them what they want and what do you get for it? Bombs, gunshots, assassinations! I want them rooted out. I want something done, do you understand me? I want them paid in kind!

View Quote [At a war gaming scenario discussing Russia's impending involvement in the First World War. Colonel Volkov and other military officers are convinced their war plan is flawless and show great overconfidence, which was also common in all other nations involved in World War One]

They will not last a week. We will bury the German Army and that little pansy of a Kaiser and be home in time for Christmas!

View Quote [On his train car riding through Russian villages during the 300th anniversary of the Romanov family ruling Russia. Russian peasants are seen waving at the royal family's train as it passes by their villages.]

I did not want to come on this tour. But by God, I do so love it when they stand and wave!

View Quote [Commenting on the Bloody Sunday massacre and Russo-Japanese War]

Look at this, a massacre in Saint Petersburg! People were shot by the palace guards and Russia is in a riot! This time the Tsar has outdone himself. There is raw, naked power in the streets, just waiting for us to claim it! On top of that, the Japanese have forced Nicholas to accept peace on their terms. He has lost the war and all for nothing!

View Quote [Alexei is seen climbing rocks. Everyone runs in shock when they see the hemophiliac boy attempt such a dangerous stunt. Nagorny, the Russian sailor assigned to protect the Tsarevitch, climbs up the rocks after him. Alexei suddenly falls, but is immediately caught in a bear hug by Nagorny]

It is all right Nagorny. You caught me. You will always be there to catch me.

View Quote [At an a secret location printing out copies of Pravda, a Bolshevik party newspaper, which at this time is an underground publication. Lenin chides him on an article criticizing him]

Lenin thinks freedom is something you write on a wall but you do not actually practice. I do not understand you. You hate anyone who is not your kind of Bolshevik more than you hate the Tsar. No wonder why they call you Robespierre. Everybody has got to think like you are they are out!

View Quote [Lenin is living in a squalid apartment in France. The Bolshevik party is in big trouble; having been infiltarted by the Ohkrana and is near ruin. Lenin is not faring well himself having to go into exile. He is confirming his depression to his wife.]

In my ten years of exile, I have only been to Russia three months. I speak, no one listens to me. I write, no one bothers to read what I publish. I am out of style, no one is wearing me this season. I know what happens to expatriates; they go mad or they fade away in lands they are not native to. Is this all there is. I mean, three hundred years of Romanovs. What is there to say there will not be three hundred more?

View Quote I studied late to be a starets (faith healer). I was twenty when this vision came. We peasants get them all the time. The Virgin Mary appears to us, she tells us when to sell our sheep when we want to make a profit. She told me to start walking, so I did. I kept walking throughout Europe and I waited for Her to tell me when to stop walking, but she did not. When I got to Greece I could walk no more, so I resided in a monastery for two years and then proceeded to walk back to Russia again. Sometimes people ask me "What do I need to become a starets." and I respond "Good feet".