Maximus [After winning against seemingly impossible odds]
Are you not entertained? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!? Is this not why you are here? [Crowd chanting] Spaniard!!! Spaniard!!! Spaniard!!!
Played by Russell Crowe 
Gladiator (2000) · 66 quotes
Gladiator (2000) · 66 quotes
Most-quoted character in Gladiator (2000): in 30 of its 66 quotes
Most scenes with: Proximo (4), Marcus Aurelius (3), Juba (2)
Fratres! Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line. Stay with me. If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled; for you are in Elysium, and you're already dead! [his men burst out laughing] Brothers, what we do in life, echoes in eternity.
More lines from Maximus
15 quotes Maximus Maximus Frost...sometimes it makes the blade stick.
Maximus Whatever comes out of these gates, we've got a better chance of survival if we work together. Do you understand? If we stay together, we survive.
Maximus Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again, for all else is dust and air.
Maximus Why don't they know they're already dead?
Maximus I am a slave! What possible difference can I make?
Maximus 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.
Maximus Marcus Aurelius had a dream that was Rome. This is not it. This is not it!
Maximus Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing.
Maximus At my signal, unleash hell.
Maximus My name...my name is Gladiator.
Maximus You're in danger of becoming a good man, Proximo.
Maximus Ancestors I ask for your guidance! Blessed mother come to me with the gods' desires for my future. Blessed father watch over my wife and my son with a ready sword! Whisper to them that I only live to hold them again! Ancestors I honor you and I try to live with the dignity you taught me!
Maximus I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."
Maximus The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end, Highness.
Scenes with Maximus
14 scenes
Maximus? Maximus?
Maximus Quintus, free my men. Senator Gracchus is to be reinstated. There was a dream, that was Rome. It shall be realized. These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius.
People should know when they are conquered.
Maximus Would you, Quintus? Would I?
[Proximo explains the story of his gladiator career]
He [Marcus Aurelius] touched me on the shoulder, I was free.
Maximus [laughs wildly]
You knew Marcus Aurelius –
I didn't say I knew him, I said he touched me on the shoulder once!
Maximus Do you find it difficult to do your duty?
Cicero Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.
Lucilla I want to help you.
Maximus Yes, you can help me. Forget you ever knew me, never come back here again.
You have proved your valor yet again, Maximus. Let us hope for the last time.
Maximus There is no one left to fight, sire.
There is always someone left to fight. How can I reward Rome's greatest general?
Maximus Let me go home.
Ah, home.
When was the last time you were home?
Maximus Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days and this morning.
Maximus What will you have me do, Caesar?
I want you to become the protector of Rome after I die. I will empower you, to one end alone, to give power back to the people of Rome and end the corruption that has crippled it. Pause Will you accept this great honor that I have offered you?
Maximus With all my heart, no.
Maximus, that is why it must be you.
The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?
Maximus You would fight me?
Why not? Do you think I am afraid?
Maximus I think you've been afraid all your life.
Unlike Maximus the invincible, who knows no fear?
Maximus 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?
Maximus You must know. He was your father.
You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? Smile for me now, brother! [Commodus stabs him in the back]
Maximus You ask me what I want. I too want to stand before the Emperor as you did.
Then listen to me. Learn from me. I wasn't the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd. And you will win your freedom.
Maximus I will win the crowd. I will give them something they have never seen before.
What do you want? Hmm? Girl? Boy?
Maximus You sent for me?
Yes, I did. You're good, Spaniard, but not that good. You could be magnificent.
Maximus I'm required to kill, so I kill. That is enough.
That's enough for the provinces, but not for Rome.
Maximus ... And you have met Caesar?
... Yes ... yes, I did ...
It's somewhere out there. My country. My home. My wife is preparing food. My daughters carry water from the river. Will I ever see them again? I think not.
Maximus Do you believe you'll see them again when you die?
I think so. But then, I will die soon. They will not die for many years. I'll have to wait.
Maximus But you would … wait?
Of course.
Maximus You see, my wife and my son are already waiting for me.
You'll meet them again. But not yet. Not yet.
Maximus [They shake hands]
Not yet. … Not yet.
Can they hear you?
Maximus Who?
Your family, in the afterlife.
Maximus Oh yes.
What do you say to them?
Maximus To my son, I tell him I will see him again soon. To keep his heels down while riding his horse. To my wife – that is not your business.
[They laugh]
