Nicholas & Alexandra 1971 quotes, page 2

"One finds these in Saint Petersburg everywhere. The drawings are crude, but you get the idea of what they mean."

Tsar Nicholas II

"Damn it! What is wrong with the Ohkrana? Cannot 10,000 secret agents find a printing press? I want it stopped!"

"It is not just one printing press. The agents cannot find them all. Nobody knows why you have allowed Rasputin into the palace."

Tsar Nicholas II

"You know why."

"Yes, but the people do not."

Tsar Nicholas II

"I suppose I should tell them, shall I. Very well, I shall make the annoucement. <Somewhat stately voice> "Citizens, your Tsarevitch could have a nosebleed and die from it."

I have these as well." [Stolypin hands the Tsar a dossier] "Police reports on Grigori Efifmovitch Rasputin. Drunk half the time. Chases after all the women of Saint Petersburg. Oh, he is generous with himself, I will give him that, it is his only Christian virtue. Whores, officer's wives, the list goes on. You have to banish him from the palace; away from Saint Petersburg. I cannot control the situation if you do not. People are spreading rumors that he goes to bed with your wife and daughters!"

<Showing tears of joy>: 'Mon cher!' (My good man!)

Tsar Nicholas II

"A son? I have a son?"

"Eight pounds."

Tsar Nicholas II

"And Sunny? Is she all right?"

"Oh yes. Shall I make the announcement?"

Tsar Nicholas II

"It is incredible. I have a son!"

Alexandra: Does he have to be Alexis? Can't we call him something else?
Nicholas: Alexis was a gentle czar. Perhaps the only one.
Alexandra: Not counting you.

Alexis: Why did you abdicate for me? Why? You didn't even ask.
Nicholas: I didn't want you to pay for my mistakes.
Alexis: Am I not paying for them now? Aren't all of us? I should have had a chance. The right to live my own life, make my own decisions. I could have tried to help Russia, help Mother and my sisters, and perhaps even you. I could have been a Romanov. A czar.
Nicholas: It all went wrong. I hardly know why or how.
Alexis: Instead, I just bleed. It's my fate. I bleed.

English Journalist: Excuse me, Mr. Lenin. I'm from the Socialist Worker. Could you tell me what you think of the socialist movement in England?
Mme. Krupskaya: The English cut their meat wrong, their tea is terrible, and the weather was better in Siberia. At least you keep your policemen under control.

Grand Duke Nicholas: A telegram from the Kaiser. Just what we wanted. Offering to mediate between us and Austria.
Nicholas: I knew I could count on Willy. You see? He signed it, "Your very sincere and devoted friend and cousin, Willy."
Count Witte: With due respect to your cousin, sire, the Kaiser is a deceitful megalomaniac. If he is offering to help, then it is time to pray.

Kerensky: Do you realize I'm all that stands between you and the block? No munitions. No supplies. I don't know where the army stands. The treasury is bankrupt. The students riot. Workers carry arms. The Socialists want this, the Mensheviks want that. The Radicals, the Centrists, the Kadets, the Bolsheviks. I can't arrest them even if I wanted to. We have rights and laws now. You had power and no laws. I have laws and no power.
Nicholas: I wish I could help you.
Kerensky: You had your chances. I wish I had mine.

Kokovtsov: [addressing the Duma after Nicholas orders its dissolution] This government deplores brutality and violence. But when dissent gets out of hand, when opposition ceases to be peaceful, law and order must and will be kept.
Kerensky: Not at this price. The Duma is not a street corner. There is no violence here, but even we are not free to speak.
Member of the Duma: Where is the czar?
Kokovtsov: The czar is at the hunting lodge in Poland.
Kerensky: I don't care if he's in Scotland shooting grouse. Find him and tell him he's bringing ruin on his head. Tell him, while there's still a czar left to tell!

Nicholas: I want a good life for my people.
Count Witte: On your terms.
Nicholas: I know what will make them happy. They're children, and they need a czar. They need tradition, not this. They're the victims of agitators. A Duma would make them bewildered and discontented. And don't tell me about London and Berlin. God save us from the mess they're in.
Count Witte: I see. So, they talk, pray, march, plead, petition, and what do they get? Cossacks, prison, flogging, police spies! And now, after today, they will be shot! Is this God's will? Are these His methods? So, make war on your own people. How long do you think they're going to stand and let you shoot them? You ask me who's responsible! You ask!

Nicholas: Tell me, Dr. Federov, if my son, as the future czar, would remain behind to be educated in Russia while I and my family went abroad, how long would he be likely to live?
Dr. Federov: Deprived of your love and care and what I refer to as "customary surroundings," it's hard to say. It's a matter of luck and chance, Your Majesty. There are no real statistics. One would hope that he could live a normal span of life, but, well, twenty would be a good age.

Nicholas: You puzzle me. You'd be happy to see us dead, and yet you help us get away.
Yakovlev: I haven't your taste for murder, Bloody Nicholas. I've never had a chance to get used to it. How many men have you killed? Have you the least idea? God knows how many peasants died. Nobody counted children. You only know the number of soldiers because somebody counted them for you. Seven million. Six quarts a man times seven million. It's an ocean. Have you ever seen a battle? I'm wrong. You're not Bloody Nicholas. You're a man of no imagination.

Petya: I want to kill somebody. They come here sometimes, the other factory workers, and they tell us that we should burn things down, make bombs. Well, I want to fight back once.
Gapon: All violence begets is violence. They'll beat you. There's a better way. We are going to see the czar.
Sonya: You know what they say, Father. "God is too high, and the czar's too far away."

Rasputin: All saints were sinners once. God loves sinners.
Alexandra: Then why is He killing my baby?
Rasputin: We had a man in Pokrovskoe. He didn't wash or work. He lied, stole, cheated, drank, chased all the women. He was a sinner. Why, out of all men, did the Virgin come to him?
Alexandra: Perhaps he lied. You said he was a liar.
Rasputin: No. She came. I saw her. I know all there is to know about sin. Pray with me, Matushka. God is here.

Stolypin: I don't like the duma any more than you do, but I'd rather let them talk than have to deal with riots and strikes and marches. It would be better to give them more power than face that.
Nicholas: I am the czar. And I would never accept that.
Stolypin: [holding out a dossier] Police reports on Grigori Efimovitch Rasputin. Drunk half the time. Whores, generals' wives. Oh, he's generous with himself. I'll say that for him. That's his only Christian virtue. He'll sleep with anyone, and it's no secret. Everybody knows it. He came to see me, apparently with Her Majesty's blessing. He even tried to hypnotize me. Why is such a man admitted to the palace?
Nicholas: You know why.
Stolypin: Your people don't.
Nicholas: I'll tell them, shall I? "Citizens, your czarevitch could get a bloody nose and die from it."

The German Counsel: We are here in Zürich and, if I understand you, you want the German government, which is at war with Russia, to take you across Germany to Sweden because you can get to Russia from there.
Lenin: I'm offering to stop the war.
The German Counsel: Oh, I didn't know you had so much authority.
Lenin: If there was a Bolshevik government in Russia, we'd immediately make peace with Germany. Then how many German divisions could you transfer to the Western Front?
The German Counsel: And now you're asking me for classified information. Do you know my government has locked up more Bolsheviks than anyone else? How can you expect us to help you make a revolution? You have no sense of proportion.
Lenin: All I'm interested in is power in Russia, and it's lying there in the streets waiting to be picked up. Kerensky won't last. He's still fighting the war, and the people are desperate for peace. I shall offer them peace. Then you'll see the real revolution.
The German Counsel: I see your jokes are very subtle. A Marxist wants to use the Kaiser, and perhaps the Kaiser can use the Marxist.