Nicholas & Alexandra 1971 quotes, page 6

Rasputin

I knew a woman in Pokrovskoe. That's my home, a little village in Siberia. And this woman, she was so afraid of strangers that she bought herself a pinewood box and lived in it. Then, one day, her husband nailed the lid on, dug a hole, and dropped her into it. "Ivan, don't!" she cried. "But I only want to make you happy," he said. "I know, but Heaven's full of strangers. Let me out."

Rasputin

I see blood when I shut my eyes. A lot of blood. I saw blood once before, when I was in Jerusalem. And then my father died. In Kazan, there is an ivory Christ whose wounds bleed. Someone told me there's a Madonna in Kharkov that sheds real tears. Matushka, I see things. I have power. I cure the sick. Holy men kneel to me and kiss my hands. I am a vessel of the Lord. I have spoken with God. It must be so. How else can I do these things? I save souls and bring peace. God leads me. He brought me here. He speaks through me. I am the voice of God. It is His will. I have been sent to do great things.

I speak, nobody pays attention. I write, nobody reads it. I am out of style, nobody is wearing me this season. I mean, three hundred years of Romanovs. What is not to say there will not be 300 more?

Rasputin

I started late to be a starets. I was twenty when this vision came. We peasants get them all the time. The Virgin comes and tells them when to sell their sheep if they want to make a profit. She told me to become a pilgrim, so I started to walk. I waited for Her to tell me when to stop, but she didn't. I walked two thousand miles, and when I got to Greece, I couldn't walk any further, so I stopped. I spent two years in a monastery, and then I walked home again. Sometimes, people say to me, "What do I need to become a starets?" And I say, "Good feet."

I studied late to be a starets. 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."

Marie Fedorovna

I wish your father were alive ... He knew how to be a czar. He'd have burned Vienna down, stomped on the Germans, and shot the strikers. Anything to give Russia peace. And he'd certainly have known how to deal with Rasputin.

Alexandra

I've had a son. For years, I've daydreamed how I'd feel. And all that time, I never dreamed ... I'm filled with ... I don't know. It isn't joy or anything like that. It's more. It's terribly important. And I don't know why you're smiling.

Tsar Nicholas II

I've often thought I should like to be a country gentleman. I've always liked to watch things grow.

Imagine, sire, imagine that you are a factory worker. You're really poor. Your belly is never full. You freeze eight months of the year. Your children have no school, no doctor. Your country taxes you and sends your sons a continent away to die on a piece of land on the Pacific. Now sir, Japan is a third-rate power. If she defeats us, if Port Arthur falls, we shall be disgraced in the eyes of the world and here at home we shall have an insurrection on our hands.

Lenin

In the last ten years, I've spent three months in Russia. I'm out of fashion. No one's wearing me this year. I talk, and no one listens. I write, and no one reads.

Kerensky: [addressing the Duma following Rasputin's death] One madman has been murdered and you are celebrating. There is no food, no fuel. A third of our army is still unarmed, and they are surrendering in tens of thousands. Nothing is changed. The German czarita is still running the country. The czar must stop hiding with his soldiers and come back to Petersburg. Chaos is coming to Russia, and he should be here to deal with it!

Tsar Nicholas II

Mama's off to England in a month or so. She says the spring was late this year but very beautiful. Lord, but it's good to be alive! The world is like a field in summer, bursting with good things. One day, when all the wars are over, someone young will lead us to the harvest. As long as there are children, anything is possible.

No fact begins with if.

None if you will be here when this war ends. Everything we've fought for will be lost. Everything we've loved will be broken. The victors will be as cursed as the defeated. The world will grow old and men will wander about lost in the ruins and go mad. Tradition, virtue, restraint, they'll all go. I'm not mourning for myself, but for the people who will come after me. They will live without hope. And all they will have will be guilt, revenge, and terror, and the world will be full of fanatics and trivial fools.

Marie Fedorovna

Not even London on a Sunday is as boring as a room full of Romanovs.