Woodcutter quotes from Rashomon (1950)

Woodcutter

I'm the one who should be ashamed. I don't understand my own soul.

Priest

If men don't trust each other, this Earth might as well be hell.

Commoner

Right. The world's a kind of hell.

Priest

No! I don't want to believe that!

Commoner

No one will hear you, no matter how loud you shout. Just think. Which one of these stories do you believe?

Woodcutter

None makes any sense.

Commoner

In the end, you cannot understand the things men do.

Woodcutter

It's a lie. It's all a lie. Tajômaru's story and the woman's.

Commoner

It's human nature to lie. Most of the time we can't even be honest with ourselves.

Priest

That may be. But it's because men are weak that they lie, even to themselves.

Commoner

Not another sermon. I don't care if it's a lie, as long as it's entertaining. What story did the woman come up with?

Priest

Well, it's completely different from Tajômaru's story. So different that her face didn't even show the fierceness he spoke of. She was so docile, she was almost pitiful.

Woodcutter

Selfish!

Commoner

What's wrong with that? That's the way we are, the way we live. You just can't live unless you're what you call selfish.

Woodcutter

Damn it. Everyone is selfish and dishonest. Making excuses. The bandit, the woman, the man, and you!