Cardinal Richelieu Quotes in The Three Musketeers (1993)

Cardinal Richelieu: A word of caution, milady. A snap of my fingers, and you could be back on the block where I found you.

Milady: And with a flick of my wrist, I could change your religion.

Cardinal Richelieu: You're very persuasive.

King Louis: You've failed.

Cardinal Richelieu: Oh, you're so naive. Things couldn't be more perfect if I planned them myself. The King of France dies at the hands of his own personal guard. Grief stricken, terrified, the hudled masses turn for comfort to their devout spiritual leader who, ever so humbly, assumes the throne. With the Queen by his side.

Queen Anne: I would rather die!

Cardinal Richelieu: That can be arranged!

Cardinal Richelieu: All for one. And more for me.

D'Artagnan: WAIT!

Cardinal Richelieu: You object to losing your head?

D'Artagnan: Yes, I like it where it is!

Cardinal Richelieu: Then tell me what I want to know, and maybe you will keep it a while longer!

D'Artagnan: I don't know where they are.

Cardinal Richelieu: And if you did?

D'Artagnan: I wouldn't tell you...

Cardinal Richelieu: I admire your courage, D'Artagnan. You might have made a great musketeer. But now we'll never know - will we?

Cardinal Richelieu: Tell me, D'Artagnan. What noble business brings you here?

D'Artagnan: I came to join the King's Musketeers.

Cardinal Richelieu: [slyly] Bad timing.

D'Artagnan: So I've heard.

Athos: Richelieu!

Cardinal Richelieu: You're too late, Musketeers! By now the Duke of Buckingham's signature is next to mine! The alliance is complete!

Athos: That would be difficult, considering the treaty never left France!

[pause]

Cardinal Richelieu: A minor problem!

Cardinal Richelieu: One thousand gold pieces on each of their heads, dead or alive!

[pause]

Cardinal Richelieu: I prefer dead!

Aramis: Leaving so soon?

Cardinal Richelieu: Oh you know, I abhor bloodshed

Aramis: Especially your own.

Cardinal Richelieu: Stand aside.

Aramis: You are under arrest, charged with treason.

Cardinal Richelieu: You of all people should know that the Cardinal does not answer to the laws of men.

Aramis: Then you'll answer to God.

Cardinal Richelieu: [shoots Aramis] You first.

Cardinal Richelieu: [speaking of Milady DeWinter] A truly remarkable woman. The most beautiful I have ever known. And the deadliest... which would explain my attraction.

Cardinal Richelieu: Milady De Winter. Your beauty would make even the most chaste of men think of... impurity.

Milady: I don't believe you suffer the burden of chastity.

Cardinal Richelieu: Perhaps you're right.

Milady: I was making an observation not an offer.

Cardinal Richelieu: Remember, Kings come and Kings go but one thing remains the same. And that is me.

King Louis: Your Eminence, I have heard some troubling rumors about you.

Cardinal Richelieu: There are so many to choose from.

King Louis: Betrayal.

Cardinal Richelieu: Ah, yes. That is usually the first. Let me see if I remember it correctly. While the English attack from without, the wicked Cardinal undermines from within, forging a secret alliance with Buckingham and placing himself on the throne. But really, Your Majesty, why stop there. I have heard much more festive variations. I make oaths with pagan gods, seduce the queen in her own chamber, teach pigs to dance and horses to fly, and keep the moon carefully hidden within the folds of my robe. Have I forgotten anything?

King Louis: It does seem rather farfetched.

Cardinal Richelieu: Sire, if there are any doubts about my loyalty, they will be laid to rest when we appear together to celebrate your birthday.

[the Queen is alone, contemplating a map of the world]

Cardinal Richelieu: Homesick?

Queen Anne: Cardinal Richelieu. You surprised me.

Cardinal Richelieu: I often have that effect on people. I can't imagine why, I'm really a very gentle person. You seem a little unhappy in your new home.

Queen Anne: Lonely. Is that the same thing?

Cardinal Richelieu: Austria's loss is France's gain.

Queen Anne: I'm not sure the King shares your opinion. We've barely spoken since our wedding day. Whenever we're together he seems so... uncertain.

Cardinal Richelieu: Arranged marriages can be difficult. Your father and I thought yours would bring Austria and France closer together.

Queen Anne: Well countries align more swiftly than people, I'm afraid.

Cardinal Richelieu: What a pity. Love is, I think... wasted on the young.

Cardinal Richelieu: He is becoming as troublesome as his father.

Rochefort: He is a foolish boy and barely that.

Cardinal Richelieu: That foolish boy is about to become a man which is all the more reason for us to act quickly. Have our loose ends

[the three musketeers]

Cardinal Richelieu: been tied up?

Rochefort: Two patrols have been sent.

Cardinal Richelieu: I trust, Captain Rochefort, that you are doing everything in your power to rid us of these rebels. Don't let having only one eye impair your vision. The loss of the other could be most... inconvenient.

Cardinal Richelieu: [hears the scream of a prisoner being run through] One less mouth to feed.

Cardinal Richelieu: Who is the man that accuses you?

Bonacieux: [Rochefort enters and Bonacieux points at him] That! That is the man!

Count Rochefort: Take him away.

Bonacieux: That is *not* the man!

Rochefort: I failed. One does occasionally.

Cardinal Richelieu: If I blundered as you do, my head would fall.

Rochefort: I would say from a greater height than mine, Eminence.

Cardinal Richelieu: You would?

Rochefort: The height of vaulting ambition.

Cardinal Richelieu: You have none?

Rochefort: No.

Cardinal Richelieu: Do you fear me, Rochefort?

Rochefort: Yes, I fear you, Eminence. I also hate you.

Cardinal Richelieu: I love you, my son. Even when you fail.

Lady de Winter: Your Eminence is a great player - great enough to lose. I do not like to lose.

Cardinal Richelieu: You must suit yourself, Milady. But if in the end you should, do it with a becoming grace.

Cardinal Richelieu: They have won, we have lost. The point, that is; the game continues.

Febre the Man in Black: What if I absolutely must kill someone?

Cardinal Richelieu: Well, if you must, you must.

Cardinal Richelieu: So you plot the course of history, now. You're indeed mad!

Febre the Man in Black: That's three times. It must be so.

Cardinal Richelieu: You've gone too far. I wish to scare the Spaniards, embarrass the King. I want political tension, not war.

Febre the Man in Black: The Spaniards *were* scared. You could see it in their faces just before died. And I'm certain King Louis feels embarrassed.

Cardinal Richelieu: He has gone mad.

D'Artagnan: He was always mad. But, when he was your madman it was overlooked.

Cardinal Richelieu: If you were about to die, what would you do?

D'Artagnan: Your Eminence, I should write the history of France.

D'Artagnan: [reciting from memory the letter Richelieu wrote giving Milady de Winter permission to kill Buckingham, d'Artagnan and Constance, as Richelieu reads the actual note which D'Artagnan has handed him] "By my order and for the good of the state, the bearer has done what has been done."

Cardinal Richelieu: Hm. One should be careful what one writes...

[he tears up the note]

Cardinal Richelieu: and to whom one gives it. I must bear those rules in mind.

Cardinal Richelieu: Spy... it is a foul word.

Rochefort: It is a familiar word to me, Eminence, in your service.

Cardinal Richelieu: [glares at Rochefort, then] On your knees, little man, before your master!

MiLady DeWinter: I have affairs to be settled.

Cardinal Richelieu: I'm not concerned with your affairs.

MiLady DeWinter: I would wish it.

Cardinal Richelieu: I'm not concerned with your wishes, Milady.

Cardinal Richelieu: These enemies are the enemies of France. Root them out under my protection. Wear my coat

[of arms]

Cardinal Richelieu: . Have my love.

D'Artagnan: Eminence, what can I say?

Cardinal Richelieu: "Yes" will be sufficient.

D'Artagnan: I - I can't.

Cardinal Richelieu: ...You're very wet.

D'Artagnan: Wet or dry, I cannot.

Cardinal Richelieu: [to D'Artagnan] I don't make such an offer twice in one day. But if you should survive to return to Paris, then you may see my hand stretched out to you once more. For then, you would be a very remarkable young man indeed. I would remark on it to people.

Cardinal Richelieu: [to Milady about Buckingham] The queen of France, for whom he bears love - my word on this, as sure as I love - will be dragged out and paraded in dishonor.

Cardinal Richelieu: Where did you find your Englishman?

Gil de Berault: I overtook him 50 miles from Calais.

Cardinal Richelieu: What did he say?

Gil de Berault: Nothing, your Eminence.

Cardinal Richelieu: Typically English. What did he do?

Gil de Berault: Fought, your Eminence.

Cardinal Richelieu: Typically English. And then?

Gil de Berault: We had an excellent fight, your Eminence.

Cardinal Richelieu: Did you leave him dead?

Gil de Berault: Oh... not very.

Cardinal Richelieu: A most original conception, your Majesty, The Birth of Venus. I pray I may assist you in the birth of a new France, where Church and State are one.

[He holds out his hand to Louis, who kisses his ring]

Cardinal Richelieu: [intoning] And may the Protestant be driven from our land...