Don Diego de la Vega Quotes in The Mask of Zorro (1998)

Don Diego de la Vega: There is a saying, a very old saying: when the pupil is ready the master will appear.

Alejandro Murrieta: Look at me, I look like a butterfly. This is the most stupid thing I've ever done.

Don Diego de la Vega: I doubt that.

Don Diego de la Vega: You have passion, Alejandro, and your skill is growing. But to enter Montero's world, I must give you something which is completely beyond your reach.

Alejandro Murrieta: Ah, yes? And what is that?

Don Diego de la Vega: Charm.

Alejandro Murrieta: I miss my brother, sir.

Don Diego de la Vega: Your brother is dead. We lose the ones we love; we cannot change it. Put it aside.

Alejandro Murrieta: How? How can I do what is needed, when all I feel is... hate.

Don Diego de la Vega: You hide it

[Holds up black mask]

Don Diego de la Vega: with this.

Don Diego de la Vega: This is called a training circle, a master's wheel. This circle will be your world, your whole life. Until I tell you otherwise, there is nothing outside of it.

Alejandro Murrieta: Capitan Love is...

Don Diego de la Vega: There is NOTHING outside of it. Captain Love does not exist until I say he exists. As your skill with the sword improves, you will progress to a smaller circle. With each new circle, your world contracts, bringing you that much closer to your adversary, that much closer to retribution.

Alejandro Murrieta: I like that part.

Don Diego de la Vega: [after beating Alejandro in a training session] Lesson number one: never attack in anger. Lesson number two...

[smells Alejandro, who is very dirty]

Don Diego de la Vega: Come with me.

Alejandro Murrieta: [Don Diego de la Vega leaves; Alejandro sniffs his own underarm] What?

[later, as he washes in a pool]

Alejandro Murrieta: So what is lesson number three?

Don Diego de la Vega: To get to lesson number four.

Don Diego de la Vega: Do you know how to use that thing?

Alejandro Murrieta: Yes. The pointy end goes into the other man.

Don Diego de la Vega: [sighs] This is going to take a lot of work.

Don Diego de la Vega: You cannot imagine, Rafael, how I have dreamed of this moment, night and day, twenty long years.

Don Rafael Montero: Really? I haven't given you a second thought.

Don Rafael Montero: I would never have let any harm come to her...

Don Diego de la Vega: She was never yours to protect.

Alejandro Murrieta: I would have killed him.

Don Diego de la Vega: No, not today. He is trained to kill. You seem trained to drink. Oh, yes, my friend, you would have fought very bravely, and died very quickly. Who then would avenge your brother?

Don Diego de la Vega: Convince Montero that you're a gentleman of stature, and he will let you into his circle.

Alejandro Murrieta: Me? A gentleman?

[pause]

Alejandro Murrieta: This is going to take a lot of work.

Don Diego de la Vega: You should not trade something like that for a mere glass of whiskey.

Alejandro Murrieta: Why not? You think I could get two?

Alejandro: I've never lost a fight.

Don Diego de la Vega: Except to a crippled old man just now.

Don Diego de la Vega: [telling a story to his baby daughter] And suddenly lightning flashed and a mighty thunder shook the wasted land, and the evil king glared at the good prince and said...

[sees Esperanza watching him]

Don Diego de la Vega: ... something very forgettable.

Don Diego de la Vega: [to Elena as he lays dying] The world is a very strange place... to have found you at last - only to lose you again.

Elena: You will never lose me, Father.