John Hay Quotes in The Wind and the Lion (1975)

John Hay: [to Ambassador] You... likey knifey? You... likey forky? Splendid.

[to Roosevelt]

John Hay: And now, Mr. President, blow!

[Roosevelt blows out his birthday cake, and the General stands for a toast]

Japanese General: May the breath of Theodore Roosevelt be like the wind that he has sent across the Pacific: wind that bends the trees of aggression and injustice, but a true wind marked also for its warmth. An American wind.

[to Hay]

Japanese General: You... likey speechy?

John Hay: Theodore! You are dangerous. You might even shoot somebody - accidentally I mean.

Theodore Roosevelt: John, I'd never shoot anyone accidentally. I need their votes.

John Hay: Madness!

Theodore Roosevelt: What do I want? I want respect! Respect for human life and respect for American property! And I'm going to send the Atlantic Squadron to Morocco to get that respect.

John Hay: That's illegal.

Theodore Roosevelt: Why spoil the beauty of the thing with legality?

John Hay: Not having any, Mr. President?

Theodore Roosevelt: Oh, no cake for me, John, birthday or no. Have to remain fit and trim, vigorous and active. After all, this Raisuli fellow is reputed to be over fifty and still a formidable brigand.

John Hay: Well, you might well make a formidable brigand yourself. You've made a good start in life, and we all have high hopes for you - when you grow up! And now I shall have some of your cake. "Let them eat cake" - thank you!

Theodore Roosevelt: Not good for you, John - neither are those cigars.

John Hay: At my age, I can afford it.

John Hay: Gentlemen, the Presidency was never won by a Vice-President filling out his fallen predecessor's term of office. Now, that may not obtain in this instance but...

Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge: The only thing people will remember about McKinley is that he had the good sense to get himself shot! Teddy's the most popular president since Washington.

Elihu Root, Secretary of War: Why drag in Washington?

John Hay: Ah, you know it and I know it, but that damned cowboy doesn't know it. What he wants is some issue to hang his campaign on - something to arouse the populace.

Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge: Cavalry charge?

John Hay: So to speak.

Theodore Roosevelt: [to Hay, while boxing] You know as well as I do that we can't have Arab desperadoes running around kidnapping American citizens. If I had my way, I'd go in there with a couple of Winchesters, a batallion of Marines - but, I can't do that, can I?

John Hay: [breaks up Roosevelt and his opponent] No.

Theodore Roosevelt: Has this Raspuli-?

John Hay: Raisuli.

Theodore Roosevelt: Raspuli, Raisuli, whatever - has he made any terms?

John Hay: No.

Theodore Roosevelt: Good - that gives us an excuse!

John Hay: [on Raisuli] He kidnapped a British consul once, but they became friends and he sent him back - he spat on the blood money.

Theodore Roosevelt: Spat on it?

John Hay: Yes. There've been others, though - Spanish and French emissaries.

Theodore Roosevelt: Did he send them back too?

John Hay: Parts of them.

Theodore Roosevelt: Parts of them? Obviously he has NO RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE!

[said as he KO's his opponent]

John Hay: [on the bear Roosevelt has shot] I trust he was a Democrat.

John Hay: [read as voice-over as the President poses for a photograph, his hand on a globe] Secretary of State to the President. I regret to inform you that I have received the following dispatch from Samuel Gummere, United States Consul-General, Tangier, Morocco. On October 15th, Mrs. Eden Pedecaris and her children were kidnapped from their residence in Tangier after the brutal murder of her servants and a guest, Sir Joshua Kenyon Smith, a British subject. This act of barbarous criminality appears perpetrated by Mulay el-Raisuli, Sheriff of the Riffian Berbers and the last of the Barbary Pirates. The British minister and myself concur that there exist alarming prospects of danger for all foreigners in Morocco. Request warships.

John Hay: [Gun shot] "He's gone cowboy again. Let me deal with him... or try. Theodore, what are you doing? Isn't that the Czar?"

John Hay: Do you need company?

Abraham Lincoln: In times like these, I'm best alone.