John Patterson Quotes in The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

John Patterson: Have you ever failed?

Charles Remington: Only at life.

John Patterson: You don't enjoy killing, do you?

[Remington ignores the question by taking a swig from his flask]

Hawthorne: Then why do it?

Charles Remington: Because I've got a gift.

[Samuel hands John a letter from his wife]

Samuel: You like her?

John Patterson: Very much.

Samuel: I don't like any of mine.

John Patterson: Well then you go too, you lack the courage to lead. Go! Tell all your men to go. But I will kill the lions and I will build the bridge. And you? You must go home and tell the wives of the men who died here that you fled with the others because you could not master your fear.

John Patterson: I will sort this out. I will kill the lion, and I will build he bridge.

Abdullah: Of course you will.

[as he walks away]

Abdullah: You're white, you can do anything.

Samuel: Mzee! John! Where do you think you're going?

John Patterson: [John cocks his rifle] I'm going to sort it out.

[He fires a shot]

John Patterson: I'm going...

[He fires again]

John Patterson: to sort it out.

[He shoots into the air, again, walks onto the bridge, and continues firing]

Charles Remington: [melancholy] My life was shaped because someone invented gunpowder, and that's what took me around the world. But the memory that I wanted, that was the family that I lost.

John Patterson: You know Charles, you're a rather cheerful fellow when you get to know you.

[all start laughing]

Nigel: Patterson the lion killer. I do wish I had been here for the hunt.

John Patterson: No, you don't.

[after they discover the Lion's Den filled with skeletons, and are terrified]

Charles Remington: Lions don't do this. Lions... never had a lair like this. They're doing it for the pleasure.

John Patterson: They'll know we've been here.

John Patterson: Darling... you know how God invented liquor so the Irish wouldn't rule the world. Well, I think he may have invented being stubborn so we can be the best at something.

John Patterson: What better job in all the world than build a bridge? Bring land over water. Bring worlds together.

John Patterson: The females of the species are larger. All the animals here are like that. they have to be to survive.

John Beaumont: I've made you with this assignment, don't make me break you.

John Patterson: You won't have the opportunity. Any other words of encouragement?

John Patterson: [Viewing the dead body of a black girl thrown from the car] Who is she?

Albert L. Patterson: Zeke's baby.

John Patterson: Did thy kill her just for this?

Albert L. Patterson: They've killed for less.

John Patterson: The law came to Phenix City at last. It took my father's death to bring it. It wasn't the kind of law my father fought and died for. But it was the only law the men who killed him could understand. The law with a loaded gun in its hand.