King Mongkut Quotes in

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King Mongkut Quotes:

  • [first lines]

    King Mongkut: Hmm, ahh, look my son - there in the bay, the English sailing ship.

  • Kralahome: [the Kralahome has just arrived to tell King Mongkut of the loss of Cambodia. Anna, meanwhile, continues to press the King about the issue of a private residence, to the point where even the King's staff members are singing "Home, Sweet Home"] Your Majesty! It has begun, Toongramon. We've lost Cambodia. Our governor of Cambodia has made a treaty with the French government. They have recognized Cambodia as independent of Siam, placed it under their "protection," and this governor of ours still protests his loyalty to Your Majesty.

    King Mongkut: So, a camel's nose is in the tent. The partition of Siam, it has begun.

    Kralahome: For a long time, we've said this hour must come. Now it is no longer talk. It is upon us. What do we do?

    King Mongkut: Nothing. We shall do nothing whatever in this matter... because there is nothing we can do.

    Kralahome: Your father took such a man once and burned out both his eyes, hung him in the sun in a cage over cool running water, until he went mad.

    King Mongkut: [Heartbroken, yes resigned] We have not the right to waste ourselves on something which cannnot be changed. We shall save what strength and cunning we may have to hold together what is left of Siam. And if we cannot save all that is left, we shall save what we can.

    Kralahome: [after a long pause] Tell me something Toongramon. A long time ago, I came to you and asked you to leave a life of peace, and to be King. If I could ask you now to make that choice, what would your answer be? Think well before you answer that. Think what this can mean to you.

    King Mongkut: You feel great responsibility for me, don't you, Chow Koon?

    Kralahome: You might still be living peacefully at the monastery if I had not persuaded you. Perhaps it is not too late to return. Think well on that. The monastery instead of this place, where you have only enemies and danger. Well, you know this is not the end. The ships of Europe will crowd thicker on our seas, greedy for conquest. They have the power... and the cunning. They know how to set your nobles against you, how to buy and threaten them. How can you hope to hold Siam together against enemies without and within? All that it can mean to you is that, in the end, you will die in a lost cause.

    [pause]

    Kralahome: I have done you a sorry service to have brought you to this moment.

    King Mongkut: [after a moment] I think you take too much credit on yourself, Chow Koon. There is a man born for every task, and I was born for this one. Remember, I was prince before I was monk. Let me ask you, if you were in my place, what would your answer be?

    [Long pause. He cannot answer]

    King Mongkut: Then give me as much credit as you allow yourself, my friend.

    Kralahome: If only we had more time.

    King Mongkut: [Court musician can be heard playing "Home, Sweet Home" outside the King's window] She's got someone else at it.

    Kralahome: She?

    King Mongkut: That woman and her house!

    [Calls to court musician]

    King Mongkut: Stop it!

    [Music stops]

    King Mongkut: Take a lesson from her, my friend, and you'll never give up on anything. Give her a house.

    Kralahome: But...

    King Mongkut: Give her a house! If she was meant to be a sign to us, she deserves a reward.

    [Really angry now]

    King Mongkut: And if she wasn't, well, give her a house anyway, before she drives me out of my mind!

  • King Mongkut: Now always best time.

  • King Mongkut: [to Anna] When a woman who has much to say says nothing, her silence can be deafening.

  • King Mongkut: Until now, Madame Leonowens, I did not understand supposition,man can be satisfied with only one woman.

  • King Mongkut: I never danced with an Englishwoman before, mem.

    Anna Leonowens: Nor I with a king.

  • King Mongkut: [to Princess Fa-ying] I will be there in your dreams, as you will be in mine

  • Anna Leonowens: I would like to know why... , if science can unravel something as beautiful as music... , why it cannot posit a solution for a schoolteacher and a king.

    King Mongkut: The manner in which people might understand such new possibilities is also process of evolution.

    Anna Leonowens: Everything in Siam has its own time.

  • King Mongkut: Why did you come back?

    Anna Leonowens: Because I could not imagine a Siam without you.

  • King Mongkut: You are teacher?

    Anna Leonowens: Yes, Your Majesty, I am.

    King Mongkut: You do not look sufficient of age for scientific teaching. How many years have you?

    Anna Leonowens: Enough to know that age and wisdom do not necessarily go hand in hand, Your Majesty.

  • King Mongkut: Presenting original pupil and heir apparent. Prince Chulalongkorn.

    [to the Prince]

    King Mongkut: This, my son, is your new teacher.

    Anna Leonowens: It is a great honor, Your Highness.

  • The Kralahome, Prime Minister: Your Majesty, I believe there has been enough insult caused by this woman who believes herself to be the equal of a man.

    King Mongkut: Not the equal of a man, Chao Phya. The equal of a King.

  • Anna Leonowens: My mind has taken me down many roads of late. All of which lead absolutely nowhere. What would Buddha say of that?

    King Mongkut: That roads are for journeys, ma'am, not destinations.

  • King Mongkut: Gazing at the moon.

    Anna Leonowens: Yes, it is beautiful.

    King Mongkut: As the sun rises, she will surrender the night, but she is always with him, even when he cannot see her.

    Anna Leonowens: It must be a great comfort to him.

    King Mongkut: Yes.

  • Anna Leonowens: You have the power to lead your people...

    King Mongkut: Now is not the time to change the way that things are done!

    Anna Leonowens: Well, if not now, then when? How many more people must die so that you might save face?

  • King Mongkut: [to Anna and Louis] The Royal Family: Twenty three wives, forty two concubines, fifty eight offspring, and ten more on the way. Each one unique. Each one my hope for the future. I understand your surprise. Not as many as the Emperor of China, but he did not spend half of life in monastery. King making up for lost time.

  • King Mongkut: l have decided to give self anniversary dinner and invite important English nobles and diplomats.

    Anna Leonowens: l don't understand.

    King Mongkut: French lndochina grows stronger and more aggressive. But if l improve our foreign intercourse with your queen's special envoy, French will think three times before trying to undermine Siam.

    Anna Leonowens: That's very clever, Your Majesty.

    King Mongkut: As if to sound English bugles in own defense. You shall take charge of all formalities as Mem is obvious choice to make certain guests feel at home.

    Anna Leonowens: But... the anniversary is when?

    King Mongkut: Three weeks from yesterday.

    Anna Leonowens: Three weeks? That's impossible!

    King Mongkut: Mem... The egg is in the bottle.

  • Anna Leonowens: [ascending a staircase, arriving late for dinner, a little out of breath] Forgive me, Your Majesty. l believe the sun set a little earlier today.

    King Mongkut: [amused] Mem. You arrange all this to influence positive future of Siam. And now you steal attention away from it.

    Anna Leonowens: [shyly] Well, that was not my intention, Your Majesty.

  • King Mongkut: You! Why did you not go to monastery like king order?

    Anna Leonowens: Because l lost one man to the jungle, Your Majesty. l was not about to let that happen again.

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