Surat Khan Quotes in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)

Surat Khan: Oh, so it was Captain Randall who so imprudently attempted to penetrate the line? Poor fellow! He paid the penalty for his foolishness!

Maj. Geoffrey Vickers: [Taken aback] He's... he's dead?

Surat Khan: Oh, my friend, life is sweet and dear when one cannot have it! That's why I sent for you.

Surat Khan: I sometimes think, Sir Charles, that a great government resembles a beautiful woman, who, intoxicated with her own beauty, is apt to withdraw from a sincere suitor the favors she's always granted. And when she finds her suitor console himself with another beauty... regrets her coldness.

Sir Charles Macefield: Interesting. And what does she do then?

Surat Khan: She claims the privilege of any beautiful woman and changes her mind... before she's lost her suitor forever. Do you not agree?

Sir Charles Macefield: The only great government I'm acquainted with is singularly masculine. It makes up its mind. And once having reached a decision, adheres to it.

Surat Khan: I'm afraid we're losing ourselves in a flight of fantasy.

Sir Charles Macefield: Yes, perhaps, yes.