I’m watching Braveheart now, for probably the 1,001st time on TNT. A couple of quotes stand out.
To set the scene a little bit, it’s the late 13th century, and Scotland is at war with England. England has taken land from Scotland, and invoked a rule, at least in the movie, in which English soldiers get to sleep with the wives of Scottish men on their wedding nights. So the king of Scotland, Robert the Bruce, puts a helmet on to hide his head and then fights for England against Scotland. Robert the Bruce fights against William Wallace (Braveheart, Mel Gibson in the movie, the leader of the Scottish troops), and then gets his helmet knocked off so Wallace sees that Robert the Bruce is fighting against him.
Robert the Bruce after he betrayed William Wallace: “I took it from him when I betrayed him and I saw it in his face on the battlefield. I will never be on the wrong side again.”
Then, from Wallace: “Sons of Scotland….Fight and you may die. Run and you’ll live. At least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now. Would you be willing to trade all of this, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance to come back here, and tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”
It means to do what’s right even if it doesn’t help you in the short run.
And finally, a quote from Maximus from “Gladiator:”
“What we do in life…echoes in eternity.”
Tags: betrayal, Braveheart, Bruce, freedom, Scotland, Wallace
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