57 Seven Samurai Quotes (2024)

Seven Samurai

Kikuchiyo: What do you think of farmers? You think they're saints? Hah! They're foxy beasts! They say, "We've got no rice, we've no wheat. We've got nothing!" But they have! They have everything! Dig under the floors! Or search the barns! You'll find plenty! Beans, salt, rice, sake! Look in the valleys, they've got hidden warehouses! They pose as saints but are full of lies! If

they smell a battle, they hunt the defeated! They're nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! God damn it all!
[He hurls a handful of arrows into the wall]
Kikuchiyo: But then who made them such beasts? You did! You samurai did it! You burn their villages! Destroy their farms! Steal their food! Force them to labour! Take their women! And kill them if

they resist! So what should farmers do?
[Kikuchiyo sinks to his knees, and begins to sob uncontrollably]
Kikuchiyo: Damn... damn... damn... damn...
[Kambei unfolds his arms and looks down at the palms of his hands]
Kambei Shimada: [Quietly, after a long pause] You were the son of a farmer, weren't you?

Seven Samurai

Kambei Shimada: This is the nature of war: By protecting others, you save yourselves. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself.

Seven Samurai

Kambei Shimada: So. Again we are defeated.
[Shichiroji looks puzzled at Kambei]
Kambei Shimada: The farmers have won. Not us.

Seven Samurai

Kambei Shimada: Go to the north. The decisive battle will be fought there.
Gorobei Katayama: Why didn't you build a fence there?
Kambei Shimada: A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war.

Seven Samurai

Kambei Shimada: Danger always strikes when everything seems fine.

Seven Samurai

Shichiroji: Kikuchiyo, what on earth are you doing?
Kikuchiyo: I can't kill a lot with one sword!

Seven Samurai

Kambei Shimada: Train yourself, distinguish yourself in war... But time flies. Before your dream materializes, you get gray hair. By that time your parents and friends are dead and gone.

Seven Samurai

Farmer Manzo: Old man, I'm worried. The village girls will go crazy over the samurai. If the samurai touch 'em, all hell will break loose.
Gisaku: Bandits are coming, you fool. Your head is on the block and all you think of are your whiskers?

Seven Samurai

Kikuchiyo: You fool! Damn you! You call yourself a horse! For shame! Hey! Wait! Please! I apologize! Forgive me!

Seven Samurai

Gisaku: Find hungry samurai. Even bears come down from the mountains when they are hungry.

Seven Samurai

Heihachi Hayashida: Haven't you ever seen anyone cut firewood before?
Gorobei Katayama: You seem to enjoy it.
Heihachi Hayashida: That's just the way I am. Yah!
[he chops another log]
Gorobei Katayama: You're good!
Heihachi Hayashida: Not really. It's a lot harder than killing

enemies. Yah!
[he splits another log]
Gorobei Katayama: Have you killed many?
Heihachi Hayashida: Since it's impossible to kill them all - yah!
[he splits another log]
Heihachi Hayashida: I usually run away.
Gorobei Katayama: A splendid principle.
Heihachi

Hayashida: Thank you. Yah!

Seven Samurai

Kikuchiyo: This baby... It's me... It's what happened to me!

Seven Samurai

Gisaku: All farmers ever do is worry, whether the rain falls, the sun shines or the wind blows. In short, all they know is fear.

Seven Samurai

Kyuzo: Killed Two.

Seven Samurai

Heihachi Hayashida: I'm Heihachi Hayashida, a fencer of the Wood Cutting School.
[Gorobei bursts into giggles. Kambei looks unamused]

Seven Samurai

[Gorobei is watching Heihachi, who is methodically splitting logs]
Gorobei Katayama: How'd you like to kill thirty bandits?
[Heihachi spins around in surprise as his axe swings wide]

Seven Samurai

[on taking Katsushiro as a student]
Kambei Shimada: You embarrass me. You're overestimating me. Listen, I'm not a man with any special skill, but I've had plenty of experience in battles; losing battles, all of them. In short, that's all I am. Drop such an idea for your own good.
Katsushiro: No Sir, my decision has been made. I'll follow you sir.

Kambei Shimada: I forbid it. I can't afford to take a kid with me.

Seven Samurai

[Kambei is considering the farmer's offer]
Kambei Shimada: It's impossible.
Katsushiro: Sir! Why not arm them with...?
Kambei Shimada: I thought of that, too.
Katsushiro: But sir.
Kambei Shimada: [pointedly] This would not be a game. A band of forty bandits! Two or three

"samurai" could accomplish nothing. Defense is harder than offense. Mountains in the back of the village?
Rikichi: Yes!
Kambei Shimada: Can horses get over them?
Rikichi: Yes!
Kambei Shimada: Fields in front. The village is wide open to horsemen... until the fields are flooded. One guard for each

direction takes four. Two more as a reserve. You'll need at least... seven, including me.

Seven Samurai

Kambei Shimada: You said he'd be a treasure in hard times. The hard times have only just begun.

Seven Samurai

Kikuchiyo: [in a drunken stupor] You again. I see that bald head of yours in my dreams. You had the nerve to ask me if I was a samurai. Didn't you, huh? I never forget a face. Look here, though I look like hell, I'm a real samurai, all right. Here. I got something for you. Damn jerks. Looky here.
[He clumsily fumbles around in his robe, and presents a scroll from inside it]

Kikuchiyo: There, just you look at this. It's been handed down in my family for generations and generations. And you asked me if I were a samurai! You jerks. Look at this, just look at this! That's me right there.
[Kikuchiyo unrolls it and points randomly to a part of the scroll]
Kambei Shimada: Kikuchiyo, born on 17 February, the Second Year

of Tensho.
[He suddenly bursts out laughing]
Kikuchiyo: What's so damn funny?
Kambei Shimada: You don't look thirteen!