Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Cyril Cusack: Captain Beatty

Photos 

Quotes 

• The Captain : You see, it's... it's no good, Montag. We've all got to be alike. The only way to be happy is for everyone to be made equal.

• The Captain : Robinson Crusoe, the Negroes didn't like that because of his man, Friday. And Nietzsche, Nietzsche, the Jews didn't like Nietzsche. Here's a book about lung cancer. You see, all the cigarette smokers got into a panic, so for everybody's peace of mind, we burn it.

• The Captain : Come on now, madam. We're going to burn the house.

  Book Lady : No!

  The Captain : What do you want, martyrdom?

  Book Lady : I want to die as I've lived.

  The Captain : You must have read that in there. Now, look, I'm not going to ask you again. Are you going?

  Book Lady : These books were alive; they spoke to me!

• The Captain : Go on, Montag, all this philosophy, let's get rid of it. It's even worse than the novels. Thinkers and philosophers, all of them saying exactly the same thing: "Only I am right! The others are all idiots!"

• The Captain : By the way, what does Montag do on his day off duty?

  Guy Montag : Not much, sir, just mow the lawn.

  The Captain : And what if the law forbids that?

  Guy Montag : Just watch it grow, sir.

• The Captain : What's this, Montag? Something wrong between you and the pole?

• The Captain : These are all novels, all about people that never existed, the people that read them it makes them unhappy with their own lives. Makes them want to live in other ways they can never really be.

• The Captain : Look, all stories of the dead, biography that's called, and autobiography. My life, my diary, my memoirs, my - intimate memoirs.

• The Captain : The books have nothing to say.

• The Captain : Listen to me, Montag. Once to each fireman, at least once in his career, he just itches to know what these books are all about. He just aches to know. Isn't that so?

• The Captain : What's going on?

  Fireman : This house has been condemned, it's to be burnt with the books immediately.

  The Captain : Burning the books is one thing, burning the house is another altogether.

• The Captain : Just tell me this, Montag: at a guess, how many literary awards would you say were made in this country on an average each year? 5? 10? 40? Not less than 1,200.

• The Captain : How long have you been with us?

  Fireman : [Eagerly]  3 years, sir.

  The Captain : [Affectionately]  Yes, you're a good man. Remind me to give you one of my personal medallions. The likeness is remarkable. You'll see.

  Fireman : [Dejectedly]  I... uh... you... ah... I already have one, sir.

• Guy Montag : [stunned]  This is my house!

  The Captain : [blandly]  That's right.