[Dinner in the officers' mess. The captain is inebriated, but asks apparently seriously] Capt. Jack Aubrey: Do you see those two weevils doctor? Dr. Stephen Maturin: I do. Capt. Jack Aubrey: Which would you choose? Dr. Stephen Maturin: [sighs annoyed...
[Toasting] Capt. Jack Aubrey: To wives and sweethearts. Officers: To wives and sweethearts. Capt. Jack Aubrey: May they never meet.
Dr. Stephen Maturin: Jack, I fear you have burdened me with a debt I can never fully repay. Capt. Jack Aubrey: Nonsense! Name a shrub after me. Something prickly and hard to eradicate. Dr. Stephen Maturin: A shrub? Nonsense! I shall name a new specie...
[last lines] Capt. Jack Aubrey: Well, Stephen... the bird's flightless? Dr. Stephen Maturin: Yes. Capt. Jack Aubrey: It's not going anywhere.
Capt. Jack Aubrey: Do you want to see a guillotine in Piccadilly? Crew: No! Capt. Jack Aubrey: Want to call that raggedy-ass Napoleon your king? Crew: No! Capt. Jack Aubrey: You want your children to sing the "La Marseillaise?" Crew: NO!
Dr. Stephen Maturin: Mr Blakeney, it would appear that you have the makings of a naturalist. Blakeney: Well, sir, perhaps I could combine them to be a sort of... fighting naturalist, like you, sir. Dr. Stephen Maturin: They don't combine too well, I ...
Mr. Allen, Master: [after seeing that the Acheron is closing in on them] My God, what can we do? He has us by the hip. Capt. Jack Aubrey: Run like smoke and oakum. Mr. Allen, Master: We'll have to bend every sail. Capt. Jack Aubrey: We'll put up our ...
[the crew watch brain surgery performed on the ship's deck] Able Seaman: Is them 'is brains, doctor? Dr. Stephen Maturin: No, that's just dried blood. THOSE are his brains. [the crew oohs and aahs]
Dr. Stephen Maturin: By comparison, the Surprise is a somewhat aged man-o-war. Am I not correct? Capt. Jack Aubrey: Would you call me an aged man-o-war, doctor? The Surprise is not old; no one would call her old. She has a bluff bow, lovely lines. Sh...
Capt. Jack Aubrey: For England, for home, and for the prize!
Barrett Bonden, Coxswain: [after pulling Calamy, Midshipman, from the water] Hello! We've caught a fish!
Nehemiah Slade, Able Seaman: Never met a dead man that bought me a drink. Joe Plaice, Able Seaman: And I never met a live one that you bought one for, neither.
Calamy, Midshipman: [while viewing construction of the decoy Surprise] Excuse me, sir, but what are they building? Capt. Jack Aubrey: Your first command.
Capt. Jack Aubrey: Master at arms, take that man below and clap him in irons.
Mr. Allen, Master: In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than 100 sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship.
Capt. Jack Aubrey: Oh a week, perhaps. Dr. Stephen Maturin: A week? Capt. Jack Aubrey: There's no great hurry. Dr. Stephen Maturin: Mustn't we make haste for... Capt. Jack Aubrey: I'm not even sure it was the Acheron we sighted. And if it was, she'll...
1st Lt. Tom Pullings: [Before the final battle as the gun-crews wait for the signal] Steady now, lads. Keep calm.
Capt. Jack Aubrey: The simple truth is, not all of us become the men we once hoped we might be. But we are all God's creatures. If there are those among us who thought ill of Mr. Hollom, or spoke ill of him, or failed him in respect of fellowship... ...
