Major Clipton: [visits Nicholson in the oven] Sir, you can't stand much more of this. And wouldn't the men be better off working rather than being kept in those cells? The men are doing a wonderful job of it, they're going as slow as they dare; but Saito's cut their food rations. If they don't get put to work, they're going to die. And that's all there is to it.
Colonel Nicholson: Yes, Clipton. I understand, truly. But don't you see it's a matter of principle? If we give in now, there will be no end to it. No!
Major Clipton: Sir, we're lost in the jungle, a thousand miles from anywhere. We're under the heel of a man who will stop at nothing to get his way. Principle? No one will know or care what happens to us! Give in, sir! Please!
Colonel Nicholson: I'm adamant. I will not have an officer from my battalion working as a coolie.