Cyrano de Bergerac Quotes - Edmond Rostand

Cyrano de Bergerac  is the most famous play by Edmond Rostand. The work is about Cyrano, a marvelous character who is witty, passionate and full of vitality. He is known for his big nose, which becomes a problem when he falls in love with his beautiful cousin, Roxane. Here are a few quotes from   Cyrano de Bergerac: What if she turns out to be a prude--or an intellectual? I wouldnt dare speak to her, I dont have the brains. The way people speak and write nowadays makes my head hurt. Im just an honest, simple, terrified soldier.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1Hes famous for his long--sword.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1Cyrano de Bergerac, that specter, that paragon,That terror of trifles from Norway to Aragon,Both genius and monster, unique, unexplainable,He has every quirk and every virtue obtainable.His clothes? As outlandish as his personality--Three huge plumes for his hat--To hell with frugality!Bizarrest of all the birds hatched out of Gascony-Is your cause a lost one? Youve only to ask and heWill rush to defend you with wit and audacity,With valor beyond mankinds normal capacity,This dreamer whose vigor, whose kindness, whose verityAre great as his nose--God forgive my temerity!--But truly that nose is the glorious cross he bears,Like some raging sardonic demons emb oss he wears.Ive heard strangers cry, Wait--and well see it taken off!But that mans nasal destiny cannot be shaken off!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1Swine! Did I not forbid you to appear?!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1My nose is Gargantuan! You little Pig-snout, you tiny Monkey-Nostrils, you virtually invisible Pekinese-Puss, dont you realize that a nose like mine is both scepter and orb, a monument to me superiority? A great nose is the banner of a great man, a generous heart, a towering spirit, an expansive soul--such as I unmistakably am, and such as you dare not to dream of being, with your bilious weasels eyes and no nose to keep them apart! With your face as lacking in all distinction--as lacking, I say, in interest, as lacking in pride, in imagination, in honesty, in lyricism--in a word, as lacking in nose as that other offensively bland expanse at the opposite end of your cringing spine--which I now remove from my sight by stringent application of m y boot!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1My wit is more polished than your mustache. The truth which I speak strikes more sparks from mens hearts than your spurs do from the cobblestones.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1Thus I toss my poor hat aside,And shrug off my threadbare cape,The crowds eyes are open wideAnd many a mouth is agape,As I take my sword by the napeAnd draw out its form so fineFrom which there is no escape,For tonight, Valvert--you are mine!Too bad that you chose to derideThis vicious old Bergerac ape(My teeth are as hard as my hide),Yet when you are dead I will drapeYour corpse with the finest of crepe,So that all know your taste was divine,Though you should have avoided a scrapeWith the master--for now, you are mine!I must find now a sharp rhyme for pride--Youre panting, youre red as a grape!Is that ardor or terror inside?What began as a lark, as a jape,Now concludes with a rout, with a rape,With your virginal courage supine,As a puddle on honor s landscape-Turn around, little girl--you are mine!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1Its a shame, sir, to alter a shapeAs refined, as expensive as thine,But, to spare you lifes endless red tape,I will edit you--There you are mine!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1I know. I outnumber them, but I shall go gently with them at first.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1Does it seem strange: a hundred cutthroats against one poor poet? It is not strange. It is a minimal defense, mademoiselle--(Drawing his sword; quietly.)--when that poet is a friend of Cyrano de Bergerac.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1Youre a genuinely good man. There arent many of you left.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 2His face is like yours, burning with spirit and imagination. He is proud and noble and young and fearless and beautiful--- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 2(Hand on the hilt of his sword.) I shall mortalize the lot of you!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 2I would die at the stake rather than change a semi-colon!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 2Do they? Those large empty machines which twist and turn in every gust of fashion?- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 2Beware: they can gather you easily in their lofty arms and hurl you down to the gutter!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 2It is addressed to the bravest, the brainiest, the blondest, the most beautiful woman on earth! How could she think it was meant for anyone but her?- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 2Youre not totally immune to me, are you? (Roxane smiles cryptically.) Why else would you concoct such a delicious revenge? It must be a gesture of love.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 3Yes, it is perfect. Your white gown swathed in the blue-black mantle of night. I am only a voice, and you are a point of light. I may have spoken Beautifully to you in the past--- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 3Through the whirlwin d which your eyes stir up inside me. But now, in this blessed darkness, I feel I am speaking to you for the first time.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 3And what is a kiss, specifically? A pledge properly sealed, a promise seasoned to taste, a vow stamped with the immediacy of a lip, a rosy circle drawn around the verb to love. A kiss is a message too intimate for the ear, infinity captured in the bees brief visit to a flower, secular communication with an aftertaste of heaven, the pulse rising from the heart to utter its name on a lovers lip: Forever.- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 3Gods whiskers! Your face is hideous as the demons in my storybook!- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 3There. There is our soul. The same reed, the same fingers which have piped us into combat, call us softly home, in our thoughts. This is no longer the shrill call to attack, it is every shepherd who ever inhabited our land, whispering his sheep to fold. Listen. It is your hills ide, your earth, your forest--your younger brother, suntanned under his red woolen cap. It is the green solitude of nights you spent beside the  Sordogne.  Listen  my countrymen. It is our country calling.- Edmond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 4You saved your life. At the expense of your honor.- Edmond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 4From the King of Kings--Love- Edmond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 4Oh, dont take it so hard. I drove into this madness. Every woman needs a little madness in her life.- Edmond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 4Remarkable. Youre as casual about death as if it were the  theatre.- Edmond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 4She said, If you were ugly, I would only love you more.- Edmond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 4How obvious it is now--the gift you gave him. All those letters, they were you... All those beautiful powerful words, they were you!...  The voice from the shadows, that was you... You always loved me!- Edm ond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 5Ragueneau: Oh, my colleague - we laughed - we laughed-! Cyrano: Well, my greatest victories were won under an assumed name.- Edmond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 5Cyrano: I know, you will leave me with nothing--neither the laurel nor the rose. Take it all then! There is one possession I take with me from this place. Tonight when I stand before God--and bow low to him, so that my forehead brushes his footstool, the firmament--I will stand again and proudly show Him that one pure possession--which I have never ceased to cherish or to share with all--- Edmond Rostand,  Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 5