Gladiator Quotes

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Source: Gladiator

Speaker: Maximus Decimus Meridius

"Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife."

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Context

This line is spoken by Maximus (played by Russell Crowe) in the movie Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott (2000).

So… the quote kinda sums it up, but for the record: Gladiator is about a beefy Roman general named Maximus who's betrayed by Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the weasel-y son of the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. In his climb to power, Commodus murders his dear old dad, and Maximus's family to boot. The ex-general then ends up as a slave-gladiator, hacking his way to revenge. Good times.

The macho-man quote comes after Maximus has just won a battle in the arena and oh-so-dramatically reveals himself to Commodus and all of Rome. Check out the guts and glory in this clip.

Where you've heard it

This quote doesn't get a whole lot of play, but Gladiator has fought its way into a permanent position in pop culture-dom. How about in the South Park "Imaginationland" episode, when Cartman's dreams of home are just like Maximus's? (We'd love to see Maximus and Cartman in the ring. Our money's on Cartman.)

There was also a recent reference on Bob's Burgers, when Bob yells to a crowd "Are you not entertained?" like Mad Max himself. What's that? Oh, we meant Maximus. Mad Max is that other violent Australian.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Um, yeah... if you start rattling off about revenge in Maximus-speak, you might sound a little pretentious—and scary.