War & Peace (TV Series)

New Beginnings (1972)

Anthony Hopkins: Pierre Bezukhov

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Quotes 

• Pierre Bezukhov : Is it true? Is he really my wife's lover? I don't know. But he's trying to provoke me. Well, I won't be provoked. He'd enjoy killing me because he's a bully. He thinks I'm afraid of him. Well, I am. I am.

• Pierre Bezukhov : So, you say, get through life as best one can, without hurting others, all right. But one can do more. Our brotherhood of freemasonry, we can do more. We can help beautify life, instead of just accepting its brutality.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : You behold the reign of goodness and truth on earth. I don't.

• Pierre Bezukhov : How on earth can you live with such ideas? What point is there in your life then?

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : To get through it, with as little pain to oneself and hurt to others.

  Pierre Bezukhov : Oh well, just, uh, sit back without stirring, without embarking on anything, then.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : Life won't leave one in peace.

• Pierre Bezukhov : I'm afraid my way of thinking, in regards to the whole theory of the universe, is so opposed to yours that we may not understand each other.

  Osip Alexeyevich Bazdayev : Do you think your way may really be described as a way of thinking about the universe?

  Pierre Bezukhov : Yes, I think so.

  Osip Alexeyevich Bazdayev : Oh, surely it is nothing more than a melancholy delusion.

  Pierre Bezukhov : Yes. Perhaps yours is also.

  Osip Alexeyevich Bazdayev : Perhaps. But think. The whole truth, when we perceive it, is something we must feel inside us. When it is known, the feeling will be intense. Do you feel your way of thinking about the universe an intense perception? Yet you are a searcher after truth. And you say you have a way of thinking quite opposed to mine. And yet you do not feel it intensely. If it were the truth, do you not think you would?

  Pierre Bezukhov : Well, one may feel a delusion as intensely as one may feel the truth.

  Osip Alexeyevich Bazdayev : Yet it would be intensely felt. Your way of thinking about the universe is no more intensely felt by you, than your way of playing cards, or your way of dressing. So, you have a way of life which you can put against mine and say it is equally valid. But examine your own life, my dear sir. How have you spent it? In debauchery, taking everything and giving nothing. You've inherited great wealth. What have you done for your fellow man? What have you done for your serfs? You've profited by their toil, to lead a dissipated life. You married a young woman and gave her no guidance or help. A man offends you, and you shoot him. And yet, you are not happy. Where then is your way of thinking about the universe? Where does it come in?

• Pierre Bezukhov : Heard about the duel, I suppose?

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : Yes. You had to go through that, too.

  Pierre Bezukhov : Yes. I only thank God that I didn't kill the man.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : Why? To kill a vicious dog isn't a crime.

  Pierre Bezukhov : No, but to kill a man is. I think that's the worst evil one can do, take another man's life.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : I don't see it. I know of only two real evils in life: remorse and illness. The only good is the absence of both of them.

  Pierre Bezukhov : Oh, no, I can't agree with you. It's such a negative outlook, I mean, to live with the... live with the sole object of avoiding evil. I used to do that myself, but not anymore. At least I try not to now. Now at least I try to live for other people.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : You have the enthusiasm of a convert.

• Pierre Bezukhov : The great thing is that I know for certain that enjoyment of doing good is the only true happiness in life.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : Your happiness. So you're back to living for yourself again. Which isn't so far from what I was saying.

  Pierre Bezukhov : No, no, no, you're twisting everything. Just listen. That I enjoy doing good is one thing. That other people benefit is something else, much, much greater.

• Osip Alexeyevich Bazdayev : You are not satisfied with your life.

  Pierre Bezukhov : I hate my life.

  Osip Alexeyevich Bazdayev : Then change it. There are two ways. They go hand in hand. One is to meditate and think of one's life and change it from within. The other is to begin by doing good works, for the outer doing has an inward effect, and hastens the process of purification.

  Pierre Bezukhov : Yes. There are many things I could do on my estates. Build hospitals and schools. Lighten the daily toil. Why have I not thought of these things before, then? Tell me. Why?

• Pierre Bezukhov : I cannot believe in God.

  Osip Alexeyevich Bazdayev : You do not know him. That is why you are unhappy. He exists. But to understand him is hard.

  Pierre Bezukhov : How can you know he exists? How can I ever know it when my mind denies it?

  Osip Alexeyevich Bazdayev : It is not the mind that comprehends God. It is life that makes us understand.

• Pierre Bezukhov : Can you think it possible that our life here on earth is the end of all things? I can't believe it. I don't believe it. I can't. I feel in my soul as though I'm part of that vast harmonious whole we call the universe. You do as well but you won't admit it.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : No, I won't admit it. How can I? When someone who is dear to you and whom you have wronged by not showing her that dearness, suddenly ceases to exist for no reason, vanishes, but it's a delusion to believe that she exists somewhere, forgiving you.

  Pierre Bezukhov : No. No, her forgiveness is in the child she left you. Then all the possibilities of good that are in you to do. My dear friend, you must, must live again, in spite of the past, and love again. That is man's task on earth, to live and to love. Once he does that, he becomes a part of that vast harmonious whole. Look. Look up there. That infinity of sky. Look. Can you look at it and think that our lives will end here on earth? No. No. You and I are links in a vast invisible chain, the beginnings of which are hidden somewhere in that lofty sky.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : I saw that sky at Austerlitz. I haven't seen it since, until now. Now if only you were right, my friend, in the things you say.

  Pierre Bezukhov : I am. I am. I believe it.

  Prince Andrei Bolkonsky : Well, perhaps.