A Knight's Tale (2001)

Mark Addy: Roland

Photos 

Quotes 

• Wat : You have been weighed.

  Roland : You have been measured.

  Kate : And you have absolutely...

  Chaucer : Been found wanting.

  William : Welcome to New World. God save you, if it is right that He should do so.

• [Keeping beat for a dance lesson] 

  Chaucer : And one and two and three and four and your hands should be light like a birdie on a branch. And one and two and three and four and Wat doesn't lead he follows like a girl.

  [Wat punches him. Scene changes, and Chaucer now has a tissue stuck up one nostril] 

  Chaucer : And one and two and twirlie twirlie twirlie! And one and two and you're still getting it wrong! And one and two and three and four you can hit me all day cause you punch like a... what?

  Roland : A girl!

• Wat : Say something about her breasts.

  Roland : Yeah, you miss her breasts.

  William : Her breasts.

  Chaucer : Ye... yes, you... you could, umm... umm... but I... I would tend to look above her breasts, William.

  William : Well I... I miss her throat.

  Chaucer : Uh, still higher really, toward the heavens.

  Kate : The moon at least, her breasts were not that impressive.

• Wat : What do you mean, dead?

  Roland : The spark of his life is smothered in shite. His spirit is gone but his stench remains. Does that answer your question?

• Chaucer : Yes, behold my lord Ulrich, the rock, the hard place, like a wind from Gelderland he sweeps by blown far from his homeland in search of glory and honor, we walk... in the garden of his turpulence!

  [crowd is silent, cricket noise] 

  Roland : Yeah.

  Crowd : Yeahhhhh!

• Kate : It is romantic though.

  Roland : Are you a woman or a blacksmith?

  Kate : Sometimes I'm both.

• Roland , Chaucer , Kate , Wat : [singing]  He's blond, he's pissed, he'll see you in the lists, Lichtenstein! Lichtenstein! He's blond, he's tanned, he comes from Gelderland, he comes from Gelderland! Gelderland, Gelderland, Gelderland... Gelderland, Gelderland, Gelderland...

• William : Leave, Roland. Let them have me.

  Roland : God love you, William. So do I.

• Roland : What are you doing?

  William : Losing.

  Roland : I don't understand!

  William : Neither do I.

• [trying to convince the squires to bet that William will win, when they believe the French knight will win] 

  French Squire : An Englishman will not win this French tournament. English legs are unsteady on French soil.

  French Squire : And because French wine is too much for English bellies.

  French Squire : And most importantly, because the Pope himself is French.

  Roland : [finally gives in]  Well, the Pope may be French, but Jesus is bloody English! You're on!

• William : I can't explain it. She makes me feel like a poet.

  Roland : Well you may feel like a poet, but you sound like an idiot. You don't even know her name.

• Roland : God love you, William.

  William : I know, I know. 'Cause no one else will.

• Roland : Well, that was different.

  Chaucer : Well, it's time we celebrate our differences.

  Roland : Just maybe not in public.

• Chaucer : Geoffrey Chaucer's the name, writing's the game.

  [Turns away, turns back] 

  Chaucer : Chaucer? Geoffrey Chaucer, the writer?

  Wat : A what?

  Chaucer : A wha- a what? A writer. You know, I write, with ink and parchment. For a penny, I'll scribble you anything you want. From summons, decrees, edicts, warrants, patents of nobility. I've even been know to jot down a poem or two, if the muse descends. You've probably read my book? the Book of the Duchess?

  [They look at each other, shake their heads] 

  Chaucer : Fine. Well, it was allegorical.

  Roland : Well, we won't hold that against you, that's for every man to decide for himself.

• William : What do you think? Now that you know what I am?

  Jocelyn : To know what you are, William, would take a lifetime. One I am most willing to give. But right now you've got to run. There's nothing else to do. Run and I will run with you.

  William : Jocelyn, I cannot run. I'm a knight. And I will put myself to the hazard!

  Roland : A knight in your heart but not on paper. And paper's all that matters to them!

  Jocelyn : William, I love you. I love you. You... and I'm sorry but I won't see you led away, bound for the stocks.

  William : Oh, but you will see me run? No!

  Jocelyn : Damn your pride, William! It is you and only you that will not see you run!

  William : My pride is the only thing they can't take away from me!

  Jocelyn : But they can take it from you! They can and they will. Oh, they will. But love they cannot take.

  William : And... and where will we live? In... in my hovel? With the pigs inside in the winter so they won't freeze?

  Jocelyn : [crying]  Yes, William, with the pigs... with the pigs. The poor can marry for love.

  William : [angry]  Oh, Jocelyn, you speak of what you do not know!

  Jocelyn : William, I beg you! Please... run. Do it for love.

  William : [William turns around, looking desperately for support]  Roland, you would see me run?

  [Roland nods and looks down] 

  William : And you, Geoff?

  Chaucer : Yes, I wish you to with all the pieces of my heart.

  William : Wat, you and I, we aren't runners.

  Wat : [Wat smiles, but is holding back tears]  Yes... William, today we are.

  Kate : Run, William.

  William : NO!

  [Jocelyn closes her eyes, tears leaking down her cheeks] 

  William : I will not run! I am a knight!

• William : I'll ride in his place.

  Roland : What's your name, William? I'm asking you William Thatcher, to answer me with your name? It's not Sir William. It's not Count, or Duke or Earl William. It's certainly not King William.

  William : I'm aware of that.

  Roland : You have to be of noble birth to compete!

  William : A detail. The landscape is food. Do you want to eat or don't you?

  Roland : If the nobles find out who you are there'll be the devil to pay.

  William : Then pray that they don't.

• [Watching William practice jousting] 

  Wat : I think he's getting worse.

  Roland : He is getting worse.

• William : This is a disaster.

  Roland : [staring at the tent material]  Nah, I think it'll tunic up quite nicely.

• [last lines] 

  Roland , Chaucer , Kate : Your round!

• Roland : Well, Master Nude, having failed the test, have you any more to say?