Martin Sheen Monologues

Listen to your parents and teachers. They got a line on most things, so don't treat em like enemies. There's always an outside chance you can learn something. Try to keep an open mind. Try to understand the viewpoints of others. Consider the minority opinion. But try to get along with the majority of opinion once it's accepted. Of course Holly and I have had fun, even if it has been rushed. And uh, so far a good sign, hadn't got caught. Excuse the grammar.

Boy, if I could sing a song like that. If I could sing a song about the way I feel right now… it'd be a hit.

Don't worry, now. I'm gonna' get you off these charges. There's a whole lot of other boys out there waitin' for you. And you're gonna' have a lot of fun... Boy, we rang the bell, didn't we? I'll say this, though. That guy with the deaf maid? He's just lucky he's not dead, too. Of course, uh, too bad about your dad...

We're gonna' have to sit down and talk about that sometime.

My girl Holly and I decided to kill ourselves. The same way I did her Daddy. Big decision, you know. Uh, the reasons are obvious. I don't have time to go into right now. But, one thing though, he was provoking me when I popped him. Well that's what it was like. Pop. I'm sorry. I mean, nobody's coming out of this thing happy. Especially not us. I can't deny we've had fun though.

I always wanted to be a criminal, I guess. Just not this big of a one.

We'll keep headin' for that mountain. Just remember I said it wasn't such a hot idea.

That guy must pay through the nose to keep this place up. Lawn, gas and electric. Bagworms. Plus the upkeep on the cars. You get a little money in your pocket and you think all your problems are solved. Well, let me tell you. They're not.

Saigon… shit; I'm still only in Saigon… Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I'm here a week now... waiting for a mission... getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter.

I was going to the worst place in the world and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked through the war like a main circuit cable plugged straight into Kurtz. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz's memory any more than being back in Saigon was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story really is a confession, then so is mine.

Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.

How many people had I already killed? There were those six that I knew about for sure. Close enough to blow their last breath in my face. But this time, it was an American and an officer. That wasn't supposed to make any difference to me, but it did. Shit… charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500. I took the mission. What the hell else was I gonna do?

In a war there are many moments for compassion and tender action. There are many moments for ruthless action - what is often called ruthless - what may in many circumstances be only clarity, seeing clearly what there is to be done and doing it, directly, quickly, awake, looking at it.

As for the charges against me, I am unconcerned. I am beyond their timid lying morality, and so I am beyond caring.

It's a way we had over here for living with ourselves. We cut 'em in half with a machine gun and give 'em a Band-Aid. It was a lie. And the more I saw them, the more I hated lies.

Well, he wasn't a bad officer, I guess. He loved his boys, and he felt safe with 'em. He was just one of those guys with that weird light around him. He just knew he wasn't gonna get so much as a scratch here.