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Clusiot: You're Louis Dega. I'm Clusiot. How come you ended up in a place like this?
Dega: Favouritism.
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Papillon: We're really something, aren't we? The only animals that shove things up their ass for survival.
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Prisoner: I know you, you're Dega. You're a very intelligent man!
Dega: Thank you. I seem to be known in all the wrong places.
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Camp Commandant: Make the best of what we offer you, and you will suffer less than you deserve.
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[Papillon is contemplating a daring leap from a cliff to escape]
Dega: [the plan] It seems so desperate. You think it will work?
Papillon: Does it matter?
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Dega: Blame is for God and small children.
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Papillon: Hey you bastards, I'm still here.
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Dega: A temptation resisted is a true measure of character.
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Warden Barrot: [to Papillon upon his release from solitary confinement after two years following his first escape attempt] Your term is completed.
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Warden Barrot: [to Papillon upon his release from solitary confinement after five years following his second escape attempt] Your five years in solitary confinement are at an end. You've paid part of your debt to France.
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Warden Barrot: Put all hope out of your mind. And masturbate as little as possible, it drains the strength!
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Dega: Well, it now seems quite possible that until we get to a decent jail with bribeable guards, I may stand in some need of... rather close physical protection.
Papillon: That depends on how long you want to live.
Dega: For a long time.
Papillon: Then you got a problem.
Dega: Well, I presume that you have some, uh, goals, some particular need that outrates all the others. I mean, if so... may I aslk what it is?
Papillon: Money!
Dega: For what?
Papillon: Escape.
Dega: Very good. You keep me alive until we land in Guiana, and I'll underwrite any escape you care to arrange.
Papillon: Escape for me, not for us!
Dega: Oh, of course. I, I, I...
[laughs]
Dega: . I have no intention, uh, of even attempting to escape - ever!
Papillon: Done!
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Doctor: [Briefly examining Dega in a prefunctory manner] You're fine. NEXT!
Dega: [Walking away] Must be better than I feel.
Doctor: [Briefly examining Papillon] You're in wonderful shape.
Papillon: How do you fail an examination like this?
Doctor: NEXT!
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Dega: If I stay - here in this place - I will die!
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Papillon: [to Dega] Me they can kill... You they own!
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Judge in Dream: I accuse YOU... of a WASTED LIFE!
Papillon: Guilty... guilty... guilty...
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Warden Barrot: Forget France and put your clothes on.
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Dega: Remember what the chicken said to the weasel?
Papillon: If he was a healthy weasel, the chicken didn't get a chance to say anything.
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Maturette: I'll do what you ask, on one condition: You keep your money and you take me with you.
Papillon: No.
Maturette: I'm the only one who can get you out of here.
Papillon: You're...
Maturette: I know. I'm a queer, a fairy, a poof, huh? But there's one thing you forgot. You may have been framed, as you say you were... but I wasn't. Between the two of us... I'm the one who's killed a man, not you.
Papillon: Okay.
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Maturette: We all have sensitive spots.
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Toussaint: How did you know I have dry leprosy, that it isn't contagious?
Papillon: I didn't.
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Woman: [to Papillon as he is marched aboard ship bound for penal colony] Papillon! Papi! You'll be back, Papillon. Don't worry, you'll be back.
Julot: No, you won't.
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Toussaint: If you're going to catch leprosy, it's better to catch it from money than from people.
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Toussaint: We do a lot of smuggling here. We raid the mainland. We steal boats. When an outsider comes in we generally kill him, as a security measure.
Papillon: That makes sense.
Toussaint: Well... a man of Christian understanding.
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Warden Barrot: [last lines - voice over] Papillon made it to freedom. And for the remaining years of his life, he lived a free man. This, the infamous penal system in French Guiana, did not survive him.
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Dega: Do you realize that the first man who carved a wheel out of stone used it as an ornament?
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Sergeant: Darkness does wonders for a bad memory.
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Papillon: If your wife was here and you were in Paris with all of that money how much would you pay to get her back?
Dega: Everything I have.
Papillon: And how much would she pay to get you back?
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Dega: [as Papillon is going to jump from the cliff to escape] You'll be killed. You know that?
Papillon: Maybe.
Dega: Please don't do it.
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Papillon: Funny, you and me ending up here. We're the only ones left. Do you ever wonder about it?
Dega: No.
Papillon: I do.
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Dega: Did you hear about my wife? She married my attorney. Or, else, he married her. Although, actually, it doesn't really matter. I mean, it all works out to the same thing. Don't you think?
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Papillon: If I could find a way to get off this island, would you like to come with me?
Dega: Oh, yes. Of course.
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Dega: I got no money. They took it all.
Papillon: Forget about that. You can't buy your way out of here.
Dega: Then how?
Papillon: I don't know yet.
Dega: Then - then we don't have to discuss it. Tell me, do you like tomatoes? I have some extra seeds. You might like to start your own garden.
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Papillon: It was the wrong wave. They come in a series of seven. The seventh wave is big enough to take us both out beyond the point of return.
Papillon Quotes
Extended Reading
