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Memoirs of a Geisha (film) Quotes

Memoirs of a Geisha (film) is a TV program that appeared on TV in 1970 . Memoirs of a Geisha ended its run in 1970.

It features John Williams in charge of musical score, and Dion Beebe as head of cinematography.

Memoirs of a Geisha (film) is recorded in English, and Japanese and originally aired in United States. Each episode of Memoirs of a Geisha (film) is 145 minutes long. Memoirs of a Geisha (film) is distributed by Columbia Pictures.

The cast includes: Ken Watanabe as Chairman, Shizuko Hoshi as Sayuri Nitta, Michelle Yeoh as Mameha, Gong Li as Hatsumomo, Zhang Ziyi as Chiyo, Ted Levine as Colonel Derricks, Kōji Yakusho as Nobu, Cathy Shim as The Baron, Youki Kudoh as Pumpkin, Kaori Momoi as Mother, and Tsai Chin as Auntie.

Memoirs of a Geisha (film) Quotes

Michelle Yeoh as Mameha

  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Water is powerful. It can wash away earth, put out fire, and even destroy iron."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Every once in a while, a man's "eel" likes to visit a woman's -- "cave.""
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "Yes, I know."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "You do?"
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I live with Hatsumomo."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "What is he to think? He safeguarded your life."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "So now he owns it?"
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "No man would bid so much for a thing he had already taken."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "You have a gift for expression."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "I'm wonder why Mrs. Nitta has not adopted Hatsumomo?"
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "That would be like releasing the tiger from its cage."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Your cave is untouched. Men like that. We call this "mizuage". And to become a full geisha, you must sell it to the highest bidder."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "We do not become Geisha to pursue our own destinies. We become Geisha because we have no other choice."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "You cannot call yourself a truse geisha until you can stop a man in his tracks with a single look."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Now rise."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Not like a horse."

Cathy Shim as The Baron

  • (Cathy Shim) "Sayuri, I'm only having a look. Any man would do the same."
  • (Cathy Shim) "I'm sure if there was one drop left in that pot, Sayuri would have gotten it out."

Kōji Yakusho as Nobu

  • (Kōji Yakusho) "Three things matter in life: sumo, business, and war. Understand one, you know them all. But why should a geisha care? You spend your time plucking strings and dancing."
  • (Kōji Yakusho) "Can't you see that I want you for myself? You have ruined me. Before we met I was a disciplined man."
  • (Kōji Yakusho) "There is nothing I want more, Sayuri, than to become your danna."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I already owe you far too much."
  • (Kōji Yakusho) "I will not be refused."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "Please."
  • (Kōji Yakusho) "We are tied to each other. I know you feel it too."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I never meant to mislead you."
  • (Kōji Yakusho) "Sayuri, I do not like things held up before me that I cannot have --"

Tsai Chin as Auntie

  • (Tsai Chin) "You are to become geisha."
  • (Tsai Chin) "Only reason Mother tolerates Hatsumomo is because she brings in good money. Never forget, it is Hatsumomo who pays for your supper, the clothes on your back. By the time she was twenty, she had already earned back her purchase price. Unheard of. She has been the talk of the hanamachi ever since."

Shizuko Hoshi as Sayuri Nitta

  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I see now why you like sumo, you can never judge a man's power by his appearance alone."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "She paints her face to hide her face. Her eyes are deep water. It is not for Geisha to want. It is not for geisha to feel. Geisha is an artist of the floating world. She dances, she sings. She entertains you, whatever you want. The rest is shadows, the rest is secret."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I want a life that is mine."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I am so far behind --"
  • (Youki Kudoh) "Don't worry I'll help you."
  • (Gong Li) "Pumpkin."
  • (Gong Li) "You are never to talk to her again. We are rivals now."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I am not worthless."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "How could you? You don't know what you have done."
  • (Youki Kudoh) "But I do."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I do not understand. Why did you have to bring the Chairman?"
  • (Youki Kudoh) "Because I know how you feel about him."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "So Hatsumomo did teach you to be cruel."
  • (Youki Kudoh) "A long time ago, you took something from me -- the only thing I'd ever truly wanted -- Well, now you know how is feels."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "About your kimono --"
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "There's no need to apoligize. I'm not foolish. Hatsumomo cannot tolerate competition."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "She is jealous of you?"
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Not me I'm afraid. Someone closer to home."

Ken Watanabe as Chairman

  • (Ken Watanabe) "It is too pretty a day to be so unhappy. Did you fall down? Why so shy? Nothing to be ashamed of, we all stumble from time to time. Do you see that enchanting lady in green? Once when she was just a maiko, she fell clean off her wooden shoes."
  • (Geisha in Green) "It's true, I did."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "And now look at her, so elegant --"
  • (Geisha in Green) "Mr. Chairman, shouldn't we hurry? We will miss the beginning."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "We see the spring dances every year, we can spare a moment. What's your name? Don't be afraid to look at me. Do you like sweet plum or cherry?"
  • (Zhang Ziyi) "You mean -- to eat?"
  • (Ken Watanabe) "I like sweet plum myself. Come. None of us find as much kindness in this life, as we should. My children wait for these every spring."
  • (Zhang Ziyi) "Now I'm a geisha too."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "And so you are. How did you come by such surprising eyes?"
  • (Zhang Ziyi) "My mother gave them to me."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "Generous of her, wasn't it?"
  • (Zhang Ziyi) "As you have been to me."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "Smile for me, won't you?"
  • (Ken Watanabe) "There now, that is your gift to me."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "This will buy your supper. Now promise me one thing, next time you take a tumble -- no frowns."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "That's better."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "Please, Sayuri, do not be afraid to look at me."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "You have to savor life while you can."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "We must not expect happiness, Sayuri. It is not something we deserve. When life goes well, it is a sudden gift; it cannot last forever --"
  • (Ken Watanabe) "Kindness we receive in our lives is not always enough."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "None of us find as much happiness in this life as we should."
  • (Ken Watanabe) "Do you like sweet plum or cherry?"

Kaori Momoi as Mother

  • (Unnamed) "The winter I turned fifteen I saw the chairman again, but that wasn't the only surprise fate brought me that season. Along with the snow came a most unexpected visitor."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "Why is she here? Chiyo, Chiyo, open the gate."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Now that your beloved granny has gone you have no need for a maid."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "I would never question the great Mameha, but you could choose anyone in the Hanamachi."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "You flatter me, truly."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "I would give you my pumpkin if she weren't already tied to Hatsumomo."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Please I would never dream of asking"
  • (Kaori Momoi) "Besides, I can always sell Chiyo to Mrs. Tetsuyo."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "With your eye for beauty and nose for talent,surely you can see what a terrible waste that would be."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "If you were not the kind hearted Geisha I know you to be, then I might think that you werescheming against Hatsumomo."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Then I'm grateful Mrs. Nita that you don't have a suspicious mind."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "Perhaps you can pique my interest with -- your offer."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "I will cover Chiyo's schooling, all her expenses, until after her debut."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "Now I am confident that you are teasing."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "I could not be more sincere. If Chiyo has not repaid her debt within six months after her debut."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "Impossible, too little time."
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Then I will pay you twice over."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "What? No Geisha could ever --"
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "And I am certain you will not object to one trivial condition."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "Uh yes?"
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "If Chiyo erases her debt in the time allowed, You will not have any part in her future earnings."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "We do not display our naked feet like monkeys."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "Doctor Mora is very expensive. You seem to be racking up quite a debt. Kimono, destroyed. Train ticket, Mr. Bekku, rice and pickles, geisha school, and on top of the money I paid Mr. Tanaka. And for what? -- And now I hear your sister has run away. She didn't wait for you and now she can never come back. You must forget you ever had a sister."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "We are your only family now."
  • (Kaori Momoi) "Stop crying, your face will run."

Gong Li as Hatsumomo

  • (Gong Li) "A pity. She still stinks of fish."
  • (Gong Li) "I shall destroy you --"
  • (Gong Li) "I was a maiko once."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "Oh, of course. But that was a long, long, long, long time ago."
  • (Gong Li) "Sayuri. A name as sweet as she is. I'm afraid these days even the common chambermaid can call herself a geisha. So, it's nice to see such a sincere young maiko, isn't it?"
  • (Michelle Yeoh) "Surely you would like to thank Hatsumomo for her gracious compliments."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "There is so much I would like to say to Hatsumomo."
  • (Gong Li) "Sometimes the smartest remark is silence"
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "What better advise to follow than your own."
  • (Gong Li) "What did Mameha do, speak with the Director in private ?"
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "Not all geisha use that kind of currency."
  • (Gong Li) "Stay out of my room. Your fingers smell. I can't have you touching my things."

Ted Levine as Colonel Derricks

  • (Ted Levine) "So, what is the protocol?"
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "Excuse me?"
  • (Ted Levine) "Suppose I wanted to see you in private."
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "I beg your pardon, colonel, but that is not a geisha's custom."
  • (Ted Levine) "Don't be coy. I mean, if it's a matter of price, I'm sure --"
  • (Shizuko Hoshi) "If there were a price, you could never afford it."

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