The Cardinal: Any confession I may be said to have made in prison, will be a lie, or the result of human weakness.

The Cardinal: Shall I be allowed a priest before I die?
The Interrogator: There will be no need.
The Cardinal: I beg of you to let me see a priest.
The Interrogator: You're not to die.
The Cardinal: No? I'm to be hanged.
The Interrogator: The sentence has been commuted.
The Cardinal: What are they afraid of? Martyrdom? No one could make the world see me as a martyr now.
The Interrogator: It has been commuted.
The Cardinal: I've eased my mind with the thought of death. I can't see beyond it.

The Cardinal: They want me to take my own life, so they can say I committed the last cowardice of all. I shan't do that, you know.
The Interrogator: No, I didn't think you would.
The Cardinal: No. I might live for twenty... thirty years. Yes, it's one thing I'd never thought of. It's more terrible than anything I could have thought of.
The Interrogator: [draws a pistol] I could pretend to call to the warder for help, as I fire. You want to pray?
The Cardinal: You'll do it?
The Interrogator: Do you want to pray?
The Cardinal: [kneels and prays in agony for a few moments] No, I can't ask you to commit murder. You offer me escape...
The Interrogator: And I thought of you as an animal, to be put out of its pain. Do you want to face the world outside?
The Cardinal: No. But I must.
The Interrogator: So the laugh is on me. You go out of my hands a stronger man than when you came to me.

The Cardinal: Try not to judge the priesthood by the priest.

The Cardinal: Your masters are in a hurry, I fancy. People who are going to make heaven on earth usually are.

The Interrogator: Afraid I'll slip you a truth drug?
The Cardinal: Surely it's a confession you're after; not the truth.

The Interrogator: Every living soul in that sleeping city down there could be broken, if they had to be. The softer the mind, the more sensitive the conscience, the more surely they must be broken. That's the fascination - and the pity of it.

The Interrogator: Have you forgiven yourself?
The Cardinal: Oh no. But I believe I shall be forgiven. He who will judge us, is He who made us.

The Interrogator: He was broken by a half-truth, a distorted truth. He was too humble. He believed it when I told him his whole life was built on pride. A proud man would have been more skeptical.

The Interrogator: I've trained you well. And I suppose, in time, you'll drive a brilliant mind to pray for madness.
The Secretary: It had to be done sir.