“In an honest service there is thin commons, low wages and hard labour; in this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power …. No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto.”
– Attributed to Bartholomew Roberts, 1682–1722
Photo © ACF
ARABELLA: I’ll never wear them, never! These nor any other ill-gotten by a thief and pirate.
CAPTAIN BLOOD (Dumbstruck): Thief and pirate …!
ARABELLA: I’ve seen your pirate ways. I’ve seen myself bargained for and fought over, a combat between jackels.
CAPTAIN BLOOD: But I thought you understood ….
ARABELLA: You mean you thought you’d bought me! I suppose I should have regarded that as a compliment. You pirates are used to taking what you want without the formality of purchase. I advise you to go back to your ladies at Tortuga who are thrilled by your bold, lawless ways. I only hate you and despise you!
– Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in Captain Blood (1935)
“We, the undersigned, are men without a country, outlaws in our own land and hopeless outcasts in any other. Desperate men, we go to seek a desperate fortune. Therefore, we do here and now band ourselves into a brotherhood of buccaneers to practice the trade of piracy on the high seas. We the hunted will now hunt!”
– Errol “Bloody” Flynn in Captain Blood (1935)