Great Performances (TV Series)

Les Misérables in Concert (1995)

Philip Quast: Javert

Quotes 

• Javert : Who is this man? What sort of devil is he, to have me caught in a trap and choose to let me go free? It was his hour at last to put the seal on my fate, wipe out the past and wash me clean off the slate! All it would take was a flick of his knife. Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life! Damned if I'll live in the debt of a thief! Damned if I'll yield at the end of the chase! I am the Law and the Law is not mocked. I'll spit his pity right back in his face! There is nothing on Earth that we share! It is either Valjean or Javert!

  [pause] 

  Javert : How can I now allow this man to hold dominion over me? This desperate man whom I have hunted... He gave me my life. He gave me freedom. I should have perished by his hand. It was his right. It was my right to die as well. Instead I live... but live in Hell! And my thoughts fly apart. Can this man be believed? Shall his sins be forgiven? Shall his crimes be reprieved? And must I now begin to doubt, who never doubted all these years? My heart is stone, and still it trembles! The world I have known is lost in shadow. Is he from heaven or from hell? And does he know... that, granting me my life today, this man has killed me, even so? I am reaching... but I fall. And the stars are black and cold, as I stare into the void of a world that cannot hold. I'll escape now from that world, from the world of Jean Valjean. There is nowhere I can turn, there is no way to go on!

• Enjolras : For your presence of mind, for the deed you have done, I will thank you Monsieur when our battle is won.

  Jean Valjean : Give me no thanks Monsieur, there's something you can do.

  Enjolras : If it is in my power.

  Jean Valjean : Give me the spy Javert, let me take care of him!

  Javert : The law is inside out, the world is upside down!

  Enjolras : Do what you have to do, the man belongs to you!

  [to the others] 

  Enjolras : The enemy may be regrouping. Hold yourselves in readiness! Come on my friends, back to your positions, the night is falling fast!

  Jean Valjean : [to Javert]  We meet again.

  Javert : You've hungered for this all your life! Take your revenge... How right you should kill with a knife!

  Jean Valjean : You talk too much. Your life is safe in my hands!

  Javert : Don't understand.

  Jean Valjean : Get out of here.

  Javert : Valjean, take care, I'm warning you...

  Jean Valjean : Clear out of here!

  Javert : Once a thief, forever a thief. What you want you always steal. You would trade your life for mine? Yes, Valjean, you want a deal. Shoot me now for all I care. If you let me go beware, you'll still answer to Javert!

  Jean Valjean : You are wrong, and always have been wrong. I'm a man, no worse than any man. You are free! And there are no conditions, no bargains or petitions; there's nothing that I blame you for. You've done your duty, nothing more. If I come out of this alive, you'll find me at number fifty-five Rue Plumet. No doubt our paths will cross again. Go.

• Javert : Now bring me prisoner 24601! Your time is up and your parole's begun. You know what that means?

  Jean Valjean : Yes, it means I'm free.

  Javert : No! It means you get your yellow ticket of leave. You are a thief!

  Jean Valjean : I stole a loaf of bread.

  Javert : You robbed a house!

  Jean Valjean : I broke a windowpane. My sister's child was close to death, and we were starving!

  Javert : You will starve again, unless you learn the meaning of the law!

  Jean Valjean : I know the meaning of those nineteen years, a slave of the law!

  Javert : Five years for what you did, the rest because you tried to run; yes, 24601!

  Jean Valjean : My name is Jean Valjean!

  Javert : And I'm Javert. Do not forget my name! Do not forget me, 24601!

• Jean Valjean : It's you Javert! I knew you wouldn't wait too long. The faithful servant at his post once more! This man's done no wrong, and he needs a doctor's care!

  Javert : I warned you I would not give in. I won't be swayed!

  Jean Valjean : Another hour yet, and then I'm yours, and all our debts are paid!

  Javert : The man of mercy comes again, and talks of justice!

  Jean Valjean : Come, time is running short. Look down, Javert, he's standing in his grave! Give way, Javert! There is a life to save!

  Javert : Take him, Valjean, before I change my mind! I will be waiting, 24601.

• Javert : Honest work, just reward, that's the way to please the Lord.

• Javert : One day more till revolution, we will nip it in the bud, we'll be ready for these schoolboys- they will wet themselves with blood.

• Jean Valjean : One day more. Another day, another destiny, this never-ending road to Calvary. These men who seem to know my crime will surely come a second time. One day more.

  Marius : I did not live until today. How can I live when we are parted?

  Jean Valjean : One day more.

  Marius , Cosette : Tomorrow, you'll be worlds away, and yet with you, my world has started.

  Eponine : One more day all on my own.

  Marius , Cosette : Will we ever meet again?

  Eponine : One more day of him not caring.

  Marius , Cosette : I was born to be with you.

  Eponine : What a life I might have known.

  Marius , Cosette : And I swear, I will be true.

  Eponine : But he never saw me there.

  Enjolras : One more day before the storm.

  Marius : Do I follow where she goes?

  Enjolras : At the barricade of freedom.

  Marius : Do I join my brothers there?

  Enjolras : As our ranks begin to form.

  Marius : Do I stay, and do I care?

  Enjolras : Will you take your place with me?

  [Chorus joins in] 

  Enjolras : The time is now, the day is here!

  Jean Valjean : One day more!

  Javert : One more day to revolution. We will nip it in the bud. I will join these little schoolboys. They will wet themselves with blood!

  Jean Valjean : One day more!

  Thenardier , Madame Thenardier : Watch 'em run amok. Catch 'em as they fall. Never know your luck when there's a free-for-all. Here, a little dip. There, a little touch. Most of 'em are goners, so they won't miss much!

  [Chorus joins in] 

  Thenardier , Madame Thenardier : One day to a new beginning, raise the flag of freedom high. Every man will be a king, every man will be a king. There's a new world for the winning, there's a new world to be won. Do you hear the people sing?

  Marius : My place is here. I'll fight with you!

  Jean Valjean : One day more!

  [everyone sings their previous verses simultaneously] 

  Jean Valjean : One day more!

  [Verses continue] 

  Jean Valjean : Tomorrow, we'll be far away. Tomorrow is the judgment day.

  Ensemble : Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in Heaven has in store. One more dawn, one more day, one day more!