The Emperor's Club 

(2002)
Quotes
1. „Non sibi.”/”Not for self.”
2. “A man's character is his fate. And as a student of history, I find
this hard to refute. For most of us our stories can be written long
before we die.”
3. “Finis origine pendet.”/The end depends upon the beginning.”
4. “Great ambition and conquest without contribution is without
significance. What will your contribution be? How will history
remember you?”

Aristophanes once wrote, roughly translated; "Youth

William Hundert:
ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and
drunkenness sobered, but STUPID lasts forever."

Older Deepak Mehta:A great teacher has little external history to

record. His life goes over into other lives. These men are pillars in
the intimate structure of our schools. They are more essential than
its stones or beams, and they will continue to be a kindling force and
a revealing power in our lives.

William Hundert:The worth of a life is not determined by a single

failure or a solitary success.
Martin Blythe: [from the plate above Mr. Hundert's classroom] I am Shutruk Nahunte,
King of Anshand and Sussa, Sovereign of the land of Elam. I destroyed Sippar, took the
stele of Niran-Sin, and brought it back to Elam, where I erected it as an offering to my god.
Shutruk Nahunte - 1158 B.C.

Great ambition and conquest without contribution is

William Hundert:
without significance. What will your contribution be? How will
history remember you?

Deepak Mehta:Not to know what happened before you were born is to

be forever a child.
[first lines]
Valet: Is everything okay, sir?
William Hundert: Fine, thank you. Here.
[reaches into his pocket]
William Hundert: Let me, uh...
Valet: That's not necessary, sir.
[walks away]

William Hundert: [narrating] As I've gotten older, I realize I'm certain of only two things.
Days that begin with rowing on a lake are better than days that do not. Second, a man's
character is his fate. And as a student of history, I find this hard to
refute. For most of us our stories can be written long before we die.
There are exceptions among the great men of history, but they are
rare, and I am not one of them. I am a teacher - simply that. I taught for 34
years. One day I stopped teaching. Those were the facts of my life's chronicle. The last
chapter had been written. My book was closed.

However much we stumble, it is a teacher's burden

William Hundert:
always to hope, that with learning, a boy's character might be
changed. And, so, the destiny of a man.

William Hundert: Sir, it's my job to mold your son's character, and I
think if...
Senator Bell: Mold him? Jesus God in Heaven, son. You're not gonna
mold my boy. Your job is to teach my son. You teach him his times
tables. Teach him why the world is round. Teach him who killed who
and when and where. That is your job. You, sir, will not mold my
son. I will mold him.

William Hundert: Tyranny is what we have in this classroom. It works.

William Hundert: The waters in which we found ourselves swimming, were precisely as
lovely as those we had earlier only imagined. But if time had made concessions for love, it
made none for death.

[about Sedgewick's quiz]

William Hundert: You passed.
Sedgewick Bell: It's only a C-.
William Hundert: Well, you know what they say about Rome.
Sedgewick Bell: It wasn't built in a day?
William Hundert: No. All roads lead to it.

William Hundert: That was quite an interesting performance this afternoon.

Sedgewick Bell: I knew you saw.
[Sedgewick cheated at the Mr. Julius Caesar competition]
William Hundert: Why, Sedgewick? You knew the material.
Sedgewick Bell: Why not?
[pause]
Sedgewick Bell: How come you didn't stand up and call me out?
William Hundert: It's a complicated matter, Sedgwick.
Sedgewick Bell: It wasn't because of my father, was it?
William Hundert: It had nothing to do with your father.
Sedgewick Bell: Sure, Mr. Hundert. Sure.

I'm a teacher, Sedgewick. And I failed you - as a

William Hundert:
teacher. But I will give you one last lecture, if I may. All of us, at
some point, are forced to look at ourselves in the mirror, and see
who we really are. And when that day comes for you, Sedgewick,
you will be confronted with a life lived without virtue, without
principle. And for that I pity you. End of lesson.

Well, can I say, Mr. Hundert, who gives a shit?

Older Sedgewick Bell:
Honestly. Who out there gives a shit? About your principles and your
virtues? I mean, look at you. What do you have to show for yourself?
I live in the real world where people do what they need to do to get
what they want. And if it's lying and it's cheating, so be it. So I'm
gonna go out there and I'm going to win that election, Mr. Hundert.
And you'll see me everywhere. And I'll worry about my contributions
later.
[toilet flushes. Sedgwick turns around not realizing someone was in the men's room
listening. Robert comes out of the stall and leaves]
Older Sedgewick Bell: Robert. Robert.
William Hundert: I spoke to your father.
Sedgewick Bell: I know. We had a real... heart-to-heart.
William Hundert: This is for you.
[Hands textbook to Sedgwick]

William Hundert: Forgive the condition. It was my textbook in high school. It's quite good.
The first chapter has an outline of all the material which we'll be covering this term. I
thought it might be helpful in preparing for the Mr. Julius Caesar contest. The first quiz is
tomorrow morning. Look at chapter 3 - - "The Foundation of the Republic." Sedgwick, I'm
lending you this book because I believe in you. I think you could be at the top of your class
if you wanted to be. It's entirely up to you.
William Hundert: [discussing 41 specific emperors] Can you, please, name any of the
subsequent emperor's whom we've been discussing? There were 41.
Sedgewick Bell: I only know 7.
William Hundert: Very well...
Sedgewick Bell: Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey...
William Hundert: Seriously though, can you in fact name any of the emperors?
Sedgewick Bell: I know 4.
William Hundert: Very well.
Sedgewick Bell: [in an English accent, counting off his fingers] John, Paul, Ringo
[closes all but the middle finger]
Sedgewick Bell: and George.
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William Hundert: [teaching] And with the monarchy's demise, two new systems of
government - the first, ruled by the few, known as? Mr. Brewster.
Robert Brewster: Uh, tyranny?
William Hundert: In spirit, perhaps, but etymologically, no. More precisely, oligarchy.
Tyranny is what we have in this classroom. And it works.
[laughter]

Senator Bell: Let me ask you something, do you know what is causing me to send you to
this place?
Sedgewick Bell: What's wrong?
Senator Bell: Shut up. My time is precious son. I thought I made that clear. I got better
things to do than clean up after you, do you understand me?
Sedgewick Bell: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I understand.
Senator Bell: Don't forget it.

Senator Bell: Let me ask you something. What's the good of what you're teachin' those
boys?
William Hundert: "The good"?
Senator Bell: Yes. The good.
William Hundert: Well, Senator, the Greeks and the Romans provided
the model of democracy, which, I don't need to tell you, the framers
of our own Constitution used as their inspiration. But more to the
point, I think when the boys read Plato and Aristotle, Cicero, Julius
Caesar even, they're put in direct contact with men who, in their
own age, exemplified the highest standards of statesmanship, of
civic virtue, of character conviction.