Charles Vane quotes from Black Sails

Vane

[to Eleanor] Be honest: are you as surprised as I am that I'm the only one behaving myself?

Vane

[to Idelle, about Eleanor] You hate her. I hate her. We all hate her. Look what good it's done us. No captain on this island's ever known that kind of power. Power that doesn't care how many votes you can tally, who loves you, who hates you, who fears you. Power that just is. Truth is, none of us have any right to hate her for it. She's strong and we're weak. That's the reality of things here. And no one down there is strong enough to change anything.

Vane

No man is rich who could have a lot more by doing less.

Vane

You don't know me, but you once did, when I was the lowest among you. Now I've returned. And I offer you a chance to be free of this place. I'm Charles Vane. And you were a strong crew once, proper pirates. Feared as you should have been, before he dragged you away from the sea, before he convinced you to live here like animals. Because it suits his weaknesses. There is a place not far from here where strong men live lives of pleasure, not labor, a place where you could be feared and respected once again. Follow me, and I will show you what life is.

Vane

Spend enough time on an island, you begin to forget there's a whole world out there. A world where the rules are different.

Vane

Loyalty. It's supposed to mean something.

Vane

If your friends aren't capable of protecting themselves, I'd argue they aren't worth protecting.

Vane

[about the slaves] You think if you refrain from beating them, it's any better? It isn't the violence. It isn't the labor or the hunger or the heat or the chains. You know what those men fear right now? It's the unknown. The lash that comes from nowhere for reasons never explained. A visit from the taskmaster in the dead of night. But I remember that fear.

Vane

Eleanor, your father sells my cargo. Whatever it is you're so upset about, I doubt he feels the same.

Eleanor

When I tell him you put our biggest earner out of business, he'll -

Vane

Remind you that Flint hasn't been your biggest earner in quite some time. You'll also be reminded of what you've always known but never accepted, that if forced, your father will always choose profits over daughters. Hate your father? I wouldn't blame you. Hate me, too, if you'd like. And if you feel the need, cling to Flint, and his legend and a past the rest of us have long outgrown. But make no mistake about it, whatever future this place has left, I'm it. And if you ever challenge me again in front of my crew, I may just forget that I loved you once.