“- Coed: Mr. X, I've read some of your speeches and I honestly believe a lot of what you say has truth to it. I have a good heart. I'm a good person despite my whiteness. What can the good white people like myself, who are not prejudiced, or racist, what can we do to help the cause?
- Malcolm X: Nothing.”
Denzel Washington - Malcolm X

“You're an idealist, just like your grandfather. Do yourself a favor, don't be like him. For once, do the smart thing.”

James Garner - Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke

“Idealists are such a problem. You can't convince them there's no such thing as the ideal.”
Jonathan Pryce - Lytton Strachey

“- David Drumlin: I wish the world was a place where fair was the bottom line, where the kind of idealism you showed at the hearing was rewarded, not taken advantage of. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world.
- Ellie Arroway: Funny, I've always believed that the world is what we make of it.”
Tom Skerritt - David Drumlin
Jodie Foster - Eleanor Arroway

“- Queen Isabella I.: I thought he was an idealist.
- Duenna: Idealism and ambition are not incompatible.”

Sigourney Weaver - Queen Isabel of Castille
Isabel Prinz - Duenna