Marcus: He still believes in things.
Pontius Pilate: And you and I are wiser? Perhaps... What is truth?


--Basil Rathbone (as Pontius Pilate) in The Last Days of Pompeii

Fay Cheyney: How disappointing you look in that dressing gown.
Lord Arthur Dilling: Oh, and I chose the one that suits me best. How depressing; it must be me.


--Basil Rathbone (as Lord Arthur Dilling) in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

Dr. Franz Tobel: You would take the Nazis' own car?
Sherlock Holmes: One must adapt oneself to the tools at hand.


--Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

Dr. John H. Watson: Things are looking up, Holmes. This little Island's still on the map.
Sherlock Holmes: Yes. "This fortress - built by nature for herself; This blessed plot, this Earth, this Rome, this England."


--Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

Sir Branton: Was it magic?
Lodac: No. Not magic.
Sir Branton: Then how did George escape?
Lodac: I think... yes. Something stronger than magic. The power of Patrick's faith.


--Basil Rathbone (as Lodac) in The Magic Sword

[last lines]
Sherlock Holmes: Oh, Watson - the needle!


--Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) in The Hound of the Baskervilles

[last lines]
Sherlock Holmes: There's an east wind coming, Watson.
Doctor Watson: No, I don't think so. Looks like another warm day.
Sherlock Holmes: Good old Watson. The one fixed point in the changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson. And a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind nonetheless and a greener, better, stronger land that will lie in the sunshine when the storm is cleared.


--Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) in Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror

[Sherlock watches from the train corridor as Prof. Kilbane throws Dr. Watson from his compartment]
Sherlock Holmes: Did you discover anything, Watson?
Dr. John H. Watson: Yes. He's a very suspicious character. He tried to put me off the scent.
Sherlock Holmes: From the little I heard, he seemed reasonably successful.


--Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) in Terror by Night

Robin Hood: Come now, Sir Guy. You would not kill a man for telling the truth, would you?
Sir Guy of Gisbourne: If it amused me, yes!


--Basil Rathbone (as Sir Guy of Gisbourne) in The Adventures of Robin Hood

[after the Marquis' coach runs over and kills a peasant child, he gets out of the coach and speaks to the onlookers]
Marquis St. Evremonde: It's extraordinary to me that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is forever in the way. How do you know what injury you might do to my horses?


--Basil Rathbone (as Marquis St. Evremonde) in A Tale of Two Cities