- Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: You see things, sir, that others do not. One thing you do not question is your loyalty to your King. One day, Hornblower, you'll fight for more than England.
- Commander Horatio Hornblower: What is there more than England?
- Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: [He pointedly does not answer]
- Mrs. Mason: Horatio. You think you're just the Hotspur's captain, you think only of your hundred crew. But you're also a husband now. Is it too much that you might think of one wife? That you might think of her as your duty too?
- Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: Bonaparte's nothing to offer Ireland but misery and bloodshed. Ha! That's why England has a right to demand Irish loyalty!
- Commander Horatio Hornblower: Yes Sir, although...
- Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: Huh?
- Commander Horatio Hornblower: It is perhaps better to earn loyalty than to demand it.
- Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. When I became a man I put away childish things.
- Commander Horatio Hornblower: Sir?
- Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: You know Hornblower, it's very hard for a father to see his children grow up.
- Commander Horatio Hornblower: I'm not sure I understand you sir.
- Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: I daresay you will.