Meaning & Background:
'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers' is one of the well-known lines from
the rousing St. Crispin's Day Speech given by the king in Shakespeare's Henry V.
Henry was exhorting his men to greater valour and toward a famous victory
against the French at the Battle of Agincourt. The fact that they were
outnumbered by the French should not concern them and would only serve to
strengten their brotherhood and reputation in the future.
KING HENRY V:
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
- www.phrases.org.uk
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A Chinese emperor, a dynasty-founder like Liu Bang or Zhu YuanZhang, with but
a few early acolytes, might have made a similar speech!
I first heard of the 2001 war drama, "Band of Brothers," about eight years
ago, in a Tim Ferriss podcast where his guest, Jocko Willink, a former Navy
Seals commando in the 2nd Iraq war, talked about his favorite movies. With an
IMDb score of 9.4/10, it must have been immensely popular. A DVD from the
library, however, is often hit-or-miss and the set I borrowed was scratched so
bad that it felt not worth the time skipping damaged areas. I may try again later.
