"Alive, as far as I know. And with your help, I’d like to keep it that way."
Blake is requested by General Erinmore to speak about a very important matter. The general asks Blake if he has a brother in the Second Devons, to which Blake replies that he does. General Erinmore says that Blake's brother is alive and that with Blake's help he would like to keep it that way. This alludes to the fact that Erinmore is sending Blake on a mission that could definitively change the course of the war and save many lives, including Blake's brother's.
"Deliver this to Colonel MacKenzie. It is a direct order to call off tomorrow morning’s attack. If you don’t, it will be a massacre. We will lose two battalions. Sixteen hundred men, your brother among them. You think you can get there in time?"
This is the moment when Erinmore explicitly gives his orders to Blake and Schofield, outlining just how high the stakes are.
"Will you write to my mum for me? Tell her I wasn't scared."
In a heartbreaking moment, as he is dying after being stabbed by the German pilot, Blake makes this request of Schofield, asking him to write to Blake's mother to tell him that he was not scared, even when he was on the brink of death.
"Look, the last time I was told the Germans were gone, it didn’t end well. You don’t know, Blake. You weren’t there."
Schofield, who participated in the Battle of Somme, wants to wait until later to begin the mission, fearing that they will run into Germans if they leave immediately. He tries to convince Blake that they should not be too hasty, but to no avail.
"Shut up! We’ve fought and died over every inch of this fucking place, now they suddenly give us miles? It’s a trap. But chin up. There’s a medal in it, for sure. Nothing like a scrap of ribbon to cheer up a widow."
The lieutenant in charge of helping Schofield and Blake cross enemy lines into no man's land is a cynical and angry man, who does not have much hope for their mission, as demonstrated in this quote.
"Patch it up. You’ll be wanking again in no time."
After Schofield cuts up his hand on a wire fence, Blake urges him to make sure it's covered, with a cheeky joke about masturbation.
"I’m sorry about your friend. May I tell you something that you probably already know? It doesn’t do to dwell on it."
After Blake dies, Schofield meets up with some British troops, including Captain Smith, who gives him this terse advice, and urges him not to dwell on the death of his friend.
"I have heard it all before. I’m not going to wait until dusk, or for fog. I’m not calling back my men, only to send them out there again tomorrow. Not when we’ve got the bastards on the run. This is their last stand."
When Schofield finally does deliver the message to Colonel Mackenzie, he has this to say. He does not want to withdraw, as he believes that this is his battalion's only chance at victory, and he has grown impatient with the war.
"Tom’s here? Where is he?"
When Joseph Blake, Tom's brother, first meets Schofield, he becomes excited that Tom must be there. It is a tragic moment of dramatic irony, because as the viewer knows, Tom is dead.
"He was a good man. Always telling funny stories. He saved my life."
Schofield says this as consolation to Joseph after informing him that his brother Tom has died. He says simply that Tom was a good friend and a funny companion, as a way to comfort Joseph.
