"I'm the one who should be ashamed. I don't understand my own soul."
The Woodcutter is revealing here that he is wrong in trying to blame others for the world being the way it is. It is his admission that he didn't tell the truth to the police about what he saw, and is thus complicit in society's failures. In this moment, he recognizes that he isn't a part of the solution, but of the problem.
"War, earthquake, winds, fire, famine, the plague. Year after year, it's been nothing but disasters. And bandits descend upon us every night. I've seen so many men getting killed like insects, but even I have never heard a story as horrible as this. Yes. So horrible. This time, I may finally lose my faith in the human soul. It's worse than bandits, the plague, famine, fire or wars."
The Priest has come to the conclusion that the story he has heard about the multiple betrayals and murders between the three on the road may finally break his faith in mankind. The hardships of difficult circumstance are one thing, but the deceit that he has witnessed by all involved has overwhelmed him with hopelessness.
"I don't understand. I just don't understand. I don't understand it at all. I just don't understand."
This, the opening line of the film, is the premise for the entire narrative: finding out what actually happened in order that the truth may be brought to light. And the fact that The Woodcutter says this is poignant, because—having witnessed the event—should know exactly what happened. But his unwillingness to tell the truth for fear of getting caught up in all of it explains the issue of guilt which has come upon him. This shows that when fear outweighs justice, serious damage is done to the individual and the community.
"All women are weak by nature."
Tajomaru utters this line at the end of The Woodcutter's second tale, just after the samurai has finished berating his wife for having belonged to two men. The line is ironic given that it arrives just before the wife rises up and scorns both of them for failing to live up to the standards of honorable men, laughing and mocking their characters. Far from being "weak by nature," in The Woodcutter's tale, the wife exposes the hollowness of male bravado.
"Maybe goodness is just make-believe."
The Commoner says this to the priest after the wife's tale, while they and The Woodcutter discuss the possibility that a dead man might lie. The Priest refuses to believe that a dead man could lie, because all men are essentially good. The Commoner, less certain, questions The Priest's faith in man's innate goodness.
"For these words alone, I was ready to pardon his crime."
The samurai's ghost recites these lines when remembering that Tajomaru threw his wife to the ground and allowed the samurai to decide her fate, rather than follow her command to kill him. The line is notable because it is the only time in any of the tales when Tajomaru and the samurai form a truce, against the wife as the sole antagonist.
"If we don't trust each other, this earth might as well be hell."
The Priest utters this line after all the stories have been told. The Commoner still doubts that any (or all) of the versions amount to an adequate version of the truth, but The Priest maintains that in a world without trust, earth is "hell." The line references the fact that the men seem trapped in a kind of purgatory or hell inside the Rashomon gate during the storm.
"What should a poor, helpless woman like me do?"
The wife is perhaps the most mysterious character in the tale—one whose behavior varies the most between the various accounts provided by the men. The line here, uttered at the end of her courtyard testimony, suggests that she is an unfortunate victim of rape and abuse. However, Tajomaru describes her as "fierce," and in The Woodcutter's tale, she is the fiercest of all three.
"A bandit calling another a bandit. Now that's selfish."
The Commoner says this to The Woodcutter after correctly guessing that The Woodcutter stole the wife's dagger, which is why he did not tell his full story in court. The revelation suggests that The Woodcutter's perspective may not be as reliable as the audience might have previously guessed, and also hardens The Priest's suspicion of The Woodcutter.
"A fool can think only foolish thoughts."
Tajomaru says this line to the policeman, mocking his preposterous, heightened version of capturing Tajomaru that involves finding him full of arrows. The line neatly encapsulates a larger theme of the film, which is that people's stories are a product of their identities—the policeman, oafish and self-interested, tells an ungainly lie.
