How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from the Japanese to English translated subtitles of Seven Samurai.
Quote #1
MANZO: We were born to suffer. It's our lot in life.
It's a famous statement of defeat… and we're betting this isn't the first time you've heard it. C-3PO says the same thing in the original Star Wars: George Lucas's little tip of the cap to this movie.
Quote #2
KAMBEI: I'm not a man with any special skill, but I've had plenty of experience in battles; losing battles, all of them. In short, that's all I am.
Kambei's definitely tasted defeat before. He seems to feel that it tarnishes him which is why he refuses to take on apprentices. Seven Samurai spends a lot of time thinking about the ways that he's both right and wrong on that front.
Quote #3
KAMBEI: But this is wonderful. It is so good to find you alive. I'd given you up for lost. How did you get away?
SHICHIROJI: Well, I lay right down in the ditch there, in the water. But when the castle finally burned down and then almost fell on me, I thought I was gone.
These two are bound by the shared experience of losing their lord and living to see it. Defeat, to them, is something that goes on and on, and never really goes away. It's a tough way of looking at it, but no one ever accused samurai of going easy on themselves.