I have seen both of the films. The original is truly a classic. The remake was not quite as good in my opinion.

I read the book many years ago. It was written by Civil War General Lew Wallace. The book was one of the best sellers of its time.

Here is a link.to an article about the author if you are interested.

https://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2013/03/ben_hur_and_lew_wallace_how_the_scapegoat_of_shiloh_became_one_of_the_best.html

I doubt that hate by itself has ever kept anyone alive.
It's a form of stress, and stress kills. It's more likely that the quote is about the desire for revenge that motivated Ben Hur and kept him alive.

Ben Hur is a long film. It takes a lot of stamina to get through it all. I tried to read the book once. I couldn't get into it. The modern update of the film is shorter but lacks the heart and soul of the original. It didn't win 11 Oscars for no reason.

Back in the days of three channel TV this was a guaranteed Easter fixture in the UK.

From what I remember, it's Ben Hur's hate for Masala that drives him to be the man he became.

It's been a while since I last seen it, so I don't really recall any quotable lines offhand.

😰im going to live forever

https://youtu.be/rfA371zhfHo?si=XPKV5Eq2R4gfJjOr

Its good to hate things that should be hated.. so in that context i'd agree..