Quotes from fictional characters that made you stop and think or have stuck with you.
- Thread starter 2fish
- Start date
Recommended Videos
"Show me a mortal who is not pursued, and I'll show you a corpse. Every hunter is hunted, every mind that knows itself has stalkers.
We drive and are driven. The unknown pursues the ignorant, the truth assails every scholar wise enough to know his own ignorance.
We do naught but scratch the surface of the world, frail and fraught.
Every vast drama of civilizations, of people with their certainties and gestures, means nothing, affects nothing. Life crawls on, ever on.
It's the ignorant who find a cause and cling to it, for within that is the illusion of significance. Faith, king, queen, Empire, or vengeance... All the bastion of fools."
The soul knows no greater anguish than to take a breath that begins with love and ends with grief. But there are other anguishes, many others. They unfold as they will, and to dwell within them is to understand nothing.
"Except, perhaps, this. In love, grief is a promise. As sure as Death's nod. There will be many gardens, but this last one to visit is so very still. Not meant for lovers. Not meant for dreamers. Meant only for a single figure, there in the dark, standing alone.
"Taking a single breath."
I forget who but they're both from the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
We drive and are driven. The unknown pursues the ignorant, the truth assails every scholar wise enough to know his own ignorance.
We do naught but scratch the surface of the world, frail and fraught.
Every vast drama of civilizations, of people with their certainties and gestures, means nothing, affects nothing. Life crawls on, ever on.
It's the ignorant who find a cause and cling to it, for within that is the illusion of significance. Faith, king, queen, Empire, or vengeance... All the bastion of fools."
The soul knows no greater anguish than to take a breath that begins with love and ends with grief. But there are other anguishes, many others. They unfold as they will, and to dwell within them is to understand nothing.
"Except, perhaps, this. In love, grief is a promise. As sure as Death's nod. There will be many gardens, but this last one to visit is so very still. Not meant for lovers. Not meant for dreamers. Meant only for a single figure, there in the dark, standing alone.
"Taking a single breath."
I forget who but they're both from the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
"History is just like an endless waltz: the first three beats of War, Peace and Revolution continue on forever" -Marie Mea (Endless Waltz)
"Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps." -Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2)
"Had to be me, someone else may have gotten it wrong." - Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 3) Mordin was always my favorite companion in the ME series, when he said that right before he died it made me damn near cry.
"Fight on, my men," Sir Andrew said, "I am hurt, but I am not slain; I'll lay me down and bleed a while, And then I'll rise and fight again." - Ballad of Andrew Barton
"Idiot, You kill or you die" - Aoba (End of Evangelion)
"The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth" -Leader of Seele (End of Evangelion)
"That is merely logic. People are not moved by logic." -Mithos (Tales of Symphonia)
"That's why war is so tragic. To win means to make victims of your opponents and give birth to hatred." -Kratos (Tales of Symphonia)
Last one I swear guys, but this is one everyone need to listen to, or at least read.
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness ? not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another.
In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world ? millions of despairing men, women and little children ? victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say ? do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed ? the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes ? men who despise you ? enslave you ? who regiment your lives ? tell you what to do ? what to think or what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men ? machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate! Only the unloved hate ? the unloved and the unnatural!
Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St. Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man" ? not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power ? the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.
Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!" -The Great Dictator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IvPIWzQcUY
"Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps." -Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2)
"Had to be me, someone else may have gotten it wrong." - Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 3) Mordin was always my favorite companion in the ME series, when he said that right before he died it made me damn near cry.
"Fight on, my men," Sir Andrew said, "I am hurt, but I am not slain; I'll lay me down and bleed a while, And then I'll rise and fight again." - Ballad of Andrew Barton
"Idiot, You kill or you die" - Aoba (End of Evangelion)
"The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth" -Leader of Seele (End of Evangelion)
"That is merely logic. People are not moved by logic." -Mithos (Tales of Symphonia)
"That's why war is so tragic. To win means to make victims of your opponents and give birth to hatred." -Kratos (Tales of Symphonia)
Last one I swear guys, but this is one everyone need to listen to, or at least read.
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness ? not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another.
In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world ? millions of despairing men, women and little children ? victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say ? do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed ? the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes ? men who despise you ? enslave you ? who regiment your lives ? tell you what to do ? what to think or what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men ? machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate! Only the unloved hate ? the unloved and the unnatural!
Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St. Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man" ? not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power ? the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.
Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!" -The Great Dictator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IvPIWzQcUY
It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum... and I'm all outta gum
from duke 3d ('96). it's not memorable, but it has stuck nonetheless.
from duke 3d ('96). it's not memorable, but it has stuck nonetheless.
"I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil." Gandalf always makes me think, when I feel I need a squirt, if I deserve to or not. I haven't truly cried in years.
"Oh NO!" Rainbow Dash (Teehee). You said quotes that stuck with me and that two word expression definetly has. That show is just too adorable.
"Oh NO!" Rainbow Dash (Teehee). You said quotes that stuck with me and that two word expression definetly has. That show is just too adorable.
"And you, a Stormcloak? I thought better of you."
Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun.
I don't think I've ever felt so... guilty in a game as when I helped overthrow a good ruler and all round friendly guy. I made sure to make a no-kills run of the mission, but my god, finishing up I just felt... bad.
Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun.
I don't think I've ever felt so... guilty in a game as when I helped overthrow a good ruler and all round friendly guy. I made sure to make a no-kills run of the mission, but my god, finishing up I just felt... bad.
"Define 'interesting.'" "Oh, god; oh, god, we're all going to die?"
-Malcolm Reynolds to Hoban Washburne, Serenity (2005)
-Malcolm Reynolds to Hoban Washburne, Serenity (2005)
Lot of things from Doctor Who (especially David Tennant's run) have stuck in my head.
"Headmaster Rocastle: You speak with someone else's voice, Baines. Who might that be?
Baines (Son of Mine): We are the Family of Blood.
Headmaster Rocastle: Mr. Smith said there had been deaths.
Baines (Son of Mine): Yes, sir! And they were good, sir!
Headmaster Rocastle: Well, I warn you, the school is armed.
Baines (Son of Mine): All your little tin soldiers. But tell me, sir, will they thank you?
Headmaster: I don't understand.
Baines (Son of Mine): What do you know of history? What do you know of next year?
Headmaster: You're not making sense.
Baines (Son of Mine): 1914, sir. Because the Family has traveled far and wide looking for Mr. Smith and, oh, the things we have seen! War is coming. In foreign fields, war of the whole wide world, with all your boys falling down in the mud. Do you think they will thank the man who taught them it was glorious?!"
Baines (Son of Mine): We are the Family of Blood.
Headmaster Rocastle: Mr. Smith said there had been deaths.
Baines (Son of Mine): Yes, sir! And they were good, sir!
Headmaster Rocastle: Well, I warn you, the school is armed.
Baines (Son of Mine): All your little tin soldiers. But tell me, sir, will they thank you?
Headmaster: I don't understand.
Baines (Son of Mine): What do you know of history? What do you know of next year?
Headmaster: You're not making sense.
Baines (Son of Mine): 1914, sir. Because the Family has traveled far and wide looking for Mr. Smith and, oh, the things we have seen! War is coming. In foreign fields, war of the whole wide world, with all your boys falling down in the mud. Do you think they will thank the man who taught them it was glorious?!"
"When you're a kid, they tell you it's all, "Grow up. Get a job. Get married. Get a house. Have a kid, and that's it." But the truth is: the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better."
Kathy Nightingale: Why did you come here anyway?
Sally Sparrow: I love old things. They make me feel sad.
Kathy Nightingale: What's good about sad?
Sally Sparrow: It's happy for deep people.
Sally Sparrow: I love old things. They make me feel sad.
Kathy Nightingale: What's good about sad?
Sally Sparrow: It's happy for deep people.
Amy Pond, there's something you better understand about me, 'cause it's important and one day your life may depend on it...I am definitely a madman with a box.
'I'M COVERED IN BEES!'
'My father was a bee keeper, like his father before him, and I want to walk in their footsteps and their footsteps went like this. I'M COVERED IN BEES!'
'I like my coffee like I like my women. In a plastic cup.'
'I like my coffee like I like my women. COVERED IN BEES!'
Captcha - hugger-mugger
Didn't Cameron advise us to do that back in 2010? How'd that work out Dave?
'My father was a bee keeper, like his father before him, and I want to walk in their footsteps and their footsteps went like this. I'M COVERED IN BEES!'
'I like my coffee like I like my women. In a plastic cup.'
'I like my coffee like I like my women. COVERED IN BEES!'
Captcha - hugger-mugger
Didn't Cameron advise us to do that back in 2010? How'd that work out Dave?
"I imagine I'll die quite soon. It's strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years I had roses and I apologized to nobody.
I shall die here. Every last inch of me shall perish. Except one.
An inch. It's small and it's fragile and it's the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it, or sell it, or give it away. We must never let them take it from us. "
-Valerie - V For Vendetta
The whole letter is chilling, and beautifully written, but that bit right there at the end always gives me goosebumps.
I shall die here. Every last inch of me shall perish. Except one.
An inch. It's small and it's fragile and it's the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it, or sell it, or give it away. We must never let them take it from us. "
-Valerie - V For Vendetta
The whole letter is chilling, and beautifully written, but that bit right there at the end always gives me goosebumps.
"When are you people going to realize? I'm not stuck in here with you, YOU ARE STUCK IN HERE WITH ME!"
"I...am Andrew Ryan and I'm here to ask you a question:
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?
No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to god.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.
I...rejected these answers. Instead I chose something different, I chose the impossible, I chose...Rapture."
No gods or kings, only man. -Andrew Ryan
"In what country is there a place for people like me"-Andrew Ryan
"I'm a dishonest man. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you've got to watch out for because you can never tell when they'll do something completely stupid." -Jack Sparrow
"What is the Truth?"
"We see the world for what it truly is, and hope that, one day, mankind might see the same."
"What is the World then?"
"An illusion, one which we can submit to, as most do, or transcend."
"What is it to transcend?"
"To recognize nothing is true, and everything is permitted. That laws arise not from divinity but from reason."
-Dialogue between Altair and Al'Mualim
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?
No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to god.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.
I...rejected these answers. Instead I chose something different, I chose the impossible, I chose...Rapture."
No gods or kings, only man. -Andrew Ryan
"In what country is there a place for people like me"-Andrew Ryan
"I'm a dishonest man. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you've got to watch out for because you can never tell when they'll do something completely stupid." -Jack Sparrow
"What is the Truth?"
"We see the world for what it truly is, and hope that, one day, mankind might see the same."
"What is the World then?"
"An illusion, one which we can submit to, as most do, or transcend."
"What is it to transcend?"
"To recognize nothing is true, and everything is permitted. That laws arise not from divinity but from reason."
-Dialogue between Altair and Al'Mualim
Not really a quote, but a speel from Fahrenheit 451.
This really disturbed me, as this book was written about 60 years ago.
Also, as someone else said:
MAJOR BIOSHOCK SPOILERS
"Picture it. Nineteenth century man with his horses, dogs, carts, slow motion. Then, in the twentieth century, speed up your camera. Books cut shorter. Condensations, Digests. Tabloids.
Everything boils down to the gag, the snap ending. Classics cut to fit fifteen-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a two-minute book column, winding up at last as a ten- or twelve-line dictionary resume. I exaggerate, of course. The dictionaries were for reference. But many were those whose sole knowledge of Hamlet (you know the title certainly, Montag; it is probably only a faint rumour of a title to you, Mrs. Montag) whose sole knowledge, as I say, of Hamlet was a one-page digest in a book that claimed: 'now at least you can read all the classics; keep up with your neighbours.' Do you see? Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or
more."
Everything boils down to the gag, the snap ending. Classics cut to fit fifteen-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a two-minute book column, winding up at last as a ten- or twelve-line dictionary resume. I exaggerate, of course. The dictionaries were for reference. But many were those whose sole knowledge of Hamlet (you know the title certainly, Montag; it is probably only a faint rumour of a title to you, Mrs. Montag) whose sole knowledge, as I say, of Hamlet was a one-page digest in a book that claimed: 'now at least you can read all the classics; keep up with your neighbours.' Do you see? Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or
more."
Oh, and you can't beat AM's Hate Speech. Thanks for posting that, for some reason that didn't come to mind.Chiasm said:
Also, as someone else said:
MAJOR BIOSHOCK SPOILERS
Joker: "How do you know when a Turian is out of ammo?"
Garrus: "He switches to the stick up his ass as a backup weapon."
I lol'd. I seriously lol'd.
Garrus: "He switches to the stick up his ass as a backup weapon."
I lol'd. I seriously lol'd.
"Had to be me. Someone else might've gotten wrong"
--Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2/3
"Church, do you ever wonder why we're here?"
"You know Caboose, I used to not care. I just went along with orders and hoped everything would work out for me. But after all that's happened, do you know what I've learned? It's not about hating the guy on the other side because someone told you to. I mean, you should hate someone because they're an asshole, or a pervert, or a snob, or they're lazy, or arrogant, or an idiot, or a know-it-all. Those are reasons to dislike somebody. You don't hate a person because someone told you to, you have learn to despise people on a personal level. Not because they're red or because they're blue, but because you know them, and you see them every single day, and you can't stand them because they're a complete and total fucking douche bag."
--Caboose and Church (Red vs. Blue Episode 100)
"A great love is a lot like a good memory. When it's there, and you know it's there, but it's just out of your reach, it can be all you think about. You can focus on it and try to force it, but the more you do, the more you seem to push it away. But if you're patient, and you hold still, well maybe, just maybe, it'll come to you."
--Church (Red vs. Blue Revelation Episode 20)
"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the rocket propulsion test chamber!"
--Gordan Freeman (Freeman's Mind Episode 19)
"Remember Billy, you must never put your ring on, or Ring Wraiths will come and stab you to death with knives, pointy knives, that burn with the fires of a thousand evils"
"Coooool!"
--One Ring to Rule Them All 2
"I like all religions. If you have a problem in your life and you just deal with it using religion, that's fine. I use Google, but whatever you need."
--Simon Amstell(Never Mind the Buzzcocks) - I guess technically that isn't fictional, but it's from a TV show so I'm going to count it.
--Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2/3
"Church, do you ever wonder why we're here?"
"You know Caboose, I used to not care. I just went along with orders and hoped everything would work out for me. But after all that's happened, do you know what I've learned? It's not about hating the guy on the other side because someone told you to. I mean, you should hate someone because they're an asshole, or a pervert, or a snob, or they're lazy, or arrogant, or an idiot, or a know-it-all. Those are reasons to dislike somebody. You don't hate a person because someone told you to, you have learn to despise people on a personal level. Not because they're red or because they're blue, but because you know them, and you see them every single day, and you can't stand them because they're a complete and total fucking douche bag."
--Caboose and Church (Red vs. Blue Episode 100)
"A great love is a lot like a good memory. When it's there, and you know it's there, but it's just out of your reach, it can be all you think about. You can focus on it and try to force it, but the more you do, the more you seem to push it away. But if you're patient, and you hold still, well maybe, just maybe, it'll come to you."
--Church (Red vs. Blue Revelation Episode 20)
"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the rocket propulsion test chamber!"
--Gordan Freeman (Freeman's Mind Episode 19)
"Remember Billy, you must never put your ring on, or Ring Wraiths will come and stab you to death with knives, pointy knives, that burn with the fires of a thousand evils"
"Coooool!"
--One Ring to Rule Them All 2
"I like all religions. If you have a problem in your life and you just deal with it using religion, that's fine. I use Google, but whatever you need."
--Simon Amstell(Never Mind the Buzzcocks) - I guess technically that isn't fictional, but it's from a TV show so I'm going to count it.
"Friends who wanna stay friends don't discuss two things: politics, and religion."- Cole Phelps
My life has been much better since I started putting this one into action.
My life has been much better since I started putting this one into action.