Quotes from fictional characters that made you stop and think or have stuck with you.

[Fenra]

This is actually fairly recent, as in last week recent, was watching OMFGCATA's playthrough of the Pandaren starting zone in the mists of pandaria beta when they read out this line from the quest text (to the best of my knowledge as the youtube video was in low quality so I couldn't read the text myself, curse my bad net connection)

"We do not live to find ourselves, we live to create ourselves"

I paused the video and sat there for a good 15 minites, its something I'd never thought of before.

So often in life we think about what we should be, who we should be, society is all about finding ourselves. People worry about fate, about destiny, about who they should be, finding who they are. Lord knows I've fallen into those traps myself but that... that threw me for a loop.

It said to me I shouldn't be hunting for myself, he isn't out there, I'm here, now, I'm me and everything I do is creating me, not meeting some predetermined man I'm supposed to be, there is no set fate. I am what I make myself, what life I choose to create for myself.

So thank you random Pandaren NPC quest giver for giving me that to think on and a rather refreshing sense of freedom and control over my life.

 

[Jedoro]

"We all have our delusions" - Aria T'loak.

Eve, the female krogan, says something about turning on a light and there will be darkness no more, but I forgot the exact wording.

Those are the ones I remember right now...

I think this is close: "It only takes one candle to light a fire, and then the darkness is gone."

OT:
In war, victory.
In peace, vigilance.
In death, sacrifice.
-Grey Wardens, Dragon Age

"I only have two rules. The first rule is to never kill someone without a reason."
"And the second rule?"
"You can always find a reason to kill someone.
-Saren and David Anderson, one of the Mass Effect novels.

EDIT: Definitely paraphrased:
"The worst insult an enemy can suffer is to be ignored."
-Warlord Okeer, Mass Effect 2

 

[NerfedFalcon]

"None of us are the heroes we're supposed to be."
~Link, There Will Be Brawl

"I'm not a hero. Heroes let people down."
~Megaman, Captain SNES (later echoed by Alex)

"A man chooses. A slave obeys. Are you a man, or a slave?"
~Andrew Ryan, Bioshock

"Our world, with its rules of causality, has trained us to be miserly with forgiveness. By forgiving them too readily, we can be badly hurt. But if we've learned from a mistake and became better for it, shouldn't we be rewarded for the learning, rather than punished for the mistake?"
~Narration, Braid

 

[deth2munkies]

Literally everything from Alpha Centauri.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Alpha_Centauri

In particular:

As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
-Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"

Look at any photograph or work of art. If you could duplicate exactly the first tiny dot of color, and then the next and the next, you would end with a perfect copy of the whole, indistinguishable from the original in every way, including the so-called "moral value" of the art itself. Nothing can transcend its smallest elements.
-CEO Nwabudike Morgan, "The Ethics of Greed"

To understand a thing is to know the manner by which it might be destroyed. A fundamental understanding of the basic building-blocks of the Universe is essential, then, to the total destruction of everything.
-Foreman Domai, "One Tool, One Thought"

Begin with a function of arbitrary complexity. Feed it values, "sense data". Then, take your result, square it, and feed it back into your original function, adding a new set of sense data. Continue to feed your results back into the original function ad infinitum. What do you have? The fundamental principle of human consciousness.
-Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "The Feedback Principle"

 

[iLazy]

"Go to the graves of a thousand dead soldiers and ask them if honour matters. Their silence will be your answer."
- Javik; Mass Effect 3

That really hit me. I mean, honour is great and all, but dead is dead.

"There are no men like me, only me."
- Jaime Lannister; A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones

I just like the quote. I mean, there is only you. No one is exactly like you. There are people who are similar to you, but in the end, there's only you.

"Everyone's gonna die, its a natural part of life...but if life's has no purpose you're dead already."
- Kiba: Wolf's Rain

Probably one of my many favourite quotes from the show. Such a beautifully sad anime D:

 

[neonsword13-ops]

The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed. The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate...Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope. Yet, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are...Death awaits you."

~Nyx, Persona 3.

Knowledge of the truth is not everything. Yet drunk with truth, you exceeded your role and became too involved... Now, learn for yourselves whose wrath you have brought down!

~Izanami, Persona 4

Yeah, r.i.p.

~Adam Jensen, Deus Ex: Human revolution

That's all I got for philosophical stuff.

 

[Shadie777]

?Duty is heavier than a mountain. Death, lighter than a feather.?
Lan Mandragoran, Wheel of Time

This is the one quote that stuck with me while reading this book.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

"Bear witness to my sin, and you become a breeding ground for my horror."
-Joel Calley, Concession.

It just sounds so good.

 

[krection]

There's only two ways this can end. And in both of them....you die. -Duke Nukem

 

[Pinkamena]

"A man chooses, a slave obeys." Andrew Ryan

 

[Jabberwock King]

"So this is how it ends. Well then listen to me you stupid idiots! I am undefeatable, you can never stop me, death is only the beginning! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll see you in HELL!"
Jeremiah Gottwald, Code Ment
.
.
.
.
I'm tripping BALLS!

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

"We all have our delusions" - Aria T'loak.

Eve, the female krogan, says something about turning on a light and there will be darkness no more, but I forgot the exact wording.

Those are the ones I remember right now...

I think this is close: "It only takes one candle to light a fire, and then the darkness is gone."

OT:
In war, victory.
In peace, vigilance.
In death, sacrifice.
-Grey Wardens, Dragon Age

"I only have two rules. The first rule is to never kill someone without a reason."
"And the second rule?"
"You can always find a reason to kill someone.
-Saren and David Anderson, one of the Mass Effect novels.

EDIT: Definitely paraphrased:
"The worst insult an enemy can suffer is to be ignored."
-Warlord Okeer, Mass Effect 2

Yeah, it might be, thank you.

 

[Noswad]

"Four Gods wait on the windowsill
Where once eight Gods did war and will
And if the Gods themselves may die
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule

When two Gods wait on the windowsill
The wick of the world is burning, still
But when one God in triumph shouts
The candle of the world goes out

And when that candle, bare and white
Sheds at last its dancing light
Then we will rouse, with raiséd rod
To pierce the very house of God"
--The Quartet for the Dusk of Man

 

[Erttheking]

My father was born on the ship to America, but the way that he talked about Ireland you would think he always wore a kilt and ate nothing but haggis. And he hated the british for what they did to his great grand parents, that he never knew.

John Marston. It went something like that.

Freedom is the right of all sentient beings

Optimus Prime

When I was in the corps we didn't get no fancy shmancy tanks, we entire platoon got sticks and a rock, and we had to share the rock.

Sgt. Johnson. Again it went something like that.

Give it to me, and I'll do what you shoulda did, ten minutes ago.

Convict from the dark knight.

 

[Spectrre]

Snip (with pain in my heart)

... amazing. Your quotes are the ones that really stopped me in my tracks and made me think, more so than the others so far. Thank you for posting them.


OT: (wall-o-text inc.) 1967 Parole Hearings Man: Ellis Boyd Redding, your files say you've served 40 years of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated?
Red: Rehabilitated? Well, now let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society...
Red: I know what *you* think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made up word. A politician's word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie, and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Well, are you?
Red: There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.


Andy Dufresne: That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you... Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
Red: I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.
Andy Dufresne: Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
Red: Forget?
Andy Dufresne: Forget that... there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours.
Red: What're you talking about?
Andy Dufresne: Hope.


Both from The Shawshank Redemption.

 

[syrdefi]

"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world ? No, you move."
--Captain America

It means I stand up for my convictions.

It means I don't despise anyone whose convictions run in opposition to my own.

It means that Captain America is pure awesome!

 

[Leelu]

Two that mainly stick out are:

Stephen King - "Be true, be brave, stand. All the rest is darkness."

And:

Sherlock/Mycroft Holmes - "Sherlock Holmes: Look at them. They all care so much. Do you ever wonder if there's something wrong with us?
Mycroft Holmes: All lives end. All hearts are broken. Caring is not an advantage, Sherlock. "

There are more but it would take forever to type them out.

 

[pope_of_larry]

The number one moment in mass effect is when Mordin said "Had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong" before entering the tower.

 

[Karthek]

Two quotes that I live by:
"Keep on keepin' on" and "Life's a garden, dig it!"
~Joe Dirt, best David Spade movie ever

 

[Spydercake]

But as the day when the world declared in one voice, we will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on, we're going to survive. Today, we celebrate our Independence day!
Saw this movie when I was about 5 years old, this has stuck with me ever since.
Starts at around 0:34