History BadassCreed / Literature

** "I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content." From ''The Queen of the Black Coast''.

*** Based on the inscription from {{Herodotus}} on the New York Post Office (which ''isn't'' an official motto): "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds".

* [[TheElricSaga Elric of Melnibone's]] battlecry; "Blood and souls! Blood and souls for my Lord Arioch!"

** His poem [[http://www.kipling.org.uk/kip_fra.htm "If"]] is a BadassCreed in instructional format. Read it.
** Also, the [[http://www.kipling.org.uk/kip_fra.htm "Law of the Jungle"]], which starts:

** His poem [[http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm "If"]] is a BadassCreed in instructional format. Read it.

* From {{Young Wizards}}:

*** Based on the inscription from Herodotus on the New York Post Office (which ''isn't'' an official motto): "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds".

--> Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. [[OfferedTheCrown I shall wear no crowns]] and [[GlorySeeker win no glory]]. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.

* The Clan [=MacKenzie=]'s battle chant from [=~S. M. Stirling~=]'s {{Emberverse}}:

* [=RiverClan=] fish! [=RiverClan=] swim! [=RiverClan=] [[WarriorCats warriors]] use water to win

----> The Fire is at the heart, and the Fire is the heart; for its sake, all fires whatever are sacred to me. I shall kindle them small and safe where there are none, for the wayfinding of those who come after: I will breathe on those fires about to die in dark places, and in passing, feed those that burn without harm to any; the fire that burns and warms those who gather about it, in no wise shall I meddle with it save that it seems about to consume its confocals, or to die. To these ends, as the Kindling requireth, I shall ever thrust my claw into the flames to shift the darkening ember or feed the failing coal, looking always toward that inmost Hearth from which all flames rise together, and all fires burn undevouring, in and of That Which first set light to the world, and burns in it ever more...

** The Aiel: "Till shade is gone, Till water is gone, Into the Shadow with teeth bared, Screaming defiance with the last breath, To spit in Sightblinder's eye on the last day."

* The catchphrase of the [[HonorHarrington Audubon Ballroom]], "''Shall we dance?''" Though, admittedly, you could say just about ''anything'' and it would be badass if you happen to do it while charging head-on into a squad of {{super soldiers}} with {{guns akimbo}}.

* JohnCarterOfMars, Warlord of Barsoom, is fond of defying his opponents with: "I still live!" (Also counts as a SurvivalMantra)

* The [[BadassArmy Knights Radiant]] of ''TheStormlightArchive''

* JohnCarterOfMars, Warlord of Barsoom, is fond of defying his opponents with: "I still live!"

* In the Vorkosigan Saga, Aral Vorkosigan gives this cogent life advice to his son Miles:
-->Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards. (Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, Baen Books, 1999, at ch. 15, p. 295.)

-->First in, last out.

**** Note that it's traditional to ''say it literally''. "I, left bracket, recruit's name, right bracket..."

* Madeleine L'Engle's ''ASwiftlyTiltingPlanet'' adapts a portion of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Breastplate "St. Patrick's Breastplate"]] for use as a BadassCreed:

** The various houses all have their own mottoes of this nature. The exception of this is House Stark, whose creed is ''not'' a self-aggrandizing boast but nonetheless probably the coolest one: "[[AStormIsComing Winter Is Coming]]."

* The Aiel from ''TheWheelOfTime'': "Till shade is gone, Till water is gone, Into the Shadow with teeth bared, Screaming defiance with the last breath, To spit in Sightblinder's eye on the last day."

* ''ASongOfIceAndFire'': The oath of the Night's Watch.

** Similarly, when a man of the Night's Watch dies, he is eulogized by the others ending with the phrase: "And now his watch is ended."
** Also, the motto of the Faceless Men: ''Valar morghulis; valar dohaeris''. (All men must die; all men must serve.)
** And Arya's "Fear cuts deeper than swords."
** The various houses all have their own mottoes of this nature. The exception of this is House Stark, whose creed is ''not'' a self-aggrandizing boast but nonetheless probably the coolest one: ''[[AStormIsComing Winter Is Coming]]''.
*** In addition to their official motto, the Lannisters also have the unofficial, and arguably cooler, "A Lannister always pays his/her debts."
* The Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear from ''Dune'': "I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

*** Googling the phrase "teeth acquire stains" turns up various coffee-related parodies of this.

Doesn't sound quite as badass in english, but it translates to:

From the "RepublicCommandoSeries": The Mandalorian Resol'nare, or Six Actions.

--All help us survive.

* ''Dune'': "I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."