History Main / ShouldntYouStopStealing

Compare ChronicVillainy. Can turn into YouKeepTellingYourselfThat if someone calls them out on it. Compare CutLexLuthorACheck, which doesn't require that the villain ever had an excuse for his unrepentant villainy.

** Usopp: at first he lied to cheer up his dying mother, then he lied to cheer up his sick girlfriend, and since then he's mainly lied out of habit.
** Nami is also a classic example: she steals [[spoiler:to buy back her hometown from Arlong]]. Once that's no longer an issue, she steals because [[spoiler:she enjoys being rich]]. Nami, at least, was shown stealing from a bookstore as a child because her family was poor. Apparently, it was already a habit by the time Arlong came along.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' when asked by Knuckles if Rouge is going to continue hunting for jewels to steal Rouge states she plans to leave the treasure-hunting business behind. In Rouge's [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes]] very next appearance, we find her breaking into one of Eggman's bases to steal a treasure he's rumored to have. And if you thought this was a case of PayEvilOntoEvil, the end of Team Dark's campaign has Rouge scheme to steal thw Master Emerald again.

** When Vaarsuvius explains to their mate that the [[spoiler:DealWithTheDevil]] was necessary to achieve the arcane power to defeat [[spoiler:a vengeful and very powerful dragon]] that was threatening V's family, Inkyrius points out that the goal has been accomplished but V still hasn't relinquished the power. Inky offers an ultimatum: give up the power and they have a chance to reconnect as a family, or keep hanging onto the power and prove that ''it'' is what V has really wanted all along. Unfortunately, Vaarsuvius has several other important goals that ''could'' be achieved with said power, and uses that as justification to apologetically teleport away instead. About half a story arc later, Inkyrius files for divorce.

In the comic book version (based on The DCAU, as before Freeze was just a typical villain), Freeze accidentally kills his wife, firing his cold ray into her stasis tube by mistake while fighting Franchise/{{Batman}} and shattering her. At first he blames Batman for this and wants revenge, but over time he became just another criminal. Eventually he has her resurrected with a Lazarus Pit, but that just causes her to become a villain named Lazara, who blames her husband for what happened to her.

* Examined in ''Series/BreakingBad.'' After Walter White's initial efforts at starting a meth business end up in catastrophe, some of his former colleagues and friends offer to financially support him through his cancer treatment. He refuses their offer due to his {{Pride}} and lingering resentment towards them. Later on, when Walt succeeds at his meth business and makes enough money to support his family after his death, he still cannot quit because he's too tied up in the underworld to get out cleanly -- [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget and because he's getting]] to [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain like the power a quiet suburban life doesn't give him]]. By the midpoint of the final season, there are no more threats to his "empire" and he's made more money than he could spend in a lifetime. Faced with the fact that VictoryIsBoring, he finally decides to get out of the game for his family...[[spoiler:just as, unbeknownst to him, Hank has discovered his secret.]]