Line #112 Quotes/HumansAreFlawed


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	[[folder:Fiction]]
4	->"''[='=]We were born of risen apes, not fallen angels.' Emma's problem was she focused too much on the dark side of mankind. We have wars and pollution, poverty and disease, yes. But that doesn't invalidate all the good mankind has accomplished. We as a species have cared for one another since the beginning when we were learning how to build spears or weave baskets. Even in darkness, beauty thrives.''"
5	-->-- '''Dr. Ilene Chen''', ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon''
6
7	->Humans.\
8	Violent but peace-loving.\
9	Passionate but cerebral.\
10	Humane but cruel.\
11	Impulsive but calculating.\
12	Generous but selfish.\
13	Humans. Altogether a contradictory and deeply flawed species.\
14	And yet... And yet, somehow I knew that they represented the best hope of the galaxy.\
15	Perhaps the only hope.
16	-->-- '''Ax''', ''Literature/{{Animorphs}} #52: [[Recap/AnimorphsTheSacrifice The Sacrifice]]''
17
18	->'''Cade:''' When you said you were done fighting for humans, you didn't mean that, did you? \
19	'''Optimus:''' How many more of my kind must be sacrificed, to atone for your mistakes? \
20	'''Cade:''' What do you think being human means? That's what we do; we make mistakes. And sometimes out of those mistakes come the most amazing things. Like when I fixed you, it was for a reward. That was it, that was why, for money. And it was me making a mistake. So even if you've got no faith in us, I'm asking you to do what I do; I'm asking you to look through all the junk and see the treasure. You've gotta have faith, Prime, in who we can be.
21	-->-- Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction
22
23	->'''Diana:''' A hundred years ago I walked away from mankind, from a century of horrors... Men made a world where standing together is impossible.\
24	'''Bruce:''' Men are still good: we fight, we kill, we betray one another... But we can rebuild. We can do better. We will. We ''have'' to.
25	-->-- ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''
26
27	->''"{{Utopia}}. Said aloud, it evokes Heaven on Earth... yet the word means both 'good place' and 'no place,' an ideal unreachable. Even in the naming of it, we refuse to believe. And yet, we will forever seek Utopia, [[AmbitionIsEvil driven always to want more]], [[{{Greed}} no matter how much we have]]. It is among the grandest of human ironies that our very drive to find Utopia has kept us from abiding there."''
28	-->-- '''Sofia Lamb''', ''VideoGame/BioShock2''
29
30	->''"The preacher was talking, there's a sermon he gave\
31	He said, 'every man's conscience is vile and depraved,\
32	You cannot depend on it to be your guide\
33	When it's you who must keep it satisfied[='=]"''
34	-->-- '''Music/BobDylan''', "Man in the Long Black Coat"
35
36	->''"Is there a turn to make, Does it matter anymore? \
37	Is there something in our history that causes all the war? \
38	I read about good and bad, I see the faces on the screen, \
39	Hear that talk is even cheaper now; I can see just what they mean. \
40	Am I ever to be free of this human condition in front of me?"''
41	-->-- '''Music/CharliePeacock''', "Human Condition"
42
43	->''"Humans are harsh creatures, but they have to be because their world is harsh and dangerous. Sometimes in their pursuit to survive, they cross each other, and most times they make friends and can work together, but other times it doesn't work out and they feel that they have to fight. They are mostly good, I think, but sometimes they just plain old turn bad .... and live to cause other humans misery."''
44	-->-- '''Twilight Sparkle''', ''[[Fanfic/TheConversionBureau The Conversion Bureau (Yellowstone Continuity)]]''
45
46	->Yet man will never be perfect until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is half the battle.
47	-->-- ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''
48
49	->''"There's no such thing as a perfect person in this world."''
50	-->-- '''Conan Edogawa''', ''Manga/CaseClosed''
51
52	->'''Harry:''' Bad things are inside everyone, I don't care how gentle or holy or sincere or dedicated you are. There are bad things in there. Lust. Greed. Violence. You don't need a wicked queen to make that happen. That's a part of everyone. Some more, some less, but it's always there.\
53	'''The Summer Lady:''' You're saying that you were wicked from the beginning?\
54	'''Harry:''' I'm saying I could have been. I chose something else. And I'm going to continue choosing something else.
55	-->-- ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''
56
57	->''"Let's say I posed this question to you: 'Can all human souls be bought with money or not?' Now remember, the keyword here is 'all'. The answer is: 'There are times when you can buy them, and other times, not,' right? The human being... sometimes he'll uphold his pride and conscience even if he's offered ten billion yen, and other times he'll murder someone over one yen."''
58	-->-- '''Izaya Orihara''', ''Literature/{{Durarara}}''
59
60	->'''MAN'S MYSTERY'''\
61	''"Man is mortal, and doomed to death and failure and loss.''\
62	''This lies beyond our comprehension -- why do you not despair?"''
63	-->-- '''[[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Spirit_of_the_Daedra Spirit of the Daedra]]''', ''Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks''
64
65	->''"...Humanity is ugly. But individual people have the potential to be beautiful."''
66	-->-- '''Rikku''', ''Webcomic/FateGamersOnly''
67
68	->''"You're right. I can't do anything alone. Everyone here has their flaws and imperfections. But that's what drives us to work together to make up for those flaws. Together, we make the perfect main character."''
69	-->-- '''Gintoki Sakata''', ''Manga/{{Gintama}}''
70
71	->It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people. [...] Just when you'd think they were more malignant than ever Hell could be, they could occasionally show more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of. Often the same individual was involved. It was this free will thing, of course. It was a bugger.
72	-->-- ''Literature/GoodOmens''
73
74	->"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
75	-->-- ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago''
76
77	->''"It is said that at the dawn of time, man, beast, and all magical beings lived together under Aeglin, the Father Tree. But man had been created with a hole in his heart, a hole that no possession, power, or knowledge could fill."''
78	-->-- '''Professor Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm''', ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy''
79
80	->''"We were all heroes, in spite of ourselves."''
81	-->-- '''Final Line''', ''VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream''
82
83	->''"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,\
84	But in ourselves, that we are underlings."''
85	-->-- '''Cassius''', ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''
86
87	->''"People are messy, awkward, sometimes selfish and cruel. But they're trying, and [[KnightInSourArmor I'm going to make sure they have a chance]]."''
88	-->-- '''Commander Shepard''', ''Franchise/MassEffect''
89
90	-> ''Yeah, they've had a couple of fights.\
91	Nobody's perfect, you see!\
92	[[FantasticAnthropologist Still, I say I'm born with the rights to study whatever I please!]]''
93	-->-- '''Lyra''', ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4dWMxTWTXE Lyra's Song]]
94
95	->''"I don't believe in humanity... But I believe in the potential of humanity."''
96	-->-- '''Sora''' to Jibril, ''Literature/NoGameNoLife''
97
98	->''"Using Chaotic means to fulfill Lawful obligations strikes me as fairly Neutral... I don't think my superiors would blink if I kicked your case over to the Neutral Good afterlife, but there's one factor preventing me: You're trying. You're '''trying''' to be Lawful Good. People forget how crucial it is to keep trying, even if they screw it up now and then. They figure that if they can't manage it perfectly every waking second, then they should just pick some other alignment because it'll be easier. But it's the struggle that matters. It's easy for a being of pure Law and Good to live up to these ideals, but you're a mortal. What matters is that when you blow it, you get back up on the horse and try again."''
99	-->-- '''Bureaucratic Deva''', ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', "[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0490.html Final Review]]"
100
101	->''"We're flawed, people are. We’re damaged. We come into the world nearly perfect, naked, and happy and then life delivers the beatdown. It kicks our asses and makes us feel like shit. It does permanent damage. Bad luck, people, our own mistakes. I want to work hard at things I love, find the good, be one of the people who ''fix'' instead of ''break.''"''
102	-->-- '''Alexis''', ''Literature/{{Pact}}''
103
104	->''"A great man is always misunderstood in his own time. But he must remain true to himself, even if those around him don't understand!"''
105	-->-- '''Yuri Cosmos''', ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', Case 5-4: "The Cosmic Turnabout"
106
107	->''"A wise man once said: 'There are no perfect men in the world; only perfect intentions.'"''
108	-->-- '''Azeem''', ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves''
109
110	->''"I know that people fight over the most trivial things. Some people may be selfish, like the professor said... But they're basically good. If they try their best and never give up on their wishes... They always have a reason to be happy. That's why you should help them out... Saving them is a good thing!"''
111	-->-- '''Amy''' to Shadow, ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''
112
113	->''"Earth technology and science have progressed [[TheWorldIsNotReady faster than political and social knowledge]]. Purpose of mission: to prevent Earth's civilization from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society."''
114	-->-- '''Gary Seven''', ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', [[Recap/StarTrekS2E26AssignmentEarth "Assignment: Earth]]"
115
116	->''"Dying is no way to take responsibility. Stay alive, stay alive and feel the shame. No matter how humiliating it may be; live through it anyway! All Humans are weak, we're Fallible, we all make Mistakes. I say 'so what? We're not Machines!' Machines feel no shame. Our inevitable missteps, and the resulting guilt: those are the '''privileges''' of being Human!"''
117	-->-- '''Captain Ryu Hijikata''', ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato2202''
118
119	->'''Nagilum:''' I have learned all I needed to know. Would you like me to share some of my conclusions?\
120	'''Picard:''' I'm not interested.\
121	'''Nagilum:''' Of course you are. You are too inquisitive not to want to know. You seem to find no tranquility in anything. You struggle against the inevitable. [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves You thrive on conflict]]. You are selfish, [[MoralMyopia yet you value loyalty]]. You are rash, quick to judge, slow to change. [[TooDumbToLive It's amazing you've survived]].
122	-->-- ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E2WhereSilenceHasLease Where Silence Has Lease]]"
123
124	->''"They can be a great people, Kal-El; they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way."''
125	-->-- '''Jor-El''', ''Film/SupermanTheMovie''
126
127	->"''He doesn't dig imperfection, and what's more imperfect than our world?''"
128	-->-- '''Flynn''' discussing '''CLU''', ''Film/TronLegacy''
129
130	->''"Kyril could understand the [[EvilOverlord Dark Queen's]] [[FantasticRacism hatred]] quite well; humanity had the potential to do the greatest good and the deepest evil. It was not something he thought too deeply about, he just knew that it was the way things were."''
131	-->-- ''[[Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls The Night Unfurls: Re-Imagined]]''
132
133	->''"I know I'm a disappointment, but you're wrong about humanity. They are your greatest creation because they're better than you are! Sure, they're weak and they cheat and steal and... destroy and disappoint, but they also give, and create, and they sing and dance and love! And above all, they never give up!"''
134	-->-- '''{{Metatron}}''' convincing {{God}} to help save humanity from the Darkness, ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', "[[Recap/SupernaturalS11E20DontCallMeShurley Don't Call Me Shurley]]"
135
136	->''"You have given them an ideal to aspire to, embodied their highest aspirations. They will race, and stumble, and fall and crawl... and curse... and finally... they will join you in the sun, Kal-El. In time you will no longer be alone."''
137	-->-- '''Jor-El''', ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman''
138
139	->[[AC:'''Cyber-Controller:''' I will bring peace to the world, everlasting peace, and unity, and uniformity.]]\
140	'''The Tenth Doctor:''' And imagination, what about that? The one thing that led you here? Imagination, you're killing it dead!\
141	[[AC:'''Cyber-Controller:''' What is your name?]]\
142	'''The Tenth Doctor:''' I'm the Doctor.\
143	[[AC:'''Cyber-Controller:''' A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken.]]\
144	'''The Tenth Doctor:''' Yeah, but that's it! That's exactly the point! Oh Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius except I'm in the room, but everything you've invented you did to fight your sickness, and that's brilliant! That is so human! And once you've got rid of sickness and mortality, then what is there to strive for, huh? The Cybermen won't advance, you'd just stop! You stay like this forever, a metal earth with metal men and metal thoughts lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive: ''people!'' Ordinary, stupid, ''brilliant'' people!
145	-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel The Age of Steel]]"
146
147	->'''Baion:''' You… were a failure…\
148	'''Red:''' Like you say… [[HistoryRepeats we might all be failures]]. But that's why we [[ThePowerOfFriendship join together]]. Help each other! Become stronger!
149	-->-- ''VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter''
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Real Life]]
153	->''"Men will always be mad, and those that try to cure them are the maddest of all."''
154	-->-- '''Creator/{{Voltaire}}'''
155
156	->''"I am afraid that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and that we have more curiosity than understanding. We grasp at everything, but catch nothing except wind."''
157	-->-- '''Michel de Montaigne'''
158
159	->''"Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the Good and the Bad. But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue."''
160	-->-- '''David Hume'''
161
162	->''"Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without [[HobbesWasRight constraint]]."''
163	-->-- '''UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton''', ''The Federalist Papers'' No. 15
164
165	->''"Man was made at the end of the week's work when God was tired."''
166	-->-- '''Creator/MarkTwain'''
167
168	->''"Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made."''
169	-->-- '''Immanuel Kant'''
170
171	->''"I'm a believer that Patrick Bateman can exist at anytime. Patrick Bateman is an example of what Hannah Arendt called, 'the banality of evil.' That's basically what he is. He could have existed a hundred years ago (he probably existed five hundred years ago). He'll probably exist five hundred years from now. He's just an example of [[AbstractApotheosis the constantness of evil]]. He might be a creature of the eighties with all the trappings that implies, but I think he's really a creature of eternity. Man doesn't necessarily change for the better depending upon the decade, or depending upon how ten years have passed. I think man is born and is corrupted and is always capable of badness. Capable of goodness, too, but badness gets more attention. We notice it more often. It makes more of an impact on us."''
172	-->-- '''Creator/BretEastonEllis''' on ''Literature/AmericanPsycho''
173
174	->''"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."''
175	-->-- '''Literature/TheBible''', ''[[Literature/BookOfRomans Romans 3:23]]''
176
177	->''"Look at Gordon: He wasn’t a hero cop, he was a powerless man mired down by corruption. Look at Bruce: He wasn’t an agent of justice, he going to shoot Joe Chill in the head. The only thing that stopped Bruce was coincidence, and the only thing that helped Gordon was Bruce. So if people are only as good as the world lets them be, then it’s not just Batman’s job to punish the guilty, ''he has to make a world where people can be better''. Otherwise, they give in and throw morality aside. [[InTheirOwnImage They become the Joker.]]"''
178	-->-- '''Chris Sims''', '''Andy Khouri''', and '''David Uzumeri''' [[http://comicsalliance.com/comicsalliance-review-dark-knight-3/ on]] ''Film/TheDarkKnight''
179
180	->''"The only much-needed detour from the straightforward plot of the film is when Creator/JoePantoliano's Cypher, the bald IT guy of the ''Nebuchadnezzar'', betrays the human resistance and kills two of his friends for the off chance of [[FoodAsBribe tasting steak again]], a decision I'm not sure I can fault him on. His turncoat moment also gave the story some depth by showing that, in the war between [[ManVersusMachine man and machine]], [[BlackAndGrayMorality not all humans are automatically good]]."''
181	-->-- '''''Website/{{Cracked}}''''' [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-movies-plots-given-away-by-characters-names_p2/#ixzz33LuA2LPm on]] ''Film/TheMatrix''
182
183	->''"It's not Midnight that renders the Doctor helpless, but the reality of people. They're vivid portrayals of the myth of ''Series/DoctorWho'' transported into everyday people, of the sort that [[Creator/RussellTDavies Davies]] writes very, very well. And they break the show. In a wonderfully disturbing inversion of the mawkish {{glurge}} that usually constitutes the hero being [[ReedRichardsIsUseless utterly impotent]] in the face of a threat, it is not that the hero is flawed because he's fictional. It's that we are all flawed because we are not."''
184	-->-- '''[[http://www.philipsandifer.com/2013/12/there-should-have-been-another-way.html Dr. El Sandifer]]''' on "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight Midnight]]"
185
186	->"One of the things that both annoyed me and propelled me towards the idea of [[{{Transhumanism}} upgrading Humanity wholesale]] was the once popular catch-all beloved of avant-garde playwrights "The Human Condition". This was the more intellectualized soap opera where the usual suspects were examining their own suffering in terms of "what it means to be Human". Again, the aspects of the condition tended to be things like jealousy, anger, rage, greed, stupidity, depression, violence... the list continues. In fact, what they generally describe are all the things that make us [[HumansAreBastards sub-Human]]. Things that stem from our evolutionary ancestry. It has been said that we are a halfway stage between apes and angels. I say it is time to edit out the ape and enhance the angelic qualities, which are the things which [[RousseauWasRight truly distinguish us as Human]]. They include rationality, love, compassion, empathy and intelligence. None of which make for good drama or exciting shoot-outs."
187	-->-- '''[[https://medium.com/@dirk.bruere/why-i-am-a-transhumanist-2196e5ae2a7c Dirk Bruere]]''' [[DefiedTrope defying this trope]]
188
189	->''"If Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself."''
190	-->-- '''UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson'''
191	[[/folder]]

Context Quotes / HumansAreFlawed