Line #33 Quotes/PyrrhicVictory


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
3	->''To stop Kishin from resurrecting, we anxiously kept on attacking. But we never thought about what would happen after you knew Kishin was resurrected for certain...that moment when you felt a sense of accomplishment, you showed a weak point. What irony. I won because of Kishin. But Kishin resurrected. I lost in the end.''
4	-->-- '''Dr. Franken Stein''' after defeating [[BigBad Medusa]], ''Manga/SoulEater''
5
6	->''So, your reports say you were victorious? Ignorance is a frightening thing.''
7	-->-- '''The Beast Titan''' after [[spoiler: the raid on Liberio]], ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''
8	[[/folder]]
9
10	[[folder:Comic Books]]
11	->'''The Champion of the Universe:''' ''[clinging to an asteroid]'' I WON! No one can stand against Champion's might! I'VE WON IT ALL!
12	->'''Thanos:''' Have you now? It looks to me that all you've managed to do is [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy Tamarata]], the prize we fought over, and strand yourself in outer space.
13	-->-- ''The Thanos Quest''
14
15	->[On Lady Death] ''I could force her to speak directly to me. I have the power to bend even her to my will. But what good would that do? That's not the way I wanted it to be. [[MadLove I desire her love]], not her blind subservience. [[DidntThinkThisThrough How could I have miscalculated so badly?]] \
16	Thanos, the master schemer and deceiver. I set out on a quest beyond the reach of any but myself, an impossible mission. [[WeDoTheImpossible And I succeeded at it]]. I have wrestled the reins of power from the hands of the Supreme Being. No sentient could ever dream or hope for more than I have accomplished. \
17	[[SingleTear Who could have guessed that becoming God would prove to be such a hollow victory?]]''
18	-->-- '''Thanos''', ''The Thanos Quest''
19
20	->''"If this is a '''victory''', I'd '''hate''' to see a '''defeat'''!"''
21	-->--'''Backstreet''', ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'', "Kings of The Wild Frontier"
22
23	->''You won't be their messiah anymore. Your zealots, so blind to the truth. I will open their eyes. Whatever you do from now on, you will do it without admiration, without those who once respected you. You will do it without your friends. You might still manage to force your arrogant vision onto the world. But you will do so broken, unloved... And completely alone.''
24	-->-- '''Pepper Potts''', ''ComicBook/SuperiorIronMan''
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder:Fan Works]]
28	->''Your combat telemetry died a whopping 3.5 seconds before mine! [[MutualKill You died first!]] I won!''
29	-->-- '''Asuka''' to Mari, ''Manga/Evangelion303''
30
31	->[[BondOneLiner "Nightmare slain."]] He said to himself.\
32	It didn't feel like victory in the slightest.
33	-->-- ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls''
34
35	->Nightmare stood up slowly and made her way to the window to gaze down upon the ruins of Ponyville below.\
36	She had the throne, she had her daughter, her enemies were scattered or imprisoned, and ponies were coming to fear her sister’s sun. There was nothing that she had desired a thousand years ago that was not in her possession now.\
37	She was…not content though. Though instead of desiring more, she now didn’t realize what she truly wanted. What Luna did know was that what she had now did not bring her the satisfaction she thought she would have. She didn’t know how to proceed with her daughter. Twilight was unfeeling and everything between them now was strictly formal. Everything had been going so well until Twilight had challenged her, and now…\
38	“What do I do?”
39	-->-- ''FanFic/HeirOfTheNightmare''
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
43	->''"I can't believe you got him! You expert, rootin'-tootin', eagle-eyed, Goth-loving marksman! I love it -- you managed to find a way to win, '''and everybody still loses!'''"''
44	-->-- '''The Joker''', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood''
45
46	->''"Hey, you all right? Come on, pal, cheer up, we did it! We got Boo home! Sure, we put the company in the toilet, and, gee, hundreds of people will be out of work now. Not to mention the angry mob that'll come after us when there's no more power, but hey... at least we had some laughs, right?"''
47	-->-- '''Mike Wazowski''', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc1''
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
51	->'''Thanos''': [[spoiler:Daughter]]?\
52	'''[[spoiler:Gamora]]''': Did you do it?\
53	'''Thanos''': [[TheBadGuyWins Yes]].\
54	'''[[spoiler:Gamora]]''': What did it cost?\
55	'''Thanos''': ...''[[WasItReallyWorthIt Everything]].''
56	-->-- ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''
57
58	->'''Bruce:''' [[ChekhovsGun That bandit, in the forest in Burma]]. Did you catch him?\
59	'''Alfred:''' Yes, Master Bruce.\
60	'''Bruce:''' How?\
61	'''Alfred:''' We burned the forest down.
62	-->-- ''Film/TheDarkKnight''
63
64	->''Sometimes when you win, you lose.''
65	-->-- '''Chris Nielsen''', ''Film/WhatDreamsMayCome''
66
67	-> ''So this is the number of combat troops available for these figures, twelve thousand troops [...] But that's not enough. That's the amount that are going to die. And at the end of a war you need some soldiers left, really, or else it looks like you've lost.''
68	-->--'''Gen. Miller''', ''Film/InTheLoop''
69
70	->''"I was fifteen when the first {{kaiju}} made land in San Francisco. By the time tanks, jets and missiles took it down, six days and 35 miles later, three cities were destroyed. Tens of thousands of lives were lost."''
71	-->--'''Raleigh Becket''', ''Film/PacificRim''
72
73	->'''Everett Ross''': So how does it feel, to spend all that time and all that effort, and to see it fail so spectacularly?
74	->''' Helmut Zemo''': Did it?
75	-->-- ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''
76
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Literature]]
80	->But it is entirely possible to win against the enemy, it is possible even to kill the enemy, and still to be defeated by the battle.
81	-->-- ''Literature/TheBookOfTheDunCow''
82
83	->'''Locke:''' So this is winning.\
84	'''Jean:''' It is.\
85	'''Locke:''' It can go ''fuck'' itself.
86	-->-- ''[[Literature/GentlemanBastard The Lies of Locke Lamora]]''
87
88	->''The first rule of prosperity is not to let yourself weaken so much in battle that you can't defend yourself against another threat.''
89	-->-- '''[[OldMaster Seba]]''', ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan''
90
91	->''I've lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister has won this war.''
92	-->-- '''Jaime Lannister''', ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire: Literature/AStormOfSwords''
93
94	->''And even as he lay dead, his mother heard her brother's voice saying to her, "My God, Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner."''
95	-->-- ''The Rocking Horse Winner''
96
97	->''"They don’t have your back, Cherie. They’re going to kill you someday. Probably sooner than later, when you’re no longer useful and they want the thrill of the hunt again. You’ve probably seen what they can do. [[FateWorseThanDeath Fates worse than death]]. Just don’t ask for ''my'' help when you realize it’s happening. You just screwed me over, Cherie. Don’t know why you did it, but I think you did a pretty fucking good job of it. You trying to be like [[TheDreaded Jack]]? Trying to act like them, pretend you have a place there? Rest assured, you screwed yourself ten times as bad as you screwed me."''
98	-->-- '''[[PeoplePuppets Regent]]''', ''Literature/{{Worm}}''
99
100	->''"If we burn, you burn with us!"''
101	-->-- The motto of '''[[DefiantToTheEnd the rebels]]''', directed at [[DecadentCourt the Capitol]], ''Literature/TheHungerGames''
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
105	->''You know, we were baited – ''baited'' – into [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror an unnecessary war that cost thousands of lives and trillions of dollars]]. And, what did it really get us besides [[Film/AmericanSniper an Oscar nomination for]] Creator/BradleyCooper?''
106	-->-- '''Bill Maher''', ''Series/RealTimeWithBillMaher''
107
108	->'''Kira:''' This war is over. You lost.\
109	'''Founder:''' Have I? I think you'll find that neither the Jem'Hadar or the Breen will agree with that assessment. They will fight to the last man.\
110	'''Kira:''' And what will that accomplish?\
111	'''Founder:''' Isn't it obvious? You may win this war, Commander; but I promise you, when it is over, you will have lost so many ships, so many lives, that your victory will taste as bitter as defeat.
112	-->-- ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E25E26WhatYouLeaveBehind "What You Leave Behind"]]
113
114	->'''Worf:''' Kahless himself said "Destroying an Empire to win a war is no victory."\
115	'''Gowron:''' "And ending a battle to save an Empire is no defeat."
116	-->-- ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E01E02TheWayOfTheWarrior "The Way of the Warrior"]]
117
118	->''When Rhaenyra's last son wed Aegon's only daughter, the [[CivilWar Dance of Dragons]] officially ended.\
119	Ash and burned men: all that was left of the Riverlands.\
120	Two scared children spouting oaths they didn't understand: all that was left of [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen the mighty House Targaryen]].\
121	Ancient skulls and [[DyingRace hatchlings that grow no bigger than cats]]: [[HereThereWereDragons all that was left of the dragons]].''
122	-->--'''Princess Shireen Baratheon,''' ''[[Series/GameOfThrones History and Lore of Westeros: The Dance of Dragons]]''
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Music]]
126	->''You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars.\
127	My energy is spent at last, and my armor is destroyed.\
128	I have used up all my weapons, and I'm helpless and bereaved.\
129	Wounds are all I'm made of...\
130	Did I hear you say that this is victory?''
131	-->-- '''Music/BlueOysterCult''', "Veteran of the Psychic Wars"
132
133	->''His only son,\
134	Cut down, but the battle won,\
135	Oh, what is it worth,\
136	When all that's left is hurt?''
137	-->-- '''Music/FlorenceAndTheMachine''', "Queen of Peace"
138
139	->''You've crossed the finish line,\
140	Won the race but lost your mind,\
141	Was it worth it after all?''
142	-->-- '''Lazlo Bane''', "Superman"
143
144	->''So tell me who won here tonight\
145	The price of winning worthless fight''
146	-->-- '''Music/SonataArctica''', "Destruction Preventer"
147
148	->''For years and years I wandered the earth\
149	Until I died and went to hell\
150	But my despair had ascended to heaven\
151	That's how I finally got rid of it.''
152	-->-- '''Music/TheyMightBeGiants,''' "Hopeless Bleak Despair"
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
156	->'''Dilbert:''' I had a great day at work. For some reason, no one interrupted me so I got a lot done.\
157	'''Garbage Man:''' Today is a holiday.\
158	(''BeatPanel'')\
159	'''Dilbert:''' All my victories are tainted.
160	-->-- ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''
161	[[/folder]]
162
163	[[folder:Poetry]]
164	->The entrance fee cost me\
165	Two dollars, and then\
166	It cost twenty more\
167	For those burgers and fries.\
168	My hospital bill\
169	Was a hundred and ten.\
170	But I won--\
171	The ''five-dollar first prize!''
172	-->-- '''Creator/ShelSilverstein,''' "Big Eating Contest"
173
174	->With their tails tucked proudly 'tween their legs\
175	Advancing towards the exit march the dregs\
176	Of empire, whose retreat this question begs\
177	No promised omelette, just the broken eggs?
178	-->-- '''Creator/MichaelMurry''', "The Misfortune Teller,"
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
182	->Lands ravaged, cities in ruins, so many lives sacrificed, and yet there was no other word for it but victory.
183	-->-- ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193467 "Near Death Experience"]]
184
185	->''The enemy has been destroyed, sir. So have the forest, the city, your palace, your dog...''
186	-->-- '''Keldon Soldier''', ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45396 "Obliterate"]]
187
188	->They found themselves alive again, still bearing their mortal wounds.
189	-->-- ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=157397 "Pyrrhic Revival"]]
190
191	->''Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning.''
192	-->-- '''The Emperor of Mankind''', ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''
193
194	->We "won" in so far as we just beat the [[OurMagesAreDifferent Traditions]] to the hearts and and minds (and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney wallets]] and [[WrittenByTheVictors schools]]) of the [[{{Muggles}} populace]]. They're still out there, and we're still out there, and both groups are having a hell of a time with [[JustBeforeTheEnd all the shit that's come down on our heads lately]]. "Won" is such a stretch. We "won" the Ascension War much like [[TropeNamers Pyrrhus]] won.
195	-->-- ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension - Convention Book: Iteration X'' (Revised)
196
197	->My escape was miraculous; the Emperor must have rewarded my undying faith in those times. However, though I am physically free, my body bears the scars, [[CoveredInScars the many, many scars]]. Every breath takes me to a new plane of agony, every heartbeat sets my jagged nerves writhing with pain. [[EyeScream I cannot see]]. [[TongueTrauma I cannot speak]]. Most horrid of all, [[ShellshockedVeteran I cannot forget]]. Nightmares and waking visions plague me, the drip of my own blood, the cries of anguish haunt me.
198	->No-one escapes the [[WretchedHive Dark City]].
199	-->--''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000: Codex - Dark Eldar (2nd ed)''
200	[[/folder]]
201
202	[[folder:Video Games]]
203	->''"[[TheMole One of my own people has been feeding Ryan evidence of my activities]], and now I am to be detained. As a religion, they merely monitored us. But as a commune, they would see us crucified. And yet... though he will be the last to see it, [[ControlFreak Andrew Ryan]] has [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating already lost the people]]. Wherever I am sent, Rapture will follow."''
204	-->-- '''Sofia Lamb,''' ''VideoGame/Bioshock2''
205
206	->''The defense of the Bastion was the longest and most grueling battle I've ever fought. We staved off the Blighted hordes, defended the kingdom. But none were left to thank us. Now we're trapped in our own undying shells, just like the Blighted themselves. I've dreamt of dying on the battlefield for so long. Now I'll never die at all.''
207	-->-- '''Ulv, the Mad Knight''', ''VideoGame/EnderLiliesQuietusOfTheKnights''
208
209	->'''Livia''': Always remember, [Gadd] [[HeroicSacrifice gave us a great victory]].\
210	'''Vekk''': I don't know how many such victories I can stand.
211	-->-- ''VideoGame/GuildWars Eye of the North''
212
213	->''"The triumph of the Jedi teachings is a cold thing when there is no one left alive to appreciate them."''
214	-->-- '''The Exile''', ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''
215
216	->The enemy has cost you dearly. Do you even deserve to call it a victory?
217	-->-- Description for battles won by a Pyrrhic Victory, ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer''
218
219	->'''Erador:''' ...It's over. We've won.\
220	'''Serenoa:''' And ''what'' have we won? Landroi has seen to it that nothing shall escape these flames... What victory can be had over ashes?
221	-->-- ''VideoGame/TriangleStrategy''
222
223	->Congratulations! You are safe... for now.
224	-->-- ''VideoGame/WorldOfHorror''
225
226	->'''Kratos''': There was... a horse. The horse sought vengeance against his enemy, a stag. But he could not kill the stag alone. The horse met a man, a hunter, and made a deal. He took the man's bit and bridle, and allowed him to ride in a saddle on his back. Together, they killed the stag, and the horse tasted victory...But the hunter would not release the horse, and made a slave of him.\
227	'''Atreus''': So getting revenge cost him his freedom. Hope it was worth it.\
228	'''Kratos''': It was not.
229	-->-- ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4''
230
231	->''Your vision fades and you hear a soft 'pbffffff' as you shit, but your pants are off. So... congratulations?''
232	-->-- ''VideoGame/DontShitYourPants'' if you type "die", "suicide", "seppuku", or "kill self" while not wearing pants
233
234	->''"Hence nothing remains\
235	except\
236	for our\
237	regrets."''
238	-->-- [[spoiler:'''The Judge''']], in the [[spoiler:special ending]], ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}''
239	[[/folder]]
240
241	[[folder:Web Animation]]
242
243	->''"Victory comes with no certain satisfaction. I may never know why we were made to fight, if violence is ever truly justified. Perhaps there is something... worthy in a battle, something beyond...my...understanding."''
244	-->-- [[spoiler: '''ComicBook/{{Silver Surfer}}''']], ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle''
245
246	[[/folder]]
247
248	[[folder:Webcomics]]
249	->'''Kevyn:''' So we're losing?\
250	'''Petey:''' No, we're winning expensively.
251	-->-- ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''
252
253	->'''Cale:''' After everything... you'd think more people would have come out to say farewell. After everything we've done.\
254	'''Benny:''' Were you expecting a parade? They're literally still burying their dead.
255	-->-- ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup''
256
257	->'''GreyGoo Avatar:''' You do not understand, isolated one. [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong I come to undo a great injustice.]]
258	->'''Vexxarr:''' [[SnarkKnight As in, rebel atoms spreading thermal anarchy throughout the universe…]]
259	->'''GreyGoo Avatar:''' No, isolate. That way is behind me. [[BadFuture It is true I consumed the cosmos.]] I spread my body until I became the very light that speckles the night sky. I became all and all became one. [[GoMadFromTheIsolation And then I was alone. Do you know what it means to]] ''[[GoMadFromTheIsolation literally]]'' [[GoMadFromTheIsolation be alone in the universe?]] To wonder what's out there, and know without question that the answer is ''me''. [[KingOfAllCosmos To seek a higher power and know that I am both the peak and nadir?]] Be the void that stares back at itself… [[{{Metaphorgotten}} To say "Good morning" but know you are both morning and the measure of good. To wish to talk about the weather only to realize you are raining on yourself…]]
260	-->-- ''WebComic/{{Vexxarr}}'' meeting the future version of the nanobot swarm he's currently fighting
261
262	[[/folder]]
263
264	[[folder:Web Original]]
265	->''Here lies everything\
266	The world I wanted at my feet\
267	My victory's complete\
268	So hail to the king...''
269	-->-- '''Dr Horrible''', ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog''
270
271	->''There's no happy ending\
272	So they say\
273	Not for me, anyway''
274	-->-- '''Dr Horrible''', ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog''
275
276	->''I mean, anybody who has beaten this [[NintendoHard incredibly hard]] piece of shit will not have any sense of satisfaction, but rather regrets, because it is a complete waste of fuckin' time. I mean, it's like coming out of a brutal fight, being the winner, but achieving nothing for all your troubles but some bloody bruises and broken bones. It's just not worth it.''
277	-->-- '''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''', on ''Film/TheKarateKid'' on NES
278
279	->Game Grumps: Died\
280	Jon still won though\
281	because...\
282	put that in the books
283	-->-- ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'', playing ''[[VideoGame/MarioTennis Mario Power Tennis]]''
284
285	->Nothing will make me feel better, even the victory will be bittersweet!
286	-->-- '''Arin''', after dying to the purple plant boss for the millionth time in ''VideoGame/BattleKidFortressOfPeril'', ''WebVideo/GameGrumps''
287
288	->'''Senate Member:''' What?! We lost 30,000?! We're the worst! But we won, right?\
289	'''War Counselor:''' Yes, sir!\
290	'''Senate Member:''' But we...also got our asses kicked?\
291	'''War Counselor:''' Yes, sir!\
292	'''Senate Member:''' So are we the best or the worst?\
293	''[{{Beat}}]''\
294	'''War Counselor:''' [[MathematiciansAnswer Yes, sir!]]
295	-->-- ''WebAnimation/{{Oversimplified}}'', "The First Punic War"
296
297	->''I am a competitive woman.\
298	I was a married woman who had an affair with a married man.\
299	I was in competition with the wife for her husband and I had to win... well\
300	I won the man, but\
301	I lost my soul, my family, my self-respect, my everything.\
302	Many people hate me for what I did, but not as much as I hate myself.\
303	I'm a worthless piece of shit.\
304	'''But I won.'''''
305	-->-- A ''Postsecret'' postcard
306
307	->Oh?! ''Really?'' REEEAAALLLYYY?! [[{{Angrish}} I... you...]] ''sack'' of shit, god dammit! Okay, I guess that's how we're gonna end this. ''Anticlimactically!'' Even when I win, you don't let me feel good about it! ''I'' ran out of ''power''. ''I'' - god - of course, you let me win in the most [[PunctuatedForEmphasis INFURIATING!! POSSIBLE!! WAY!!]] God, I don't need your ''pity!'' I don't need your lucky pity win! ''Gah-ha-ha-had dammit!''
308	-->-- '''WebVideo/{{Markiplier}}'''[='s=] first 50/1 victory in ''VideoGame/UltimateCustomNight''
309
310	->''[Creator/GeorgeLucas] had made ''Franchise/StarWars'' because he had dreamed of movies like those he'd seen in his youth. He made it into a trilogy because he dreamed of an independent film-maker's paradise in Skywalker Ranch. He had risked ''everything,'' sacrificed so much, given up six years of his life in order to make this dream a reality. But in the end... all he had was a building. The facility was so state-of-the-art that the only ones who could use it were big Hollywood film-makers, not little independents, and its remoteness, no doubt meant to encourage the Northern California film industry, instead discouraged people from making the long trip there. Skywalker Ranch would be used, but mostly by Lucasfilm to serve their own film-making needs and really only because it was already there and, of course, could not be sold. And in his attempt to fulfill this dream, so many people were gone now: Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, Gary Kurtz, Charles Lippincott, John Dykstra, [=Ralph McQuarrie=]... Marcia Lucas. And there remained George Lucas. His friends and colleagues wanted to make ''Film/CitizenKane'', but Lucas? He ''lived it.'' After that, he was done.''
311	-->-- '''Website/SFDebris''', ''The Shadow's Journey''
312
313	->UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar was America's second longest, finally ending only in 1978 with the diplomatic agreement mediated by President [[UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter James E. Carter]] under which the guerrilla forces of the Viet Cong and the People's Army of Vietnam (formerly the North Vietnamese Army) agreed to lay down arms in exchange for the right to field their own political candidates. Only the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}} Cuban]] conflict would last longer: at the time of the Vietnam memorial's groundbreaking, the guerrilla war which had begun following the April 1961 [[UsefulNotes/BayOfPigsInvasion Bay of Pigs "intervention"]] is still in progress. \
314	[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill The Linebacker operations]] of the early [[TheSeventies seventies]] had broken the formal power of [[DirtyCommies the Communist regime]] then in power in Hanoi, at the cost of several million Vietnamese dead from flooding, disease and starvation following the bombing of the North's dike system. The North Vietnamese had [[{{Determinator}} refused to simply surrender]], however, and they and their Viet Cong allies had waged a fierce guerrilla struggle even after the occupation first of Hanoi and then of the Communists' second capital, Haiphong. At home, [[ForeverWar the seemingly endless conflict]] had grown increasingly unpopular, as American troops continued to fight and die even after "victory" had supposedly been won. \
315	President Carter's negotiation of the Vietnam accords had been sharply criticized by, among others, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who said that the peace agreement "granted the Communists what they could not win on the battlefield" and predicted that Vietnamese leftists would now try to subvert the unified government of Vietnam from within. Among the critics was former governor UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan of California, who in 1980 would exploit anger over the pact in his successful run for the White House. \
316	The influence of Reagan and his supporters would be revealed in the final design of the memorial, which featured a group of soldiers planting a flag atop a broken wall and bore the names of every American killed in the conflict.
317	-->-- ''Today in AlternateHistory'', [[http://www.todayinah.co.uk/index.php?userid=guest@todayinah.co.uk&story=39533-O "Pyhrric Victory"]]
318
319	->''Our homes have been returned to us... but not before they were looted. Ransacked by a megalomaniacal ship with designs to become a ruler, just like its brain-diseased masters.\
320	...And even though Hal claims to view this as victory for us... I just can't. I really can't. Innocent people still died from the first invasion of Arkanea, the riots caused over that supposedly incurable disease, the second invasion, all the other invasions on the neighboring kingdoms... our home and many of our friends' homes have been destroyed then rebuilt into something utterly alien... many people will still be homeless or wrecked due to all the economic destruction wrought by the pilfering...\
321	...All for what?\
322	Because we had metal. Just because we had metal.''
323	-->-- '''Rowan Hunter''', ''Roleplay/WeAreOurAdventuringAvatars''
324
325	->''i've won......\
326	but at what cost?''
327	-->-- '''VideoGame/{{Wario}}''', [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ive-won-but-at-what-cost in a widely-known image macro]]
328
329	->Well, OK. You were killed in the nuclear explosion too, but every last one of those damned communist pokemon [sic] has been blown to smithereens. The revolution has been crushed and most of Brazil has been vapourised [sic], [[BlatantLies which can't be a bad thing.]] Unfortunately, the fight has only just begun; literally millions of those little bastard pokemon [sic] still infest the universe...
330	-->-- Very old UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash parody game ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}: The Revolution''
331
332	[[/folder]]
333
334	[[folder:Western Animation]]
335	->'''Random Fireman:''' We put out the blaze!\
336	'''Peter Griffin:''' At what cost?!\
337	''[[FelonyMisdemeanor (he lost his mustache)]]''
338	-->-- ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''
339
340	->''We can put this defeat to political use. The charred ruins of Ryloth will demonstrate to the galaxy the cost of a Republic victory.''
341	-->-- '''Count Dooku''', ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E21LibertyOnRyloth "Liberty on Ryloth"]]
342
343	->''Savor your moment of triumph Superman, but remember, victory has its price.''
344	-->-- '''{{ComicBook/Darkseid}},''' ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' [[spoiler: right before he murders Dan Turpin out of spite]]
345
346	->''"Whatever; before, you were always talking about [[BombThrowingAnarchists Chaos and Freedom]]! Then you took out [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Earth Queen]] and created the worst dictatorship the Earth Kingdom has ever seen! ''Thanks for that!''"''
347	-->-- '''Korra''' to '''[[KnightTemplar Zaheer]]''', ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''
348
349	->'''Thrawn''': But [[spoiler:the Jedi's]] death came at a cost, did it not? Did you really believe that holding a parade would hide the fact that you destroyed our entire fuel supply? In defeating [[spoiler: Kanan Jarrus]], [[NiceJobFixingItVillain you have accomplished what the rebels failed to, and given them a victory]]. The operation on Lothal, my TIE defender project, has been compromised.\
350	'''Pryce''': [[OhCrap Uh, Grand Admiral, I-]]\
351	'''Thrawn''': [[TranquilFury I will deal with you when I return, Governor.]]
352	-->-- ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''
353	[[/folder]]
354
355	[[folder:Real Life]]
356	->Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone.
357	-->-- '''[[TropeNamers King Pyrrhus of Epirus]]''' in the [[OlderThanFeudalism Battle of Asculum]], his ''second'' [[TropeNamers Pyrrhic Victory]] against the Romans
358
359	->The loser of a knife fight dies at the scene. The winner of a knife fight dies in an ambulance on the way to hospital.
360	-->-- Origin unknown
361
362	->Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat.
363	-->-- Creator/JeanPaulSartre
364	[[/folder]]
365

Context Quotes / PyrrhicVictory