Quotes / Alternate Aesop Interpretation

Radio

Shepherd: Well, that's the moral of the story, ain't it? If you lie too many times, you won't be believed when you tell the truth.
Prosecutor: No, Mr. Shepherd, with respect, it is not the moral of the story. The moral of the story is that if you have grounds to believe there is a ferocious predator at large, don't appoint as your sole watchman a 12-year-old child whom you have resolved to ignore.

— That Mitchell and Webb Sound

Video Games

Simon: "And in the end, the moral is..."

Weasel: "The journey is the reward?"

Skunk: "Don't act like such a big shot?"

Pig: "Always eat a good breakfast?"

Simon: "NO! NO! It's slow and steady wins the race!"

— Living Books, "The Tortoise and the Hare"

Web Original

But I've never seen the Icarus story as a lesson about the limitations of humans. I see it as a lesson about the limitations of wax as an adhesive.

— Randall Munroe, What If? #30: Interplanetary Cessna

Western Animation

Obake: Do you know why Icarus plunged to his doom?
Hiro: Because he flew too high.
Obake: Because he needed better wings.

— Big Hero 6: The Series, "Countdown to Catastrophe"

Homer: Save a guy's life, and what do you get? Nothing! Worse than nothing! Just a big scary rock.

Bart: Hey, man, don't bad-mouth the head.

Marge: Homer, it's the thought that counts. The moral of the story is a good deed is its own reward.

Bart: Hey, we got a reward. The head is cool.

Marge: Then... I guess the moral is no good deed goes unrewarded.

Homer: Wait a minute. If I hadn't written that nasty letter, we wouldn't have gotten anything.

Marge: Well... Then I guess the moral is the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Lisa: Perhaps there is no moral to this story.

Homer: Exactly! Just a bunch of stuff that happened.

Marge: But it certainly was a memorable few days.

Homer: Amen to that!

(the Simpson family laughs)

— The Simpsons, "Blood Feud"

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