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Anime and Manga
"Look. No one ever said Jotaro Kujo was a nice guy. I beat the crap out of people, more than I have to. Some are even still in the hospital. I've had idiot teachers who like to talk big, so I taught them a lesson, and they never came back to class. If I go to a restaurant and the food's bad, I make it a policy to stiff 'em with the bill...but even a bastard like me can spot true evil when he sees it!"
— Jotaro Kujo, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
Comic Books
"You may be a hero, Jack Knight, but that still doesn't make you a nice person."
— Lucy, Starman #17
Fan Works
"No one ever said that being a hero came with the requirement to be nice."
Shiva: I am mercy and vengeance. I am not forgiveness, I am not compromise- […] Vengeance with mercy is justice.
— Within a Hidden Temple
, a Final Fantasy X fanfic
, a Final Fantasy X fanfic"It's alright, I can handle this myself. You're just gonna take pictures again, aren't you..."
Film — Animation
Gwen: We are supposed to be the good guys.
Miguel: (darkly) We are...
Miguel: (darkly) We are...
Film — Live-Action
Klingon Transporter Operator: I do not deserve to live.
Kirk: Fine, I'll kill you later.
Kirk: Fine, I'll kill you later.
Doc Morris: Wow, this isn't an act, is it? You really aren't a pleasant person.
Hank Palmer: Right now? I'm a summer breeze. Once I subpoena you, get you on the stand and extract the truth from your ass like tree sap THEN you'll realize in THAT moment: correct, I'm not a pleasant person.
Hank Palmer: Right now? I'm a summer breeze. Once I subpoena you, get you on the stand and extract the truth from your ass like tree sap THEN you'll realize in THAT moment: correct, I'm not a pleasant person.
"Since when do you have to be nice to be right?"
— Lawrence Garfield, Other People's Money
"You don't have to love me. I have not come to you as a lover, Novgorod the Free. I came to lead you into battle."
—Alexander Nevsky, Alexander Nevsky
Literature
"Abashed, the Devil stood, and felt how awful goodness is."
"Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."
— The Bible (New International Version), Proverbs 27:5-6
"Is he — quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you."
"I am a Count, not a Saint."
Taylor: I'm a good guy.
Armsmaster: You don't look like one.
Armsmaster: You don't look like one.
— Worm
"Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me."
— Death, The Book Thief
"If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat. They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar. So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word."
— Men at Arms, on Carrot Ironfoundersson
"People like you always mistake compassion for weakness. Michael and Sanya aren't weak. Fortunately for you, they are good men. Unfortunately for you, I'm not."
— Harry Dresden, Death Masks
"We're the Light Ones, not the Saint Ones."
— Anton, considering burning down a cafe whose owner tried to poison him, Night Watch (Series)
"That sounds like the definition of loyalty to me," said the king. "Don't mistake friendliness with loyalty, Ven. Friendly and loyal are two different things. There are a lot of people who are one and not the other. From what you told me a few days ago, your own mother doesn't sound like a very friendly person - but she is a good one, yes?"
"Oh yes," Ven agreed.
"Then judge Ida by whether she is there for you in times of need, as she seems to be, not by whether she is pleasant to you. In the end, you can get many people to be pleasant to you pretty easily. A true friend, someone who will risk her life and her freedom for you, as your other friends would, is very hard to come by."
"Oh yes," Ven agreed.
"Then judge Ida by whether she is there for you in times of need, as she seems to be, not by whether she is pleasant to you. In the end, you can get many people to be pleasant to you pretty easily. A true friend, someone who will risk her life and her freedom for you, as your other friends would, is very hard to come by."
Aide: He is not a nice man.
Belisarius: No, but he could be a great man.
Belisarius: No, but he could be a great man.
"Why is it that people like you always think you're more ruthless than people like me?"
— Commodore Sir Aivars Terekhov, Shadow of Freedom
"Those men who know anything about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun. At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else. You are like fanatics. Your masters, at any rate. At the center of the Light there is a cold white flame, just as at the center of the Dark there is a great black pit bottomless as the Universe."
— John Rowland, The Grey King
"Evil is cruel, and so men think it follows that Good is kind. This is a mistake, my son. Though fire is warm and in the dark of night we huddle around it, it also burns."
— King Jehan the Wise, A Practical Guide to Evil
Maria: You don't understand. Chee do not hurt. Chee do not kill. No Chee has ever taken a life. While humans and Yeerks and Andalites and Hork-Bajir and a million other species on a million worlds warred and slaughtered and conquered, we remained at peace. Would you end all that? Would you make us killers, too?
Marco: [coldly] Yes, ma'am, I guess I would. We're in a fight for our lives here. Our parents, our brothers and sisters, our friends — they are all going to be slaves of the Yeerks, if we don't win. So I'll do whatever it takes. If you'd fought all those thousands of years ago, the Pemalites would still be alive. And you wouldn't be living with dogs in a big underground kennel.
—Animorphs #10: The Android
Granny was an old-fashioned witch. She didn't do good for people, she did right by them.
But Nanny knew that people don't always appreciate right. Like old Pollirt the other day, when he fell off his horse. What he wanted was a painkiller. What he needed was the few seconds of agony as Granny popped the joint back into place. The trouble was, people remembered the pain.
But Nanny knew that people don't always appreciate right. Like old Pollirt the other day, when he fell off his horse. What he wanted was a painkiller. What he needed was the few seconds of agony as Granny popped the joint back into place. The trouble was, people remembered the pain.
— "The Sea and Little Fishes", Discworld
Big Jim: (sobbing) I thought you were trying to be nice!
Petey: I said I was trying to be good, not nice! There's a difference! (Beat) ...I think.
DogMan, Brawl Of The Wild
Hermione: He's on our side now.
Ron: Doesn't stop him being a git.
Ron: Doesn't stop him being a git.
— Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, regarding Severus Snape
Live-Action TV
"And then there are those who operate on the fringes of society. Unburdened by the confines of morality and conscience. A ruthless breed of monsters whose deadliest weapon is the ability to hide in plain sight. If the people I've come to bring justice to cannot be bound by the quest of absolution, then neither will I."
— Emily Thorne, Revenge
"'Sweet,' maybe. 'Passionate,' I suppose. But don't ever mistake that for 'nice'."
— The Tenth Doctor, Doctor Who, "Love and Monsters"
"Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind."
"I may be on the side of the angels... But don't think for one second that I am one of them."
Woman in alley: Thank you! Thank you! That thing was going to kill me!
Spike: Well, what did you expect, out alone in this neighborhood? I've got half a mind to kill you myself, you half-wit.
Woman in alley: What?
Spike: I mean honestly, what kind of retard wears heels like that in a dark alley? Take two steps and break your bloody ankle.
Woman in alley: [hotly] I was just trying to get home. [leaves]
Spike: Well, get a cab, you moron, and on the way, if a stranger offers you candy, don't get in the van!
Spike: Well, what did you expect, out alone in this neighborhood? I've got half a mind to kill you myself, you half-wit.
Woman in alley: What?
Spike: I mean honestly, what kind of retard wears heels like that in a dark alley? Take two steps and break your bloody ankle.
Woman in alley: [hotly] I was just trying to get home. [leaves]
Spike: Well, get a cab, you moron, and on the way, if a stranger offers you candy, don't get in the van!
— Angel ("Soul Purpose")
"This money comes from the life savings of those Narns who escaped the occupation. It is a limited resource purchased with blood. If it should be squandered or stolen, rest assured that while your body may one day be found, it could never be identified from what's left."
— G'kar, Babylon 5 ("Comes the Inquisitor")
"My job isn't to make friends, it's to stop bad things from happening."
— Mark Fallon, Castle ("Countdown")
[Mal has just defeated Atherton Wing in a duel and stands over him]
Sir Warwick Harrow: You have to finish it, lad. You have to finish it. For a man to lay beaten... and yet breathing? It makes him a coward.
Inara: It's humiliation.
Mal: Sure. It would be humiliating. Having to lie there while the better man refuses to spill your blood. Mercy is the mark of a great man.
[Mal stabs Wing, lightly]
Mal: Guess I'm just a good man.
[stabs him again]
Mal: Well, I'm all right.
— Firefly ("Shindig")
"Fuck this world for confusing nice with good. Be a bitch if you want. Be whatever. Just drop the mask once in a while."
— Stormfront, The Boys (2019), "Proper Preparation And Planning"
Music
"Whaddya mean, "I ain't kind"?
Just not your kind"
Just not your kind"
— MEGADETH, "Peace Sells"
"A local boy kicked me in the butt last week
I just smiled at him and I turned the other cheek
I really don't care, in fact I wish him well
'Cause I'll be laughing my head off when he's burning in Hell"
I just smiled at him and I turned the other cheek
I really don't care, in fact I wish him well
'Cause I'll be laughing my head off when he's burning in Hell"
— "Weird Al" Yankovic, "Amish Paradise"
Tabletop Games
"Good is not nice, polite, well-mannered, self-righteous, or naive, though good characters may be some of these things."
— The Book of Exalted Deeds, Dungeons & Dragons
"We're the Emperor's Angels of Death, Thaddeus, not His Angels of Mercy."
— Sgt. Avitus, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2
Theatre
"I may be rancid butter, but I'm on your side of the bread."
— EK Hornbeck, Inherit the Wind
"And take extra care with strangers
Even flowers have their dangers
And though scary is exciting,
Nice is different than good."
Even flowers have their dangers
And though scary is exciting,
Nice is different than good."
— Little Red Riding Hood, Into the Woods
Video Games
"Get lost. I'm not a babysitter."
— Sol Badguy's win quote against Bridget, Guilty Gear
"You're really not my type, man. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to pass."
— Ragna the Bloodedge's win quote against Iron Tager, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
"Freudia, do not stand in my way."
— Grolla Seyfarth to Freudia Neuwahl, RosenkreuzStilette
"After a small problem with some raiders, who would continue for years to plague not only myself, but the Tribe, I found myself in Junktown. It was here that I learned the most important rule of all: doing a good thing sometimes means being a very bad person."
Olgierd von Everec: Geralt. Have you decided to play defender of the downtrodden?
Geralt of Rivia: More like gutter of sons of bitches.
Geralt of Rivia: More like gutter of sons of bitches.
"If you weren't already lined up to go to Inferno, you'd be well on your way with the kind of shit you pull!"
— Enzo, addressing Bayonetta in Bayonetta 2
"For he will walk among us, and he will smite the evil from this Earth. For he who comes in our time of need is not of mortal breed, he is the Destroyer, the right hand of our Creator and the one who brings fear where there is no hope."
—Corrax Tablet 3:13, Doom Eternal
Paragon!Shepard: Don't let us meet like this again.
Maya Brooks: What's this? Is this the great Commander Shepard pleading for his/her life?
Paragon!Shepard: I'm pleading for yours.
Maya Brooks: What's this? Is this the great Commander Shepard pleading for his/her life?
Paragon!Shepard: I'm pleading for yours.
— Mass Effect 3, Citadel DLC
"But I'm starting to realize, being friends... is more than [being nice all the time], isn't it? Susie... Sometimes she isn't nice at all! She's selfish, she's rude, she's sarcastic... But... isn't it wonderful that she's... her?"
— Ralsei, Deltarune
LIVE, INSECT!
—Ragnaros the Lightlord healing an ally, Hearthstone
Webcomics
"Our manners are poor, but if we're rough around the edges it's because these are supposed to be cutting edges, and they see a lot of use."
— Edward Bunnigus, Schlock Mercenary
VRISKA: I only ever wanted to do the right thing no matter how it made people judge me...
[...]
VRISKA: And you don't have to 8e a good person to 8e a hero.
VRISKA: You just have to know who you are and stay true to that.
VRISKA: So I'm going to keep fighting for people the only way I ever knew how.
VRISKA: 8y 8eing me.
[...]
VRISKA: And you don't have to 8e a good person to 8e a hero.
VRISKA: You just have to know who you are and stay true to that.
VRISKA: So I'm going to keep fighting for people the only way I ever knew how.
VRISKA: 8y 8eing me.
— Vriska Serket, Homestuck
Web Original
"It was not by gentle sweetness and womanly self-abnegation that she had brought order out of chaos in the Scutari Hospitals, that, from her own resources, she had clothed the British Army, that she had spread her dominion over the serried and reluctant powers of the official world; it was by strict method, by stern discipline, by rigid attention to detail, by ceaseless labour, by the fixed determination of an indomitable will. Beneath her cool and calm demeanour lurked fierce and passionate fires. As she passed through the wards in her plain dress, so quiet, so unassuming, she struck the casual observer simply as the pattern of a perfect lady; but the keener eye perceived something more than that - the serenity of high deliberation in the scope of the capacious brow, the sign of power in the dominating curve of the thin nose, and the traces of a harsh and dangerous temper — something peevish, something mocking, and yet something precise — in the small and delicate mouth."
— Description of Florence Nightingale in Barteby.com, Eminent Victorians
"So Ripley heads out there with the Marines to bust some fucking football-shaped heads and the shit hits the fan pretty much immediately...Along the way she takes the time out to stare the Alien Queen dead in the face before turning the blowtorch on an entire room full of her crazy alien eggs. Ripley doesn't give a shit that the entire planet's going to be turned to dust in like five minutes — she's the kind of badass who's not going to pass up any opportunity to be a total bitch."
Chris: According to the Wikipedia, Goyer’s original draft of this scene had Karen waking up next to a vampire fetus — a living one — that Whistler and Blade kept in a jar so they could test their weapons on it. This was cut out for reasons so obvious that I think Blade’s “motherf***er are you out of your damn mind?” reaction was actually filmed when the director told Snipes about it.
David: Wow, that’s… that’s pretty hardcore.
Chris: I’m just not sure America was ready for the fetus-torturing action hero.
David: Wow, that’s… that’s pretty hardcore.
Chris: I’m just not sure America was ready for the fetus-torturing action hero.
"Kirk is allowed to be flawed as a character, in a way that Roddenberry never allowed with the cast of The Next Generation, and I’d argue that Kirk comes across much better for it. This characterisation would really pay off until The Wrath of Khan, but it does make it clear that Kirk is more than just a charming rogue. He’s also arrogant and self-interested, characteristics hinted at on the show but never fully developed."
— Darren Mooney on Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture"There is another of those excellent discussion amongst the crew that DS9 excels at and its probably one of the best because it is about something as real as massacring a group of defenceless soldiers. O’Brien thinks it is cowardly, Garak thinks that humans impose far too many rules on combat that make victory a lot harder than it needs to be, and Sisko steps in with the very convincing statement that everybody needs to leave their morals at the door because when it comes to a choice between us and them there is no choice. That’s what makes him such a good leader – it's not a decision that Picard or Janeway could make without soul searching for five years afterwards...It's uncomfortable viewing but absolutely rivets you to the screen."
— Joe Ford on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Rocks and Shoals"
on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Rocks and Shoals"Sombra:Listen, Princess. I know this will sound crazy, but-
(Cadence seals Sombra's mouth shut with magic)
Cadence: No, you listen. You think you can just barge into my kingdom and terrorize my subjects?! Luna gave you a chance and you threw it in her face. After what you did to those poor ponies... ...it's been so hard to get them to trust again. To feel safe. And I will not let a heartless monster like you jeopardize all the progress we've made. For this Empire to heal, you can't be a part of it. I may be the Princess of Love... ...but I've none for the likes of you. Once the crystal ponies return, you will be dealt with.
Princess Celestia: I'm sorry, little sister. I know you really thought he would change.
Princess Cadence: But I knew he wouldn't.
Jon: Is Vegeta a bad guy?
Arin: He was, yeah.
Jon: So, what is he just like- kinda like, is he aligned good but he's still a dick like Falco or something?
Arin: Oh yeah, yeah pretty much.
Western Animation
Trevor: Right, I'll come back later. See if you can find some beer. (leaves)
Sypha: I could pee in a bucket and tell him it's beer.
Elder Speaker: Sypha, he saved your life.
Sypha: He's RUDE.
Sypha: I could pee in a bucket and tell him it's beer.
Elder Speaker: Sypha, he saved your life.
Sypha: He's RUDE.
"Discord is reformed, but he's not that reformed."
— Spike, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
"Bigot. Ingrate. Sycophant. Worm. So small, I could smite you with a step...There was a time I would smite you all for what was done to Storm...but today, I have saved you from your own, for an old friend has challenged me to remember this view of Earth: how vast it is, versus how small we are. Charles Xavier trusted me with his dream, and it does not ask that you love or embrace my kind as your own...but merely, to accept that this is a shared world with a common future, and that my kind — like yours — have the right to live in it. I am trying to be better...please, do not make me let you down."
Real Life
"Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness, but it is righteousness and not peace which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience to another's keeping."
"Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery."
"What usually sets me off is injustice. In defense of those I admire, I’m always ready — eager? — to do battle. Although I have the killer instinct altogether too well developed, I do try to deploy it in good causes. This pugnacity is inherited from my mother’s family, the Gores, an Anglo-Irish clan of eloquent, bad-tempered politicians, lawyers and preachers."
