Quotes / Hold the Line

"Here we bloody well are, and here we bloody well stay."

— General Vassy, Battle of Thermopylae, 1941

"Don't forget that you're First Marines! Not all the Communists in hell can overrun you!"

-– Chesty Puller motivating his men at Chosin Reservoir

"What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over ... the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour."

— Winston Churchill, before the Battle of Britain

"The defence of Egypt lies here at Alamein and on the Ruweisat Ridge. What is the use of digging trenches in the Delta? It is quite useless; if we lose this position we lose Egypt; all the fighting troops now in the Delta must come here at once, and will. Here we will stand and fight; there will be no further withdrawal. I have ordered that all plans and instructions dealing with further withdrawal are to be burnt, and at once. We will stand and fight here.

If we can't stay here alive, then let us stay here dead."

— Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, part of a larger speech given upon assuming command of the British 8th Army.

"LOOK AT THIS FUCKING GUARDSMAN."
"He's spent months fighting a grueling war in which his enemies are demigods allied with daemons, and now he's found himself in the closest thing to Hell he's ever known. He probably wasn't even supposed to get teleported up to the arch-traitor's battle barge in the first place, and just ended up in the wrong place at the worst possible time."
"Somehow he's survived horrors beyond comprehension to make his way to the very bridge of Horus' flagship. He saw a veritable angel call upon Horus to answer for his crimes, and he saw that angel die as messily as any guardsman. His Emperor - who he fervently believes is a god incarnate, even if he's not supposed to - lies mortally wounded, and Horus, perhaps, has taken a moment to gloat before he strikes the killing blow."
"His armor is slightly more effective than tissue paper, his weapon slightly more powerful than a flashlight. A single electrified claw from Horus' weapon is bigger than his entire body. He stands before a being infused by the dark gods with incalculable power, that can and will obliterate his soul with no more effort than it would take him to swat a gnat. Nothing he can do could possibly make a difference."
"He could run. He could turn his weapon on himself. He could give in to the insidious whispers that echo from the ship's corridors into his mind."
"Ollanius Pius does the duty his Emperor requires of him. He dies standing and holds the FUCKING line."

— Speech in honor of Ollanius Pius, Warhammer 40,000

"Our first line of defence shall be the trenches, the second shall be the Aegis lines, the third will be the blessed bastions themselves. Our last line of defence shall be our faith - faith that we can hold our against all odds and above all, faith in the Emperor."

— Graf Gurnzeig, Warhammer 40,000, "Siege of St. Thor's conviction"

"To each of us falls a task. And all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we stand the line, and we die fighting. It is what we do best: we die standing."

— General Sturnn, Warhammer 40,000

"In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?"

— Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, "Horatius"

"When we hunt, we kill. No one is safe; nothing is sacred. We are Blackwatch! We are the last line of defense! We will burn our own to hold the red line, it is the last line to ever hold."

— Creed of the Blackwatch, [PROTOTYPE]

Current Objective: Survive

—On-Screen Instructions, Halo: Reach

"HOLD THE LINE!"

— many soldiers of many species, Mass Effect

Love isn't always on time!

— Toto

"The humble Terran. Mamalia Primate Homo Sapiens. His foes are galaxy-spanning horrors that will consume the stars, and terrifying dogmatic aliens with technology to make him and his species look like slugs. He must defend himself against whatever the universe can throw at him with an autorifle and power armour that was around before this homeworld existed, supported with ships and vehicles that barely hold together. He has no lineage, no training, no powers...

But he will hold the fucking line."

— Anonymous Youtube comment regarding the Terrans of StarCraft II

"If The Heroes Run And Hide, Who Will Stand And Fight?"

— Saitama, One-Punch Man, explaining why he always goes out to face whatever disaster is coming, no matter how small or severe.

"1941. Right now, not very far from here the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like Dominoes. Nothing can stop it, nothing until one tiny, damp little island says "No. No, not here." A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing. The lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go, then. Do what you got to do. Save the world."

— The Doctor, Doctor Who: 'The Empty Child'

"We have weathered fiercer storms than this! Hold the line, damn you. You will not embarrass the Emperor today by dying!"

— Chaplain Varnus of the Ultramarines, Dawn of War: Winter Assault

"The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!"

— Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: First Contact

"This is...This is the President. I've just been informed that our midrange military bases at Beta Durani and Proxima 3 have fallen to the Minbari advance. We've lost contact with Io and must conclude that they too have fallen to an advance force. Our military intelligence believes that the Minbari intend to bypass Mars and hit Earth directly and the attack may come at any time. We have continued to broadcast our surrender and a plea for mercy. And they have not responded. We therefore can only conclude... that we stand at the twilight of the Human race. In order to buy more time for our evacuation transports to leave Earth, we ask for the support of every ship capable of fighting to take part in a last defense of our homeworld. We will not lie to you. We do not believe that survival is a possibility. We believe that anyone who joins this battle... will never come home. But for every ten minutes we can delay the military advance, several hundred civilians may have a chance to escape to neutral territory. Though Earth may fall, the Human race must have a chance to continue elsewhere. No greater sacrifice has ever been asked of a people than I ask you now... to step forward one last time... one last battle, to hold the line against the night. May God go with you all."

—Earth Alliance President Elizabeth Levy, In The Beginning, Babylon 5

"Eighteen times, the Horselords charged, and eighteen times, the Unsullied locked their shields, lowered their spears, and held the line against twenty thousand Dothraki screamers. When the Khal's archers rained arrows on them, the Unsullied lifted their shields above their heads until the squall passed... and then they held the line. In the end, only six hundred Unsullied remained, but more than twelve thousand Dothraki lay dead, including Khal Temo and all his sons."

—Ser Jorah Mormont, Game of Thrones: History and Lore of Westeros - The Unsullied

YIBAMBE! ^note Xhosa for "Hold the line" or "Hold fast"

— T'Challa, prompting a Crowd Chant from the Wakandan army, Avengers: Infinity War

"Get your lovely asses out of here! (guns down soldier rushing at him) Just holding the fort!"

— Arthur Witty, The Wild Geese

Trenches to explosive halls
Are buried deep beneath the walls
Plant the charges here and watch the city fear
Desperation, desperation
It's a desperate race against the mine
And a race against time
Then the Winged Hussars arrived!

— Sabaton, "Winged Hussars"

I won't regret anything, now or ever again! I'll do it! I'll become a hero! I'll protect people! (...) If I crack, then I'll harden again! Stay strong! Protect others, even if it means your life!

— Eijiro "Red Riot" Kirishima, My Hero Academia

Superman: Protect Kara. I'll handle this. Darkseid replicated the monster...
Batman: Wait. The tube... It isn't closing.
Wonder Woman: Then we draw a line in the sand and hold them there!

— The Supergirl from Krypton (2004)

Me and Grime will hold him! Just go!

— Sasha Waybright, Amphibia, "True Colors"

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