Fiction
Martin: What do you say we have one more drink and get down there and cut that shark open?
Ellen: Martin? Can you do that?
Martin: ...I can do anything; I’m the chief of police.
Ellen: Martin? Can you do that?
Martin: ...I can do anything; I’m the chief of police.
— Jaws
"I can't let that happen! If worst comes to worst, I'll have to defy Harker — and take the consequences! Because there's a moral law that's above some man-made laws! I've fought tyrants before... thought it meant defying their inhuman decrees!"
"It was a close place. I took [the letter giving Jim away] up, and held it in my hand. I was a trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right, then, I'll go to hell!'—and tore it up."
"Screw protocol, Reid's in trouble!"
— Prentiss, Criminal Minds, "Amplification"
"Those who break laws are scum. And those who abandon their friends to follow the law... they're lower than scum!"
— Kakashi, Naruto
Hermione: After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!
Harry: SO WHAT?! Don't you understand? If Snape gets the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts!
Harry: SO WHAT?! Don't you understand? If Snape gets the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts!
Picard: I am about to commit a direct violation of our orders. Any of you who wish to object should do so now. It will be noted in my log.
Data: Captain, I believe I speak for everyone here, sir, when I say... "to hell with our orders".
Data: Captain, I believe I speak for everyone here, sir, when I say... "to hell with our orders".
"There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders. You acknowledge their sentience, but you ignore their personal liberties and freedom. Order a man to hand his child over to the state? Not while I am his captain. If you wish, you can accompany us to Starfleet, where we shall see."
— Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Offspring"
Sulu: You'll find that more happens on the bridge of a starship than just carrying out orders and observing regulations. There is a sense of loyalty to the men and women you serve with; a sense of family. Those two men on trial... I served with them for a long time. I owe them my life a dozen times over. And right now they're in trouble, and I'm going to help them; let the regulations be damned.
Tuvok: Sir, that is a most illogical line of reasoning.
Sulu: You better believe it. Helm, engage!
Tuvok: Sir, that is a most illogical line of reasoning.
Sulu: You better believe it. Helm, engage!
— Star Trek: Voyager, "Flashback", during the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
"A year ago, I stood alone. I believed that our survival was more important than our principles. I was wrong. Do we need a mutiny today to prove who we are?"
— Michael Burnham, to Admiral Katrina Cornwell, Star Trek: Discovery, "Will You Take My Hand?"
"Cerritos crew, this is the captain. I am about to disobey a direct order and stage a rescue of Lieutenant junior grade Mariner. I can't ask any of you to join me; if we survive, the court martial is guaranteed. But I will be damned if I wait for politicians to decide her fate!"
— Capt. Carol Freeman, Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Old Friends, New Planets"
"Well, there's the law and there's what's right. I'm gonna do what's right."
— Sartana, Machete
"Troopers! I just received new orders: our superiors say the war is cancelled. We can all go home. Bison is getting paid off for his crimes, and our friends who have died here... will have died for nothing. But, we can all go home. Meanwhile, ideals like peace, freedom, and justice, they get packed up. But, we can all go home. Well, I'm not going home. I'm gonna get on my boat, and I'm going up river, and I'm going to kick that son of a bitch Bison's ass so hard that the next Bison wannabe is gonna feel it! Now, who wants to go home...and WHO WANTS TO GO WITH ME?!"
— Col. William F. Guile, Street Fighter
"Being legal doesn't make it right."
— Raiden, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
"Regardless of the circumstances, we were saved by Ichigo Kurosaki in our time of need. It is now time that we returned the favor. Even if that should require violating our own statutes, to allow such a debt to go unpaid would bring eternal shame upon the entire Gotei."
— Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Bleach
Magrat: What's she doing?
Nanny Ogg: I reckon she's going to topple Duke Felmet.
Magrat: But what about the rule about not meddling?
Nanny Ogg: Ah well, see, there's another rule. A more important rule. And Esme's followed it all her life.
Magrat: Which is?
Nanny Ogg: When you break the rules, break 'em good and hard!
Nanny Ogg: I reckon she's going to topple Duke Felmet.
Magrat: But what about the rule about not meddling?
Nanny Ogg: Ah well, see, there's another rule. A more important rule. And Esme's followed it all her life.
Magrat: Which is?
Nanny Ogg: When you break the rules, break 'em good and hard!
"I used to believe that being a good soldier meant doing everything they told you. That's how they engineered us. But we're not droids. We're not programmed. You have to learn to make your own decisions!"
— Captain Rex, Star Wars: The Clone Wars
"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world - No, you move."
"If this is justice, I don't want this career."
— A.D.A. Casey Novak, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, "Poison"
Master Samurai: Those not specially summoned must remain at the ready in their rooms. That is the rule. Along with you, now.
Jonathan: The rule... Are we to overlook an emergency in a friend's home because of this rule!?
Jonathan: The rule... Are we to overlook an emergency in a friend's home because of this rule!?
Sokka: The [Fire Nation] army's gonna blame the villagers. They're headed there right now to get revenge.
Katara: What was I supposed to do?
Sokka: Leave! Do nothing!
Katara: ...no. I will never ever turn my back on people who need me. I'm going to go down to the village, and I'm going to do whatever I can.
Katara: What was I supposed to do?
Sokka: Leave! Do nothing!
Katara: ...no. I will never ever turn my back on people who need me. I'm going to go down to the village, and I'm going to do whatever I can.
"I'm a man of many contradictions. I've thought long and hard about a speech about ethics, about responsibility, about rule of law. Then I decided...I'd just do this... (shoots Jorge Montez in the head) ...and hang the consequences."
— Marshall Tom Davies, Red Dead Online
"So what if we're not all lions? It's up to us to stop [the hyenas]!"
— Kion, The Lion Guard
Kaladin: Breaking out would be against the law, though.
Syl: I'm no highspren. Laws don't matter; what's right matters.
Kaladin: On that, we agree.
Syl: I'm no highspren. Laws don't matter; what's right matters.
Kaladin: On that, we agree.
— Words of Radiance (second book of The Stormlight Archive)
"If someone else could help 'em, we wouldn't be doin' stuff as the Phantom Thieves to start with!"
— Ryuji Sakamoto, Persona 5
Eroica: Ren, we have to take Cyan here to Portland. Right now. We just have to. Otherwise, we're just sending her back to death row.
Renate: We're supposed to be back in Ashland by noon, and it's almost eleven-thirty now. We're doing some backstage tour meet and greet thingie-whatsis. [The Chaperones] are going to freak if we're gone for the entire day and then miss Lysistrata on top of it. And my parents will ground the crap out of me. And it's what, a four and a half-hour drive from here, if we don't hit major traffic?
Eroica: But otherwise you don't completely hate the idea, do you?
Renate: Nope.
Cyan: What, you're not afraid of getting grounded?
Eroica: For smuggling you into Portland? Oh, I'll totally get grounded for that. Probably won't see my car keys for a month, at least. My dad's not that lenient. But it's still nothing compared to what your parents plan to do to you.
Renate: We're supposed to be back in Ashland by noon, and it's almost eleven-thirty now. We're doing some backstage tour meet and greet thingie-whatsis. [The Chaperones] are going to freak if we're gone for the entire day and then miss Lysistrata on top of it. And my parents will ground the crap out of me. And it's what, a four and a half-hour drive from here, if we don't hit major traffic?
Eroica: But otherwise you don't completely hate the idea, do you?
Renate: Nope.
Cyan: What, you're not afraid of getting grounded?
Eroica: For smuggling you into Portland? Oh, I'll totally get grounded for that. Probably won't see my car keys for a month, at least. My dad's not that lenient. But it's still nothing compared to what your parents plan to do to you.
I served a noble lord. I fought for him without question or restraint. Where his light shone, my sword followed. In his name, I razed villages, put thousands to the sword. I believed our greater purpose required such brutality, such sacrifice. But his light was so radiant, it blinded me to all else. I could not see the darkness and corruption of the path he led me down. When I finally saw the truth, he would not be reasoned with. So I ended him. For this, I was called "Oathbreaker".
— The Oathbreaker Knight, Baldur's Gate III
Belknap: My community practice had a budget. It was nothing like enough. You’ve seen the way it is down in the J. I could barely cope. Malnutrition, low-grade pollution disorders, addiction, chronic disease. People were dying – really, actually dying, I mean – because I couldn’t afford the treatments for everyone. So I tried to work the system. I filed false subsist vouchers, claimed for practice expenses that didn’t exist, defrauded the welfare system, just so I could bulk up my budget and afford the things I needed. The things my patients needed. The Administratum caught me, fair and square. Tore up my license, kicked me out and told me I was lucky not to get a custodial.
Zael: See?
Patience: So you just practise now anyway? As a rogue medicae?
Belknap: Listen, mamzel friend-of-Zael’s. The formal infirmaries automatically deny treatment to any clan members injured in street clashes. Any drug addicts. Any persons who’ve lost their subsist code. Any child who doesn’t present with a registered parent or guardian. The Administratum, by its own figures, recommends there should be one practicing medicae for every five thousand citizens of any Imperial city. You know what the split is here in Petropolis? One medic for every hundred thousand habbers. A hundred thousand, so help me! You think the God-Emperor of Mankind is happy that’s the way it is here? I’m just trying to even down the stats!
Zael: See?
Patience: So you just practise now anyway? As a rogue medicae?
Belknap: Listen, mamzel friend-of-Zael’s. The formal infirmaries automatically deny treatment to any clan members injured in street clashes. Any drug addicts. Any persons who’ve lost their subsist code. Any child who doesn’t present with a registered parent or guardian. The Administratum, by its own figures, recommends there should be one practicing medicae for every five thousand citizens of any Imperial city. You know what the split is here in Petropolis? One medic for every hundred thousand habbers. A hundred thousand, so help me! You think the God-Emperor of Mankind is happy that’s the way it is here? I’m just trying to even down the stats!
—Ravenor Returned
Doing the right thing shouldn’t be considered a crime. It should come natural like breathing. I don’t care if people call it stupid, or that they say that you should mind your own business… there’s nothing wrong with helping someone in need. If doing the right thing is a crime, then call me guilty. It will be the only thing that I’m truly guilty of.
— Akira Kurusu, The Queen and the Shogun
"When that day was over, and we'd saved all that we could,
We saw that law and politics would hang us where we stood.
We'd saved eight hundred lives but shattered all authority.
I told them, "People, save yourselves, put all the blame on me."
I took my books and instruments, and a few supplies beside,
Packed my car and ran away to open countryside.
So now I live an outlaw, condemned by righteous men,
But for all the lives I saved that day... I'd do it all again."
We saw that law and politics would hang us where we stood.
We'd saved eight hundred lives but shattered all authority.
I told them, "People, save yourselves, put all the blame on me."
I took my books and instruments, and a few supplies beside,
Packed my car and ran away to open countryside.
So now I live an outlaw, condemned by righteous men,
But for all the lives I saved that day... I'd do it all again."
— "The Day it Fell Apart" by Leslie Fish
by Leslie Fish"The Sergeant, a shaken man, returned babbling about what had happened. Realizing the full danger of the situation, decided he had only one means left to stop the monster: Grenades. Now Bradford made a drastic move. Acting on his superior authority, he forbade Caldwell to destroy the creature. The Colonel, more concerned with saving human lives than advancing science, told Bradford to go to Hell."
—Narrator, The Creeping Terror
Bailey: I see the problem already, Commander Shepard. My console says you're dead.
Shepard: Your sergeant said you could help with that.
Bailey: Usually, you'd have to go through the station's security administration to reactivate your IDs. Then to Customs and Immigration to regain access to the Citadel itself. And probably a stop by the treasury. "Spending a year dead" is a popular tax dodge. But I can see you're a busy man. So how about I just press this button here, and we'll call it done?
Shepard: You're not big on formalities, are you?
Bailey: I'm with them until they keep people from doing their jobs.
Shepard: Your sergeant said you could help with that.
Bailey: Usually, you'd have to go through the station's security administration to reactivate your IDs. Then to Customs and Immigration to regain access to the Citadel itself. And probably a stop by the treasury. "Spending a year dead" is a popular tax dodge. But I can see you're a busy man. So how about I just press this button here, and we'll call it done?
Shepard: You're not big on formalities, are you?
Bailey: I'm with them until they keep people from doing their jobs.
Commander Shepard: How about the salarians?
Admiral Hackett: Interesting wrinkle: we've been getting back-channel commitments from the strike teams within STG. They're promising to back us.
Shepard: Even after I cured the genophage?
Hackett: Our intel suggests there are cracks developing between the military and the politicians. These STG guys know the score. They're not going to jeopardize the entire Salarian Union because some dalatrass didn't get her way.
Admiral Hackett: Interesting wrinkle: we've been getting back-channel commitments from the strike teams within STG. They're promising to back us.
Shepard: Even after I cured the genophage?
Hackett: Our intel suggests there are cracks developing between the military and the politicians. These STG guys know the score. They're not going to jeopardize the entire Salarian Union because some dalatrass didn't get her way.
Judge Dredd: Mind explaining yourself, rookie? Abetting a felon is not just a fail offense. It's a crime.
Cassandra Anderson: I already picked up the fail when I lost my primary weapon. I'm not gonna be a Judge and I don't need to be a mind reader to know it. He's a victim, not a perp and until my assessment is formally over, I'm still entitled to dispense justice. And that's what I just did by letting him go. Maybe that will be the one difference I do make.
Cassandra Anderson: I already picked up the fail when I lost my primary weapon. I'm not gonna be a Judge and I don't need to be a mind reader to know it. He's a victim, not a perp and until my assessment is formally over, I'm still entitled to dispense justice. And that's what I just did by letting him go. Maybe that will be the one difference I do make.
"You go in that courtroom and forget what's legal and do what's right."
—Leo Kessler, 10 to Midnight
Cortana: I will not allow you to... leave! This! Planet!
John-117: Cortana...
Cortana: I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to do that...
Del Rio: Commander Lasky. Pursuant to Article 55 of UNSC Regulation 12-145-72, I am ordering you to remove that AI's data chip and retire it for final dispensation.
Cortana: Don't... Please... please. I don't want to... You don't want me to... please.
Del Rio: Remove the chip now, Commander.
Cortana: Please... I don't want to...
[Lasky reluctantly reaches for the chip. However, the Master Chief takes it before he is able. As Cortana disappears from the table, Del Rio advances on the Chief.]
Del Rio: Give. Me. That. Chip.
John-117: The Didact has to be stopped. If you won't do that... I will.
Del Rio: I... am ordering you... TO SURRENDER THAT AI!
John-117: No, sir.
John-117: Cortana...
Cortana: I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to do that...
Del Rio: Commander Lasky. Pursuant to Article 55 of UNSC Regulation 12-145-72, I am ordering you to remove that AI's data chip and retire it for final dispensation.
Cortana: Don't... Please... please. I don't want to... You don't want me to... please.
Del Rio: Remove the chip now, Commander.
Cortana: Please... I don't want to...
[Lasky reluctantly reaches for the chip. However, the Master Chief takes it before he is able. As Cortana disappears from the table, Del Rio advances on the Chief.]
Del Rio: Give. Me. That. Chip.
John-117: The Didact has to be stopped. If you won't do that... I will.
Del Rio: I... am ordering you... TO SURRENDER THAT AI!
John-117: No, sir.
— Halo 4
"You don't have to follow orders when your leader's acting like a daft cunt!"
—Alexander Anderson, Hellsing Ultimate Abridged
If a law needs to be BROKEN in order to save LIVES, I'll do it every time.
— Captain America, Devil's Reign
Shuichi Saihara: I....REFUSE to vote.
Maki Harukawa: ....refuse to vote...?
Keebo: Monokuma says if we don't vote, we'll be killed for breaking the rules!
Shuichi: I know. That's why I'm doing it. If this ends without a single vote being cast for hope or despair... The audience would hate it. They'd never accept an ending like that... So I abstain! I refuse to give the outside world the ending it wants!
Maki Harukawa: ....refuse to vote...?
Keebo: Monokuma says if we don't vote, we'll be killed for breaking the rules!
Shuichi: I know. That's why I'm doing it. If this ends without a single vote being cast for hope or despair... The audience would hate it. They'd never accept an ending like that... So I abstain! I refuse to give the outside world the ending it wants!
"When the rules are wrong you have to break them. Especially when little ones are in trouble. Mothers Five keep the children alive."
Smoker: I blame you for all of this, Lucas. Ever since you got aboard my ship, I've been collaborating with outlaws.
Lucas: In a world where tyrants make the rules, sometimes the only way to get justice is by breaking them.
Smoker: Don't I know it.
Lucas: In a world where tyrants make the rules, sometimes the only way to get justice is by breaking them.
Smoker: Don't I know it.
"You... don't mind my company," stated Jaime, positively. "Why?"
"You have not called me 'frogeater'," said Reed. "It is most pleasant, from a Southerner."
"But... I have killed a king I was sworn to protect..." began Jaime.
"And what a king," Howland said with a snort. "Would one of you white cloaks done it sooner. It would have been best for all the Seven Kingdoms."
"I... we swore a vow!" declared Jaime. His voice sounded high and desperate to him. "To protect him, not to judge him."
"And I have sworn a vow to serve House Stark," said Howland Reed. "As did my father, and his father before him. And yet if I came to my home, and found a Stark raping my wife, that Stark would die." He shrugged. "But then, I am only a crannogman. We are a small folk, and we often find the ways of you large folk puzzling."
"You have not called me 'frogeater'," said Reed. "It is most pleasant, from a Southerner."
"But... I have killed a king I was sworn to protect..." began Jaime.
"And what a king," Howland said with a snort. "Would one of you white cloaks done it sooner. It would have been best for all the Seven Kingdoms."
"I... we swore a vow!" declared Jaime. His voice sounded high and desperate to him. "To protect him, not to judge him."
"And I have sworn a vow to serve House Stark," said Howland Reed. "As did my father, and his father before him. And yet if I came to my home, and found a Stark raping my wife, that Stark would die." He shrugged. "But then, I am only a crannogman. We are a small folk, and we often find the ways of you large folk puzzling."
—The King Nobody Wanted, Chapter 40
Mace Windu: Commander, you understand that you are risking a court martial by doing this. You and all your men. We are not acting in our capacity as Generals of the Republic, but in our role as Jedi Knights. You are not Jedi, and this could be seen as desertion or worse.
Commander Bly: I understand that sir, and I assure you, I would rather face a thousand court martials before letting my general go into battle without her army, especially if it's to drive out invaders. I know where my loyalties lie, and I am, as I have always been, a soldier of the Grand Army of the Republic! All my men are!
Commander Bly: I understand that sir, and I assure you, I would rather face a thousand court martials before letting my general go into battle without her army, especially if it's to drive out invaders. I know where my loyalties lie, and I am, as I have always been, a soldier of the Grand Army of the Republic! All my men are!
— Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K, Episode 10
Atropos: You really are the daughter of a traitor. You would ignore the Laws to save your enemy?
Rinne: (as her arm is in the jaws of the Cerberus Malgam) I'll make... my own rules!
Rinne: (as her arm is in the jaws of the Cerberus Malgam) I'll make... my own rules!
—Kamen Rider Gotchard, Episode 19
"Who is to say that the cardinal sin must be cardinal forever? Go on. Finish the job. Take the course you deem most worthy."
— Finger Reader Enia, Elden Ring
Twilight Sparkle: It's true that my School of Friendship is EEA unaccredited.
Spike: Look! She said it without doing the eye thing!
Chancellor Neighsay: Then it is not a school!
Twilight Sparkle: It's not an EEA school, it's a friendship school! With its own rules! I should know; I wrote the book!
Spike: Look! She said it without doing the eye thing!
Chancellor Neighsay: Then it is not a school!
Twilight Sparkle: It's not an EEA school, it's a friendship school! With its own rules! I should know; I wrote the book!
—'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, "School Daze - Part 2"
Myth & Religion
I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?
—Jesus, Luke 6:6-10
Real Life
Rules are not necessarily sacred; principles are.
If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it.
—Wikipedia, from the "ignore all rules" policy
policyWe should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal."
One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
