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"See, just like so — just like you said, Iri. This great Heroic Spirit dares to think that the battlefield is better than hell. What a joke! No matter in what era, the battlefield has always been a veritable hell."
"A superhero? Don't make me laugh. Over and over you said you wished to help people, but that's not even your wish. It's conceited to think you could help anyone! That's right! You admired his desire to save people because it was beautiful! But none of that feeling was your own! What else can you call that but hypocrisy!? Driven by your need to help someone, you don't notice how wrong you are! But it's all fake. You can't save anything. You don't even know what you wanted to save in the first place! That ideal is a failure. It's all fantasy. If you can only live holding on to that, drown in your ideals."
— Archer to Shirou, Fate/Unlimited Blade Works
"I want to be alone. If I'm alone, I won't be hurt by anyone. "People can understand each other"... What a live action series-worthy cliché line. In truth, they all only think about themselves. "But I was believing in you!!"... and then, only to be betrayed in the end. I don't want to experience this feeling ever again."
— Kaori Yae, in the first Drama track of her Tokimeki Memorial 2: Blooming Stories CD
"Dreams don't last forever. Slowly losing them is how you get to be an adult."
— Machiruda, GTO: The Early Yearsnote
Comic Books
’’Foolish old man... your refusal to kill got you nowhere in 1999 — where do you think it will get you now, in a world ruled by death?!”
— Ben Boxer, Superman: At Earth's End
”Reality is ‘’Pain’’, ‘’Bile’’ and ‘’Darkness’’. Reality ‘’rules’’.”
- ->- - Manchester Black, “What’s so funny about Truth, Justice and the American Way?”, Action Comics# 775. Fan Works
"If you are going to give us some sort of speech about Ruby being all alone, I suggest you save it," Weiss said, folding her arms behind her back. "We are not going to deal with that issue with you."
"They're right," Blake added. "As long as we're here, she won't be alone."
"Everyone is alone," the Dreamguard replied, almost sadly. "It always happens in the end, because no matter what happens, we always die, and not matter who is there for us, it will not help us in death."
"They're right," Blake added. "As long as we're here, she won't be alone."
"Everyone is alone," the Dreamguard replied, almost sadly. "It always happens in the end, because no matter what happens, we always die, and not matter who is there for us, it will not help us in death."
— Dreamscape Of Roses
, a RWBY fanfic
, a RWBY fanficAang: "The rest of the world doesn't want this war! They only want to protect themselves when the Fire Nation comes to bully them into submission! All it would take to bring this to an end is for you to convince this fleet to turn around and go home!"
Tanya: "You are a child trying to find a simple solution to a problem that is so much bigger than you are. This war does not persist just because The Firelord wants it to. It is a messy, complicated mixture of grudges, greed and misplaced pride in all nations, that has been growing even before the death of Avatar Roku. There can never be peace until the noblemen who profit from dealing in death can no longer fill their pockets with blood money. Until the grieving families of those who died for their countries can move past their craving for revenge. Until one side is so thoroughly beaten into the dirt that they have no choice but to accept responsibility for the war, and bear the everlasting shame of its horrors upon their shoulders. The only way to achieve peace now is for one side to emerge victorious: the quicker and more efficiently, the better."
Aang: "You're wrong. I'm not saying it will be easy, but the nations can resolve their differences without fighting. They just need to be willing to listen to each other again."
Tanya: "The last time we talked, I believed that perhaps you and I were of a similar mind. I see now that I was wrong. We may both desire peace, but your methods for achieving it are rooted in foolish idealism. Mine follows the path of logic."
Tanya: "You are a child trying to find a simple solution to a problem that is so much bigger than you are. This war does not persist just because The Firelord wants it to. It is a messy, complicated mixture of grudges, greed and misplaced pride in all nations, that has been growing even before the death of Avatar Roku. There can never be peace until the noblemen who profit from dealing in death can no longer fill their pockets with blood money. Until the grieving families of those who died for their countries can move past their craving for revenge. Until one side is so thoroughly beaten into the dirt that they have no choice but to accept responsibility for the war, and bear the everlasting shame of its horrors upon their shoulders. The only way to achieve peace now is for one side to emerge victorious: the quicker and more efficiently, the better."
Aang: "You're wrong. I'm not saying it will be easy, but the nations can resolve their differences without fighting. They just need to be willing to listen to each other again."
Tanya: "The last time we talked, I believed that perhaps you and I were of a similar mind. I see now that I was wrong. We may both desire peace, but your methods for achieving it are rooted in foolish idealism. Mine follows the path of logic."
—Chapter 8, The Saga Of Tanya The Firebender
"Any last words? Like I said, I came to talk too."
"Yeah I've got some, but they've been said before." Shirou took a deep breath. "What kind of hero are you? You say I don't know much about heroes, and maybe you're right, but I know that heroes save people! They don't hunt people down and kill them for no reason! They don't do this."
Lancer looked down at him with cold, red eyes. "You think that's what it means to be a hero? You're living in a fantasy world. Saving lives has nothing to do with being a hero, kid, and most of the heroes I've met never have. If you want to be a good person, great, and if you want to make the world a better place, more power to you. But if you want to be a hero? You have to go beyond the threshold." He raised his spear to finish him off. "And that's something that you've never done."
"Yeah I've got some, but they've been said before." Shirou took a deep breath. "What kind of hero are you? You say I don't know much about heroes, and maybe you're right, but I know that heroes save people! They don't hunt people down and kill them for no reason! They don't do this."
Lancer looked down at him with cold, red eyes. "You think that's what it means to be a hero? You're living in a fantasy world. Saving lives has nothing to do with being a hero, kid, and most of the heroes I've met never have. If you want to be a good person, great, and if you want to make the world a better place, more power to you. But if you want to be a hero? You have to go beyond the threshold." He raised his spear to finish him off. "And that's something that you've never done."
Former Sixth Division Captain Platinum: What do you know of the path I walk? You couldn’t possibly understand what it’s like to love someone as deeply as I love my son, and to know that the only path to his safety was denied by the very people I’ve spent centuries serving faithfully. Can you even begin to grasp my despair, or my resolve? Nothing will stop me from saving my son. Nothing.
Sunset Shimmer: I know I can’t relate to that. I’ve never had a child. I don’t know what that kind of love feels like, or to have it threatened. But I do know that throwing so many other people into harm’s way, no matter the reason, is at best a stupid thing to do. Celestia’s right, you could have trusted her to help you. When you’re that trapped by despair that’s what friends are for! To help you do what you can’t do by yourself. To find solutions that don’t involve-
Platinum: Silence! I won’t be talked down to by an infant spouting nonsense about friendship. That sort of idealism only works in the minds of those who’ve never faced harsh reality. So allow me to teach you that difference. The difference between a child’s ideals, and an adult’s resolve.
Sunset Shimmer: I know I can’t relate to that. I’ve never had a child. I don’t know what that kind of love feels like, or to have it threatened. But I do know that throwing so many other people into harm’s way, no matter the reason, is at best a stupid thing to do. Celestia’s right, you could have trusted her to help you. When you’re that trapped by despair that’s what friends are for! To help you do what you can’t do by yourself. To find solutions that don’t involve-
Platinum: Silence! I won’t be talked down to by an infant spouting nonsense about friendship. That sort of idealism only works in the minds of those who’ve never faced harsh reality. So allow me to teach you that difference. The difference between a child’s ideals, and an adult’s resolve.
Film - Animation
"Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and all your insipid dreams magically come true! So let it go."
— Chief Bogo, Zootopia
Steve Trevor: So what about all that stuff you said about bringing our two worlds together?
Princess Diana: Dreams of a naive girl.
Princess Diana: Dreams of a naive girl.
"You probably won't believe this, but I used to love superheroes. But masks are for hiding. Capes are for play. You were the first. The best. But you're a cliché and you don't fit in anymore. Mad scientists, idiots in underwear, bank robbers, knock yourself out with that lot. But the real work, fixing the world, is ours. Starting tomorrow with Bialya."
—Manchester Black to Superman, Superman vs. the Elite
Roxanne: Please don't do this! I know there's still good in you, Hal!
Hal/Tighten: You're so naive, Roxie. You see the good in everybody even when it's not there. You're living a fantasy. There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy, and there is no Queen of England. This is the real world, and you need to wake up!
Hal/Tighten: You're so naive, Roxie. You see the good in everybody even when it's not there. You're living a fantasy. There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy, and there is no Queen of England. This is the real world, and you need to wake up!
Evangeline is nothing but a star, Ray! A big ball of hot air, a million miles from here. Open your eyes now, before you get hurt.
— Tiana to Ray, The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Film - Live-Action
"There's always a confused soul that thinks that one man can make a difference. And you have to kill him to convince him otherwise. That's the hassle with democracy."
— Senator Charles F. Meachum, Shooter
Kick-Ass: No way. I'm not going to kill anybody. I'm supposed to be a fucking superhero.
Hit Girl: Oh, kiss my ass. What is this? The Silver Age?
Hit Girl: Oh, kiss my ass. What is this? The Silver Age?
— Kick-Ass
"Dan... grow up. My new world demands less obvious heroism. Your schoolboy heroics are redundant. What have they achieved? Failing to prevent Earth's salvation is your only triumph."
— Ozymandias, Watchmen
"What do we do now, huh, boy producer? Huh? Mister Win-an-Emmy, Social-Conscience, Whale-Shit, Save-the-Rainforest, Peacenik-Commie, Fuckin' Hire-a-Convict shithead? Huh?! What do we do now, Liberal, Affirmative Action, Shithead, Peacenik Commie FUCK!?"
— Winifed Ames, Wag the Dog
"Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion; simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness."
— The Architect, The Matrix Reloaded
"Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom or truth, perhaps peace? Could it be for love?! Illusions, Mr. Anderson—vagaries of perception! Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose! And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love!"
— Agent Smith, The Matrix Revolutions
James Bond: Alec?
Janus/Alec Trevelyan: Back from the Dead. No longer just an anonymous star on the memorial wall at MI6. What's the matter, James? No glib remark? No pithy comeback?
Bond: [stunned] Why?
Trevelyan: Hilarious question, particularly from you. Did you ever ask why? Why we toppled all those dictators, undermined all those regimes? Only to come home - "Well done, good job, but sorry, old boy, everything you risked your life and limb for has changed."
Bond: It was the job we were chosen for.
Trevelyan: [scoffs] Of course you would say that. James Bond, Her Majesty's loyal terrier, defender of the so-called faith. [Bond draws his gun] Oh, please, James, put it away. It's insulting to think I haven't anticipated your every move.
Bond: [slowly lowers weapon] Yes. I trusted you, Alec.
Trevelyan: Trust — what a quaint idea.
Bond: How did MI6's screening miss that your parents were Lienz Cossacks?
Trevelyan: Once again, your faith is misplaced. They knew. We're both orphans, James. But where your parents had the luxury of dying in a climbing accident, mine survived the British betrayal and Stalin's execution squads, but my father couldn't let himself or my mother live with the shame of it. MI6 figured I was too young to remember, and in one of life's little ironies, the son went to work for the government whose betrayal caused the father to kill himself and his wife.
Bond: Hence "Janus", the two-faced Roman god come to life.
Trevelyan: [gestures to his scars] It wasn't God who gave me this face. It was you, setting the timers for three minutes instead of six.
Bond: Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?
Trevelyan: No. You're supposed to die for me. By the way, I did think of asking you to join my little scheme, but somehow, I knew that 007's loyalty was always to the mission — never to his friend. "Closing time, James. Last call."
Janus/Alec Trevelyan: Back from the Dead. No longer just an anonymous star on the memorial wall at MI6. What's the matter, James? No glib remark? No pithy comeback?
Bond: [stunned] Why?
Trevelyan: Hilarious question, particularly from you. Did you ever ask why? Why we toppled all those dictators, undermined all those regimes? Only to come home - "Well done, good job, but sorry, old boy, everything you risked your life and limb for has changed."
Bond: It was the job we were chosen for.
Trevelyan: [scoffs] Of course you would say that. James Bond, Her Majesty's loyal terrier, defender of the so-called faith. [Bond draws his gun] Oh, please, James, put it away. It's insulting to think I haven't anticipated your every move.
Bond: [slowly lowers weapon] Yes. I trusted you, Alec.
Trevelyan: Trust — what a quaint idea.
Bond: How did MI6's screening miss that your parents were Lienz Cossacks?
Trevelyan: Once again, your faith is misplaced. They knew. We're both orphans, James. But where your parents had the luxury of dying in a climbing accident, mine survived the British betrayal and Stalin's execution squads, but my father couldn't let himself or my mother live with the shame of it. MI6 figured I was too young to remember, and in one of life's little ironies, the son went to work for the government whose betrayal caused the father to kill himself and his wife.
Bond: Hence "Janus", the two-faced Roman god come to life.
Trevelyan: [gestures to his scars] It wasn't God who gave me this face. It was you, setting the timers for three minutes instead of six.
Bond: Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?
Trevelyan: No. You're supposed to die for me. By the way, I did think of asking you to join my little scheme, but somehow, I knew that 007's loyalty was always to the mission — never to his friend. "Closing time, James. Last call."
Henry F. Potter: Mr. Chairman, I'd like to get to my real purpose.
Board member: Wait just a minute now.
Potter: Wait for what? I claim this institution is not necessary to this town. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to dissolve this institution and turn its assets and liabilities over to the receiver.
Uncle Billy: Potter, you dirty, contemptible... I'll wring his neck, so help me, George, you hear what that buzzard...
Attorney: Mr. Chairman, it's too soon after Peter Bailey's death to talk about chloroforming the Building and Loan.
Board member: Peter Bailey died three months ago. I second Mr. Potter's motion.
Dr. Campbell: Very well. In that case, I'll ask the two executive officers to withdraw. But before you go, I'm sure the whole board wishes to express its deep sorrow at the passing of Peter Bailey.
George Bailey: Thank you very much.
Dr. Campbell: It was his faith and devotion that are responsible for this organization.
Potter: I'll go further than that. I'll say that to the public, Peter Bailey was the Building and Loan.
Uncle Billy: Oh, that's fine, Potter, coming from you, considering that you probably drove him to his grave.
Potter: Peter Bailey was not a business man. That's what killed him. Oh, I don't mean any disrespect to him, God rest his soul. He was a man of high ideals, so-called. But ideals without common sense can ruin this town. Now, you take this loan here to Ernie Bishop, you know, that fellow that sits around all day on his brains in his taxi, you know. I happen to know the bank turned down this loan, but he comes here and we're building him a house worth five thousand dollars? Why?
George: Well, I handled that, Mr. Potter. You have all the papers there. His salary, insurance. I can personally vouch for his character.
Potter: A friend of yours.
George: Yes, sir.
Potter: You see, if you shoot pool with some employee here, you can come and borrow money. What does that get us? A discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class. And all because a few "starry-eyed" dreamers like Peter Bailey stir them up and fill their heads with a lot of impossible ideas. Now, I say-
George: Just a minute. J-Just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You're right when you say my father was no business man. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know. But neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was... Why, in the 25 years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what's wrong with that? Why here, you are all businessmen here. Doesn't it make them better citizens? Doesn't it make them better customers? Y-you said that uh... what'd you say just a minute ago? They, they had to wait and save their money before they even thought of a decent home. Wait? Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they're so old and broken-down that they... Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this "rabble" you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well, in my book, he died a much richer man than you'll ever be.
Potter: I'm not interested in your book. I'm talking about the Building and Loan!
George: I know very well what you're talking about. You're talking about something you can't get your fingers on, and it's galling you. That's what you're talking about, I know. Well, I-I've said too much. I... You're, you're the Board here. You do what you want with this thing. There's j-just one thing more though. This town needs this measly one-horse institution if only to have some place where people can come without crawling to Potter. Come on, Uncle Billy.
Potter: [frustrated] Sentimental hogwash! I want my motion... [other board members call him out on this]
Board member: Wait just a minute now.
Potter: Wait for what? I claim this institution is not necessary to this town. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to dissolve this institution and turn its assets and liabilities over to the receiver.
Uncle Billy: Potter, you dirty, contemptible... I'll wring his neck, so help me, George, you hear what that buzzard...
Attorney: Mr. Chairman, it's too soon after Peter Bailey's death to talk about chloroforming the Building and Loan.
Board member: Peter Bailey died three months ago. I second Mr. Potter's motion.
Dr. Campbell: Very well. In that case, I'll ask the two executive officers to withdraw. But before you go, I'm sure the whole board wishes to express its deep sorrow at the passing of Peter Bailey.
George Bailey: Thank you very much.
Dr. Campbell: It was his faith and devotion that are responsible for this organization.
Potter: I'll go further than that. I'll say that to the public, Peter Bailey was the Building and Loan.
Uncle Billy: Oh, that's fine, Potter, coming from you, considering that you probably drove him to his grave.
Potter: Peter Bailey was not a business man. That's what killed him. Oh, I don't mean any disrespect to him, God rest his soul. He was a man of high ideals, so-called. But ideals without common sense can ruin this town. Now, you take this loan here to Ernie Bishop, you know, that fellow that sits around all day on his brains in his taxi, you know. I happen to know the bank turned down this loan, but he comes here and we're building him a house worth five thousand dollars? Why?
George: Well, I handled that, Mr. Potter. You have all the papers there. His salary, insurance. I can personally vouch for his character.
Potter: A friend of yours.
George: Yes, sir.
Potter: You see, if you shoot pool with some employee here, you can come and borrow money. What does that get us? A discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class. And all because a few "starry-eyed" dreamers like Peter Bailey stir them up and fill their heads with a lot of impossible ideas. Now, I say-
George: Just a minute. J-Just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You're right when you say my father was no business man. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know. But neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was... Why, in the 25 years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what's wrong with that? Why here, you are all businessmen here. Doesn't it make them better citizens? Doesn't it make them better customers? Y-you said that uh... what'd you say just a minute ago? They, they had to wait and save their money before they even thought of a decent home. Wait? Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they're so old and broken-down that they... Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this "rabble" you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well, in my book, he died a much richer man than you'll ever be.
Potter: I'm not interested in your book. I'm talking about the Building and Loan!
George: I know very well what you're talking about. You're talking about something you can't get your fingers on, and it's galling you. That's what you're talking about, I know. Well, I-I've said too much. I... You're, you're the Board here. You do what you want with this thing. There's j-just one thing more though. This town needs this measly one-horse institution if only to have some place where people can come without crawling to Potter. Come on, Uncle Billy.
Potter: [frustrated] Sentimental hogwash! I want my motion... [other board members call him out on this]
Quentin: Why don't you tell us what your purpose is, Worth?
Worth: Often wondered that myself. I'm just a guy, I work in an office building doing office building stuff. I wasn't exactly bursting with joie de vivre before I got here, life just sucks in general.
Holloway: Oh, I can't stand that attitude.
Leaven: 'Cause he's right.
Worth: Often wondered that myself. I'm just a guy, I work in an office building doing office building stuff. I wasn't exactly bursting with joie de vivre before I got here, life just sucks in general.
Holloway: Oh, I can't stand that attitude.
Leaven: 'Cause he's right.
—Cube
Live-Action TV
"It's like my father used to say: 'When I was a child I thought as a child and spoke as a child, but when I became a man I took that child out back and had him shot'."
— Bill, NewsRadio
Davros: The universe is at war, Doctor. Name one planet whose history is not littered with atrocities and ambitions for empire. It is a universal way of life.
Doctor: Which I do not accept.
Davros: Then you deny what is real.
Doctor: Which I do not accept.
Davros: Then you deny what is real.
"You’re a damn schoolboy, Mulder. You have no idea. No idea. I used to be you. I was where you are now. But you’re not me, Mulder. I don’t think you have the heart."
— X, The X-Files, "One Breath"
Garak: I must tell you I'm disappointed at hearing you mouth the usual platitudes of peace and friendship regarding an implacable foe like the Romulans. But I live in hope that you may one day see the universe for what it truly is, rather than what you'd wish it to be.
Dr. Bashir: Well, I shall endeavor to become more cynical with each passing day, look gift horses squarely in the mouth, and find clouds in every silver lining.
Garak: If only you meant it.
Dr. Bashir: Well, I shall endeavor to become more cynical with each passing day, look gift horses squarely in the mouth, and find clouds in every silver lining.
Garak: If only you meant it.
— Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
Rani: Do you know what cynical means?
Clyde: It's what I call being realistic.
Clyde: It's what I call being realistic.
"I did some crazy stuff when I was your age, yeah? Searching and all. Took me awhile to figure out how the world was put together and where I belonged in it. And actually, the world isn't that complicated; it's designed for those who know how to use it."
— Holland Manners, Angel, "Blind Date"
"He is strongly identified with rebels, you see, and very popular with rabbles. They will follow him, and he will fight to the last drop of their blood. [smiles] Idealism is a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use."
Literature
"I'm thirty. I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor."
— Nick Carraway, The Great Gatsby
Inidar: You have to learn to avoid naïveté, Ellimist. It's not the good and worthy who prosper. It's just the motivated.
Ellimist: Yes, and you can go surface.
—Animorphs - The Ellimist Chronicles
Music
"You see, the happy peoples' biggest problem is
They're never fearing the worst
While the rest of us will never sleep until
Your happy bubbles are burst"
They're never fearing the worst
While the rest of us will never sleep until
Your happy bubbles are burst"
"Sure, once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
Ah, but I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me
Love me, I'm a liberal"
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
Ah, but I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me
Love me, I'm a liberal"
"There's a place called the rainforest that truly sucks ass
Let's knock it all down and get rid of it fast
You say 'save the rainforest', but what do you know?
You've never been to the rainforest before!
Getting Gay with Kids is here
To tell you things you might not like to hear
You only fight these causes 'cause caring sells
All you activists can go fuck yourselves."
Let's knock it all down and get rid of it fast
You say 'save the rainforest', but what do you know?
You've never been to the rainforest before!
Getting Gay with Kids is here
To tell you things you might not like to hear
You only fight these causes 'cause caring sells
All you activists can go fuck yourselves."
— "Rainforest Shmainforest", South Park
"Once upon a time
I had an open point of view
But that was just so long ago
Before I had a clue"
I had an open point of view
But that was just so long ago
Before I had a clue"
— "Battleborn", by Five Finger Death Punch
"Dreams are all you have, dreams have held you back
Dreamers never live, only dream of it
Dream cars, dream houses, dream jobs, dream spouses
Dreams of tornadoes, cities of emerald"
Dreamers never live, only dream of it
Dream cars, dream houses, dream jobs, dream spouses
Dreams of tornadoes, cities of emerald"
— "Dorothy at Forty", by Cursive
"Who are you to change this world? Silly boy!
No one needs to hear your words.
Let it go."
No one needs to hear your words.
Let it go."
— "Carnivore", by Starset
Theatre
"Blow your candles out — for nowadays the world is lit by lightning!"
— Tom The Glass Menagerie
"Forget that foreign word 'ideals'. We have that good old native word: 'lies'."
— Relling, The Wild Duck
Tabletop Games
"Each must find their own way. If those in our heartland had witnessed the savageries of the void as have we they would know this. The hand of each of the starfarers is turned against the other; none will join their strength together just to see their ancient enemies prosper. Neither should we."
— Commander Farsight, Warhammer 40,000
"Hope is the first step of the road to disappointment."
—Imperial Thought For The Day, Warhammer 40,000
Jaghatai Khan: So much contempt for your own species.
Malcador: Yes contempt! If you had seen what I have seen, watched a human may become when left alone in the dark, then you would share it!
Video Games
Dr. Peyton Phillips: You missed a wonderful opportunity to talk about recycling and organ donation!
Dr. Mary Phillips: Agh! God give me STRENGTH! I married a fool!
Peyton: I married a fool!
Mary: You know, when we first met, Peyton, I thought you were so "glamorous" with your long hair and "big ideas". You were studying for a PhD in cultural ceramic history, or cross-cultural underwear or something, and I was very young. Very foolish. Now I see you for what you are.
Peyton: Sigh, and what might that be, exactly?
Mary: An intellectual cesspit. A middle-class disaster. A guilt trip wrapped in neuroses and completely unable to function in this society! No wonder I've begun to sleep around.
Dr. Mary Phillips: Agh! God give me STRENGTH! I married a fool!
Peyton: I married a fool!
Mary: You know, when we first met, Peyton, I thought you were so "glamorous" with your long hair and "big ideas". You were studying for a PhD in cultural ceramic history, or cross-cultural underwear or something, and I was very young. Very foolish. Now I see you for what you are.
Peyton: Sigh, and what might that be, exactly?
Mary: An intellectual cesspit. A middle-class disaster. A guilt trip wrapped in neuroses and completely unable to function in this society! No wonder I've begun to sleep around.
— I Say, You Say, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
"You know, I really hate people who refuse to see the inevitable — refuse to do the smart thing. [simpering voice] 'Nooo, I must do the right thing!' I blame you. For a smart guy, you really can be stupid at times."
— B.B., Max Payne
Shepard: You have a pessimistic view of the universe, Ms. Williams.
Ashley: A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist.
Ashley: A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist.
"Don't go following causes. They'll just break your heart. When idealism meets reality, it's rarely reality that backs down."
— Michael Liberty, StarCraft:Liberty's Crusade
"Yeah, yeah, friendship, teamwork, Blah, Blah, Blah. I still won. Results beat idealism."
— Tohru Adachi victory quote, Persona 4: Arena Ultimax
"Personally... I despise yakuza who are afraid to fight dirty. Especially punks like you who act above it all and skate by on charm alone. Listen. In the end, yakuza are mostly idiots. When you run a family, it's your job to rule over these simpletons. Character counts for nothing in this game. Know what happens to guys like you in the real world? They end up as stains on the organization. And the men who follow them, cannon fodder. At this rate, every yakuza's gonna end up being trash in the gutter. Fighting strong opponents... Protecting your allies... Passing on your dreams... Laying your life on the line... The dumber the shit you believe in, the dumber the flies you'll attract. And you can't run an empire with nothing but pests at your disposal. That's why I won't tolerate your stench any longer."
— Tsubasa Kurosawa, Yakuza 5
"Little prince/princess... The sad truth is that justice is an illusion. A fairy tale for children. There is no light path that always leads to good, nor dark path that leads to evil. To believe that - to see the world in black and white - is missing half the picture. All that matters are the choices we make - especially the hard ones."
— Xander, Fire Emblem Fates (Conquest route, Chapter 24)
"Whole days would pass without seeing the sun. We were told to remain calm, that all was well. And like fools, we listened... We were gathered together, those who were left. Us and our protectors. They led us away from our homes, believing all was well. Because a fool is quick to hope, and slow to learn."
Zamira Vata: Just 'cuz you've become old and bitter don't mean you have to take us all down with you. Everything is changing, mate! It's not the Templars anymore: it's the New Templars, independent of skin colour, heritage, or gender.
Konrad Engel: Oh, the naiveté of youth, it is heartbreaking. My heart is literally breaking apart. Listen, you can hear it.
Zamira Vata: Fuck off.
Konrad Engel: For my retort, allow me to paraphrase Aesop: "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." Power and influence within an organisation such as ours has little to do with a person's worth, but rather it is a reflection of their willingness - and aptitude - to deceive.
Konrad Engel: Oh, the naiveté of youth, it is heartbreaking. My heart is literally breaking apart. Listen, you can hear it.
Zamira Vata: Fuck off.
Konrad Engel: For my retort, allow me to paraphrase Aesop: "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." Power and influence within an organisation such as ours has little to do with a person's worth, but rather it is a reflection of their willingness - and aptitude - to deceive.
Raider: What you've done is wrong! You feast, while all around you people starve?! You and your warriors will learn to live like the rest of us. Or you will become food for crows!
Ragnar: Idiot child! Might as well ask me to pick up...FARMING! We're Vikings!
Ragnar: Idiot child! Might as well ask me to pick up...FARMING! We're Vikings!
Orochi: It's over, we will have peace.
Apollyon: Peace? So what happens now? You all just go home? You came into my home... and you brought your armies. What did you think would happen? Peace? That isn't how the world works. Don't speak to me of your virtues. Duty... Kinship... Honor... You've forgotten what you are.
Orochi: ...You want War. Only War.
Apollyon: What I want, is for you to admit what. You. Are. All of you... My... Wolves...
Apollyon: Peace? So what happens now? You all just go home? You came into my home... and you brought your armies. What did you think would happen? Peace? That isn't how the world works. Don't speak to me of your virtues. Duty... Kinship... Honor... You've forgotten what you are.
Orochi: ...You want War. Only War.
Apollyon: What I want, is for you to admit what. You. Are. All of you... My... Wolves...
"Compassion is for fools!"
—Shao Kahn, Mortal Kombat 11
"Hope, the dregs of Pandora's Box, is the restraint system binding mankind forever to its misery. Humanity deserves to be freed from its lifelong sentence of suffering, this reaching towards a light they can never grasp."
—Demiurge, Persona 5 Strikers
Web Animation
Ruby: As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!
Blake: That's... very ambitious for a child. [Frowns] Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale.
Blake: That's... very ambitious for a child. [Frowns] Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale.
— RWBY Volume 1, Episode 3
"You've got spirit, Red, but this is the real world! The real world is cold! The real world doesn't care about spirit! You wanna be a hero? Then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history! As for me, I'll do what I do best: lie, steal, cheat, and survive!"
— Roman Torchwick, right before being eaten by a Griffon Grimm in RWBY Volume 3, Episode 11
Blake: I didn't want this! I wanted equality! I wanted peace!
Adam: What you want is impossible!
Adam: What you want is impossible!
— RWBY Volume 3, Episode 11 (again)
"Nice?! You think this world is NICE?! In this world you're either an asshole or a pushover, a Bob or a Boopkins, and I sure as hell don't want to be a Boopkins!"
— Bob, Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers - "The Mario Concert"
Web Comics
"No matter how many lies you tell, you will always be the thing you were before. You can't wallpaper over it with a sorry and a smile. It will always be there.
Redemption is a story. Redemption is not real."
Redemption is a story. Redemption is not real."
— Rachel, Dumbing of Age
Web Original
"In the wake of 9/11 Enterprise seems to drift between scarred and scorched worlds...This perhaps reflects the clear wounds that had been dealt to the philosophy of the Star Trek franchise. After all, the Federation had always been an extrapolation of the United States into the future – a “final frontier” built from John F. Kennedy’s “new frontier.” So the brutal terrorist attack upon the United States inevitably reverberated into the franchise itself. Deep Space Nine had interrogated and examined the Federation during its seven-year run, but it did so from the comfort and stability of the nineties. The political climate surrounding Enterprise was something altogether different."
"Troughton's Doctor was fundamentally utopian. In the end, it can be argued, misguidedly so, but utopian all the same. Baker's Doctor isn't at all. Baker's show isn't at all. It's not that the show has nothing to say, nor that what it has to say is wrong. It's just that it doesn't seem to have anything good to say about the world."
"Ironically, Hitchens started his life (or at least his university life) as a member of the Trotskyist International Socialists. He allegedly turned up late to a lecture declaring, 'Sorry I'm late: I've been starting the revolution!' He is a great example of the quote 'If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain,' even if a great many of his utterances put the second conclusion in doubt."
— Rational Wiki on Peter Hitchens
"In The Noonday Demon, Andrew Solomon makes the point that depression sufferers see the world, their own circumstances and failings, more accurately than healthy people...Our doom is programmed in the optimism that is the defining characteristic of our human condition. Thus our doom is programmed in us. We were meant to be this way. We were meant to end the world. Woo-hoo!"
— Maya Gurantz, "Don't Be Sad, Millennials: Today Is Actually Pretty Great! (P.S. You're All Going To Die)"
, "Don't Be Sad, Millennials: Today Is Actually Pretty Great! (P.S. You're All Going To Die)""How do you go from far-left socialist to far-right monarchist in three years? How do you go from, in 2011, marching in self-declared solidarity with the '99 Percent' holding a banner saying 'Give Class War A Chance' to, in 2014, tweeting that liberalism is 'Truly one of the worst ideas ever,' calling for a return to aristocracy with techies as the aristocrats and saying the solution to the unemployment crisis is to bring back chattel slavery?
You wouldn’t think it was possible. But Google software engineer Justine Tunney did exactly that."
You wouldn’t think it was possible. But Google software engineer Justine Tunney did exactly that."
— Arthur Chu, "Occupying the Throne"
"You hear a lot of bitching these days about 'professional victims' and the 'age of outrage' and the 'PC police,' but the reality is that not only are teenage Tumblr activists not driving global political discourse, we, as a society, are in fact becoming increasingly permissive about slavery."''
Western Animation
"Look, Ben, life is full of disillusion. How old are you? Five? It's about time you learn."
— Kevin Levin, on stopping a war in another planet at the request of a little girl, Ben 10: Alien Force, "Simple"
"What in the nine circles makes you think a single denizen of Hell would give two shits about becoming a better person? You have no proof that this little experiment even works! You want people to be 'good' just... 'because'?!"
— Katie Killjoy, Hazbin Hotel pilot
Real Life
"Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope."
— Aristotle, Book II
"For he gives his opinion as if he were in Plato's Republic, not in Romulus' cesspool."
— Cicero on Cato the Younger
"I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous...For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?"
— Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers No. 84
"Too many moralists begin with a dislike of reality."
— Clarence Day
"An idealist is a cynic in the making."
"Could it be that only those things are considered worthy of being learned with which one can earn money or prestige, and that love, which "only" profits the soul, but is profitless in the modern sense, is a luxury we have no right to spend energy on?"
— Erich Fromm
"Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive."
— William F. Buckley Jr.
"Altruism is a brief phase through which some adolescents must pass. It is rather like acne. Happily, as with acne, only a few are permanently scarred."
— Gore Vidal, Point to Point Navigation
"Foreign policy should not be confused with missionary work."
— Henry Kissinger
"Against Roddenberry's complaints, I dug in my heels. Where was there any evidence, I wanted to know, that bigotry had disappeared—or would disappear—in human affairs? Was racism still not a powerful force in America? Were the Serbs and Croats not intent on 'ethnic cleansing'? Were not Muslims still fighting Christians? Had it not always been thus since the beginnings of man? What, I demanded, was the justification for Roddenberry's optimism? The evidence of millennia was on my side."
— Nicholas Meyer, The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood.
"Optimism is covardice"
— Oswald Spengler
