Nagato: Since there's no conclusion to the paradox theory, there's no way to prove there's no paradox.
Kyon: Maybe that's a good enough explanation for you...
Kyon: Maybe that's a good enough explanation for you...
— Haruhi Suzumiya: Bamboo Rhapsody
1971 Robo: You're going to learn the hell out of hyperdimensional mathematics when you get back. Focus on electrodynamics.
1926 Robo: Why?
1957 Robo: So we'll know how to convert these burnt out powerpacks into a hyper-dimensional bomb to blow up the monster across multiple simultaneous points in space-time.
1926 Robo: How'd you know they burned out?
2009 Robo: Because we just told you, so you'll remember they are, so we can tell you they are. Dah! Study temporal mechanics while you're at it. Short version: when your future self tells you to do something, you do it.
1926 Robo: Why?
1957 Robo: So we'll know how to convert these burnt out powerpacks into a hyper-dimensional bomb to blow up the monster across multiple simultaneous points in space-time.
1926 Robo: How'd you know they burned out?
2009 Robo: Because we just told you, so you'll remember they are, so we can tell you they are. Dah! Study temporal mechanics while you're at it. Short version: when your future self tells you to do something, you do it.
— Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time
"Because this manuscript had been found by the doctor, I reasoned, I had been able to go to 2930. But also, only because I had gone to 2930 had the manuscript come into being. Which was the cause and which was the effect? That is a paradox I cannot explain."
— Raymond Cannes, Paradox 1929
In fact that was even more puzzling, when Harry thought about it. Time had presented him with the finished Prank as a fait accompli, and yet it was, quite clearly, his own handiwork. Concept and execution and writing style. Every last part, even the ones he still didn't understand.
The idea here is that you can travel back in time, but you can't actually change history. So if you go back and try to prevent the assassination of President McKinley, it turns out that you killed him yourself. Or if you go back and try and prevent the Black Plague, it turns out that you are a flea-ridden diseased rat.
— Lore Sjöberg, "Alt Text"
"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words... I scatter them. Across time and space. My message to lead myself here."
— Bad Wolf/Rose Tyler, Doctor Who, "The Parting of the Ways"
Idris: House eats TARDISes.
The Doctor: House what? What do you mean?
Idris: I don't know, something I heard you say.
The Doctor: When?
Idris: In the future.
The Doctor: "House eats TARDISes"?
Idris: Oh! There you go.
The Doctor: House what? What do you mean?
Idris: I don't know, something I heard you say.
The Doctor: When?
Idris: In the future.
The Doctor: "House eats TARDISes"?
Idris: Oh! There you go.
"The Destiny Trap: You can't change history if you're part of it."
— The Eleventh Doctor, Doctor Who, "The Time of the Doctor"
"So there's this man. He has a time machine. Up and down history he goes, zip zip zip zip zip, getting into scrapes. Another thing he has is a passion for the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. And one day he thinks, 'What's the point of having a time machine if you don't get to meet your heroes?' So off he goes to 18th-century Germany. But he can't find Beethoven anywhere. No-one's heard of him, not even his family have any idea who the time traveler is talking about. Beethoven literally doesn't exist. (This didn't happen, by the way. I've met Beethoven. Nice chap. Very intense. Loved an arm-wrestle. No, this is called 'The Bootstrap Paradox'. Google it.) The time traveler panics, he can't bear the thought of a world without the music of Beethoven. Luckily he'd brought all his Beethoven sheet music for Ludwig to sign. So he copies out all the concertos and the symphonies... and he gets them published. He becomes Beethoven. And history continues with barely a feather ruffled. But my question is this. Who put those notes and phrases together? Who really composed Beethoven's 5th?"
—The Twelfth Doctor explains it perfectly, Doctor Who, "Before the Flood"
Time Agent 1: Captain, why did you take the Defiant back in time?
Sisko: It was an accident.
Time Agent 1: So you're not contending it was a predestination paradox?
Time Agent 2: A time loop - that you were meant to go back into the past?
Sisko: No.
Time Agent 1: Good.
Time Agent 2: We hate those.
Sisko: It was an accident.
Time Agent 1: So you're not contending it was a predestination paradox?
Time Agent 2: A time loop - that you were meant to go back into the past?
Sisko: No.
Time Agent 1: Good.
Time Agent 2: We hate those.
"Though we can move through time, time itself is unmovable."
— Young Xehanort, Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]
"No one can unmake the past. It's already happened, there's no 'undo'. Similarly, the future already happened. We just haven't reached it yet."
If I ever invent a time machine, I'm going to stay as far away from myself as possible. If I were to have a conversation with myself, wouldn't I have to remember it perfectly, or else my memory of the conversation would be different from the actual conversation and it could result in a paradox that could destroy the universe? Unless, of course, I don't remember the conversation well enough to remember what future me was/is supposed to say. I guess my point is, don't go visit yourself yesterday. Wait a decade or two.
— Bob and George (author's commentary)
GC: BY NOW YOU SHOULD R34L1Z3 TH1S WHOL3 M3SS W4S 4 B1G S3LF FULLF1LL1NG CLUST3RFUCK
GC: A HUG3 ORG14ST1C MOB1US DOUBL3 R34CH4ROUND
GC: A HUG3 ORG14ST1C MOB1US DOUBL3 R34CH4ROUND
— gallowsCalibrator/Terezi Pyrope, Homestuck
Present Vanderbeam: Wait! Where did you get this? I was too late to steal it!
Future Vanderbeam: I used this suit to steal the one I just gave to you.
Present Vanderbeam: But... then where did you get the one you're wearing?
Future Vanderbeam: My future self handed it to me two decades ago.
Future Vanderbeam: I used this suit to steal the one I just gave to you.
Present Vanderbeam: But... then where did you get the one you're wearing?
Future Vanderbeam: My future self handed it to me two decades ago.
— Starslip
Pierce: I don't believe you, causality is—
Volair: Pick a number between ten and oh, sixteen.
Pierce: Uh, twelve. Now—
Volair: How old were you when I suddenly decided to paint the kitchen green?
Pierce: Twel— [look of sudden realization] Urk. Uh. muhh... fuh...
Rhonda: Told ya.
Volair: Pick a number between ten and oh, sixteen.
Pierce: Uh, twelve. Now—
Volair: How old were you when I suddenly decided to paint the kitchen green?
Pierce: Twel— [look of sudden realization] Urk. Uh. muhh... fuh...
Rhonda: Told ya.
"Don't do anything that affects anything, unless it turns out you were supposed to do it, in which case, for the love of God, don't not do it!"
— Professor Farnsworth, Futurama, "Roswell That Ends Well"
"Well, I guess that wraps everything up in a nice, paradox-free bow."
— Professor Farnsworth, Futurama, "Bender's Big Score"
Goliath: If I didn't fear the damage you would do to the time stream, I would gladly leave you here.
Xanatos: But you won't. Because you didn't. Time travel's funny that way.
Xanatos: But you won't. Because you didn't. Time travel's funny that way.
"One cannot damage history because history cannot be changed. I went back in time to steal this because history says it disappeared. And history says it disappeared because I went back to steal it. Past, present, future. It's all written in stone, my dear, and nothing you do can ever change it."
— Warp, Teen Titans (2003) "How Long Is Forever?"
Cisco: Four years from now, Future Flash creates a time remnant to fight Savitar. But Savitar lets that remnant live, so that it can become Savitar. So, once Savitar's imprisoned in the Speed Force, this remnant starts to go crazy, and he goes back in time...to the past...and becomes Savitar.
Joe: That doesn't make any sense. Which came first, Savitar or the time remnant?
Joe: That doesn't make any sense. Which came first, Savitar or the time remnant?
Cisco: It's a closed loop. No beginning, no end, it's just one endless cycle.
"When I was little, a strange man stepped out of a time machine and punched me for no reason. So now I've built a time machine, and I'm going to go and punch him when he was little, and we'll see how he likes it!"
— Joke
Cavendish: Wait a moment, where did you get that peach?
Dakota: Someone threw it at you earlier.
Cavendish: But that someone was me.
Dakota: I know.
Cavendish: But where did I get it?
Dakota: From me.
Cavendish: Yes, but where did you get it?
Dakota: Someone threw it at you earlier.
Cavendish: But that someone was me.
Dakota: I know.
Cavendish: But where did I get it?
Dakota: From me.
Cavendish: Yes, but where did you get it?
Dakota: Someone threw it at you earlier.
Cavendish: BUT THAT SO—
[scene changes]
Dakota: Someone threw it at you earlier.
Cavendish: But that someone was me.
Dakota: I know.
Cavendish: But where did I get it?
Dakota: From me.
Cavendish: Yes, but where did you get it?
Dakota: Someone threw it at you earlier.
Cavendish: But that someone was me.
Dakota: I know.
Cavendish: But where did I get it?
Dakota: From me.
Cavendish: Yes, but where did you get it?
Dakota: Someone threw it at you earlier.
Cavendish: BUT THAT SO—
[scene changes]
Jonas: Who are you?
The Stranger: You don't know? The letter. You burned it. And yet it still exists. You'll carry that letter for almost 33 years before you pass it on. To yourself. I am you. My name is Jonas Kahnwald. I sent the letter to you. Or should I say, to me. Everything you're experiencing, I've already experienced. I burned the letter, just like you. I got it back from our grandmother. I've already had this conversation. But I was on the other side then. We think we're free, but we're not. We follow the same old path. Again and again.
The Stranger: You don't know? The letter. You burned it. And yet it still exists. You'll carry that letter for almost 33 years before you pass it on. To yourself. I am you. My name is Jonas Kahnwald. I sent the letter to you. Or should I say, to me. Everything you're experiencing, I've already experienced. I burned the letter, just like you. I got it back from our grandmother. I've already had this conversation. But I was on the other side then. We think we're free, but we're not. We follow the same old path. Again and again.
— The Stranger talking about this to his past self, Dark (2017)
"Should I tell you about your father? Boy, that's a tough one. Will it affect your decision to send him here, knowing that he is you father? If you don't send Kyle, you can never be. God, a person can go crazy thinking about all this..."
— Sarah Connor, The Terminator
Mask: I just realized- you're me and I'm you. We just insulted ourselves and agreed on it.
Ocarina: Okay, wow. I just gave myself a headache trying to think through that one.
Mask: ...Do you mean that you you gave you a headache, or I you gave you a headache?
Ocarina: You just made it worse!
Mask: Okay, but is that you you making it worse or I you making it worse?
Ocarina: groaning
Ocarina: Okay, wow. I just gave myself a headache trying to think through that one.
Mask: ...Do you mean that you you gave you a headache, or I you gave you a headache?
Ocarina: You just made it worse!
Mask: Okay, but is that you you making it worse or I you making it worse?
Ocarina: groaning
"Remember me, Garland? Your puny lot thought it had defeated me. But, the four FIENDS sent me back 2000 years into the past. From here I sent the FOUR FIENDS to the future. The FIENDS will send me back to here, and the Time-Loop will go on. After 2000 years, I will be forgotten, and the Time-Loop will close. I will live forever, and you shall meet doom!!"
— Garland, Final Fantasy (NES version)
"It's not entirely your fault, Barry. I pushed you out of the Chronobowl on that September 29th so you could start me on this path. How do you like our endless paradox? I made you create me."
— Dark Flash, The Flash (2023)
