" The Germans are, by the way, strange people. Through their deep thoughts and ideas, which they search everywhere, they make their lives more difficult than is equitable. Ei! So go on, finally have the courage to indulge yourselves in the impressions, to let yourselves be regaled, to let yourselves be touched, to let yourselves be uplifted, indeed to let yourselves be taught and be to greatness inspired and encouraged; but stop thinking all the time that anything would be vain and shallow, if it were not some kind of abstract thought or idea! So they come and ask: What idea did I seek to embody in my Faust? As if I knew that myself, or knew to express it!"
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1827
"Now, class, today we're going to be discussing the symbolism of the wallet owned by the hit-man Jules. His wallet had 'Bad Mother Fucker' written on it. As we discussed yesterday, the word 'bad' in the English of the time meant something that was of inferior quality, but it also had a vernacular meaning of something that was especially good, or dangerous. Today, I'd like us to turn our attention to this dual meaning, and how Mr. Tarantino played on the juxtaposition of the two meanings of the word 'bad' in the slogan written on the wallet."
— Tacit, Metaquotes
"See, Shandy? Now it's social satire and not just some weird crap that you watch!"
— Strong Bad, Homestar Runner, Sbemailiarized!
"When people see some depth you never intended that's really cool, you just put on a face and say 'Oh, yeah, that was deep'. What are you going to say? I'm just a moron with luck?"
"No critic writing about a film could say more than the film itself, although they do their best to make us think the opposite."
"… well, too much about his nature would reveal future plot points. Normally I wouldn't care, because I'm a translator, and my job is to write a preface to the book that spoils all the major plot points."
— D.R. Mc Leod, Wizard Diaries
"It's just a song. It doesn't mean a damn thing."
"I also urge people not to bother being religiously offended, because c'mon, it's art, and stuff like that only encourages us. Honestly, though, this is really less of a statement about religion and more of an homage to that one style of religious art—the metallic, gold-leaf heavy visuals of the religious icons were what I was really thinking about, not stickin' it to Christianity with a chicken. Because...um....if this was a religious statement, I dunno what the heck it would be. Possibly "I like chickens," and that's never going to go down in history next to Martin Luther's 95 whatsits. I always feel obligated to say this, because people inevitably see a scathing critique of something or other, and I'm left going "Err....no, I was just kinda thinking "Dude! Chickens!" and that's sort of embarassing for both parties."
—Ursula Vernon, commenting about a chicken saint icon
"I tried to figure out all the symbolism in this comic and I was SO CONFUSED"
Kelly: "So, the moral is..."
Zach: "The what?"
—Zach Weinersmith discussing one of his comics with his wife, in the bonus-panel votey here.
."But without the pipe-weed, Middle Earth would fall apart. Saruman is trying to break up Gandalf’s pipe-weed ring. He’s trying to divert it."
— A satirical depiction of Noam Chomsky, McSweeney's Internet Tendency
"As for any inner meaning or ‘message’, [The Lord of the Rings] has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical. As the story grew it put down roots (into the past) and threw out unexpected branches: but its main theme was settled from the outset by the inevitable choice of the Ring as the link between it and The Hobbit. The crucial chapter, ‘The Shadow of the Past’, is one of the oldest parts of the tale. It was written long before the foreshadow of 1939 had yet become a threat of inevitable disaster, and from that point the story would have developed along essentially the same lines, if that disaster had been averted. Its sources are things long before in mind, or in some cases already written, and little or nothing in it was modified by the war that began in 1939 or its sequels.
The real war does not resemble the legendary war in its process or its conclusion. If it had inspired or directed the development of the legend, then certainly the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron; he would not have been annihilated but enslaved, and Barad-dûr would not have been destroyed but occupied. Saruman, failing to get possession of the Ring, would in the confusion and treacheries of the time have found in Mordor the missing links in his own researches into Ring-lore, and before long he would have made a Great Ring of his own with which to challenge the self-styled Ruler of Middle-earth. In that conflict both sides would have held hobbits in hatred and contempt: they would not long have survived even as slaves.
Other arrangements could be devised according to the tastes or views of those who like allegory or topical reference. But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."
The real war does not resemble the legendary war in its process or its conclusion. If it had inspired or directed the development of the legend, then certainly the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron; he would not have been annihilated but enslaved, and Barad-dûr would not have been destroyed but occupied. Saruman, failing to get possession of the Ring, would in the confusion and treacheries of the time have found in Mordor the missing links in his own researches into Ring-lore, and before long he would have made a Great Ring of his own with which to challenge the self-styled Ruler of Middle-earth. In that conflict both sides would have held hobbits in hatred and contempt: they would not long have survived even as slaves.
Other arrangements could be devised according to the tastes or views of those who like allegory or topical reference. But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."
— J. R. R. Tolkien, foreword to the Second Edition of The Lord Of The Rings
"The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperiatives in Dick and Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes"
—The title of Calvin's book report
"Morty, stop digging for hidden layers and just be impressed. I'm a pickle!"
—Rick, Rick and Morty
"Remember the movie The Wizard of Oz? That was more than a children's movie; it was made shortly after the Federal Reserve Act and was Hollywood’s way of showing Americans how to get their freedom back. Unfortunately, it went right over everyone's heads.
One of the 'alter egos' that accompanied Dorothy along the gold-brick road was a 'STRAWMAN'. If you look in any law dictionary you will find that that is a legal term. It means a fake person or dummy put up as a bond.
[...]
Remember the end of the movie when Dorothy found out that the entire persona of the Wizard was just a veil of lights and illusions? Well, bingo. You just found out that the government is a fiction, not a fact like yourself, a living soul, but a fiction."
One of the 'alter egos' that accompanied Dorothy along the gold-brick road was a 'STRAWMAN'. If you look in any law dictionary you will find that that is a legal term. It means a fake person or dummy put up as a bond.
[...]
Remember the end of the movie when Dorothy found out that the entire persona of the Wizard was just a veil of lights and illusions? Well, bingo. You just found out that the government is a fiction, not a fact like yourself, a living soul, but a fiction."
—Title 4 Flag Says You're Schwag!: The Sovereign Citizen's Handbook
Fauna: Some things die so that others may live. Maybe she was trying to remind me of that.
Mumei: I think... she was just trying to kill us.
