"Don't do anything. Except for what you were always will have done. It's not a paradox if I was already part of the past."
— Robo, Atomic Robo and the Knights of the Golden Circle
"The destiny trap: You can't change history if you're part of it."
Our presence here doesn't alter history. You and I meet here because we are compelled to - we have always met here. History is irredeemable. Drop a stone into a rushing river - the current simply courses around it and flows on as if the obstruction were never there. You and I are pebbles, Raziel.
— Kain, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
One of the major problems encountered in time travel is not... about changing the course of history — the course of history does not change because it all fits together like a jigsaw. All the important changes have happened before the things they were supposed to change and it all sorts itself out in the end. The major problem is quite simply one of grammar.
If I hadn't been here, the disease couldn't have been cured. If I hadn't treated the virus the way that I did, there's no reason I should be resistant to it... And it's certainly true that that man's an endless time and immeasurable distance away from home...
— Clan, INVADERS of the ROKUJYOUMA!? by Creator/Takehaya
"Ah, yes. The trusty time paradox. If I go back in time and kill my grandfather, will I cease to exist? I believe, as Gorben and Bernt did, that any repercussions are already being felt. If I go back in time, then I will already have been back."
— Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox
Time Agent #1: Captain, why did you take the Defiant back in time?
Sisko: It was an accident.
Time Agent #2: So, you're not contending it was a predestination paradox?
Time Agent #1: A time loop. That you were meant to go back into the past?
Sisko: Erm, no.
Time Agent #1: Good.
Time Agent #2: We hate those.
Sisko: It was an accident.
Time Agent #2: So, you're not contending it was a predestination paradox?
Time Agent #1: A time loop. That you were meant to go back into the past?
Sisko: Erm, no.
Time Agent #1: Good.
Time Agent #2: We hate those.
Founder #1: You see, time travels cannot change history because time travels are part of history.
Founder #2: And because we're the best, too.
Founder #2: And because we're the best, too.
— Time Brigad Founders, Le Visiteur du Futur
