History Quotes / IDidWhatIHadToDo

->''"Me and Jake and Rachel and Cassie and Tobias and Ax. They'd be household names, like generals from World War II or the Civil War. Patton and Eisenhower, Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee. Kids would study us in school. Bored, probably.\\

-->-- '''Ultra Magnus''' to Ratchet, ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', "TransWarped"

->If you got the [[WeWillUseCreditsInTheFuture credits]] I'll pull the crime of the century\\

->''"Now, I know what you're gonna say: 'Technoblade, you monster! You really killed ''millions'' of your own kind just to make a sword?'. And it -- look, look, look, come on, you gotta understand. There was nothing else I could do, I was mildly inconvenienced!"''

-->-- '''Veronica Franco''', at her trial by the [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade Inquisition]], ''Dangerous Beauty''

-->-- '''UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan''' addresses the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations following the 1986 air strikes against UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi

->'''Rassilon:''' We will ascend -- to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be.\\
'''Tenth Doctor:''' ''[to the Master]'' You see now? That's what they were planning... in the final days of the war. ''I had to stop them.''

'''Dalek:''' ''[[ThatLiarLies You lie]]!''\\
'''Doctor:''' I watched it happen! ''[[WhamLine I made it happen]]!''\\
'''Dalek:''' You destroyed us?!\\

-->-- '''LetsPlay/{{Technoblade}}''' in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2mwbXInQCI this video]]

-->-- '''UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill''' on the order to bombard French warships at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria]] to prevent them from falling into [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany enemy]] [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly hands]]

->''"Since Kira has appeared six years ago, [[TheExtremistWasRight wars have stopped and global crime rates have been reduced by over 70%]]. But, it's not enough. [[CrapsackWorld This world is still]] [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity rotten with too many rotten people]]! Somebody has to do this! When I first got that notebook all those years ago, I knew I had to do it. No, I was the only one who could. I understood that killing people was a crime. ''[[HannibalLecture There was no other way! The world had to be fixed!]] [[MotiveRant A purpose given to me]]!'' Only I could do it. ''[[VillainousBreakdown Who else could have done it and come this far]]?! [[FreakOut Will they keep going]]?!'' [[AGodAmI The only one... who can create a new world... is me]]."''

->''"[[WarCrimeSubvertsHeroism Adam did things to the Pykkts]]. I won't deny it. Things that don't conform to what the [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica League of Justice]] likes to judge. These aliens tortured him. They killed his only child. And in return, he treated them poorly. It's all ''true''. Every word. But let me ask you this: [[AlienInvasion at this time, when your life is at stake]], do you want someone who treated the Pykkts with kid gloves? Someone who coddled these monsters, defending your children? Is that really what you want? After Phoenix, after the next horror they do, do you want to fight fairly? Or, even if it's damning... do you want someone who fought like Adam fought on Rann? In other words, in the ''only'' words... do you want to ''win?''"''

-->-- '''[[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]]''', ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn''

-->-- ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/174126?view_full_work=true Once, there were...]]'' a ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' fic

->''"Your [[EvilVersusEvil Blood War]] can be summed up with the two most evil phrases my people know. Your foes, the demons, have the phrase, '[[ForTheEvulz Because I can]]' on their side. You devils however have 'Because I had to' on yours. These two phrases, when distilled down to their essence, account for all suffering, and in the end, the latter is more destructive. The truest evil is not achieved by [[CardCarryingVillain the men who think themselves the villain]]. The truest evil is done by [[KnightTemplar the good man]] who does what he feels he must, and thus he does it without hesitation."''
-->-- '''Lars''', ''Fanfic/TheOpenDoor''

-->-- '''[[TheCape Alexandria]]''' justifying her involvement in crimes against humanity, ''Literature/{{Worm}}''

-->-- '''O5-[[spoiler:__]]''' [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-231 on SCP-231]], ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''

-->-- '''The Director of Project Freelancer''', ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''

->''"[[WarCrimeSubvertsHeroism Adam did things to the Pykkts]]. I won't deny it. Things that don't conform to what the [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica League of Justice]] likes to judge. These aliens tortured him. They killed his only child. And in return, he treated them poorly. It's all ''true''. Every word. But let me ask you this: [[AlienInvasion at this time, when your life is at stake]], do you want someone who treated the Pykkts with kid gloves? Someone who coddled these monsters, defending your children? Is that really what you want? After Phoenix, after the next horror they do, do you want to fight fairly? Or, even if it's damning... do you want someone who fought like Adam fought on Rann? In other words, in the ''only'' words... do you want to ''win?''"''
-->-- '''Alanna Strange''', ''ComicBook/StrangeAdventures2020''

->''"The only way to make certain future generations will know this was our only hope... is to ensure there will BE future generations."''
-->-- '''U.N. Director''', ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''

->''"I hated to use a hostage to force your surrender, but it means the saving of thousands of lives!"''
-->-- '''Erok''', ''ComicBook/TheKryptonChronicles''

->''"By now, you've heard my confessions. You know how long it took me to rebel against Ragyo, and the full extent of everything I had to do to carry us this far. You also know that I believe even the worst of it was necessary, no matter how much every life sacrificed in my scheming haunts me. You know the difference between guilt and regret. I won't repeat myself."''
-->-- '''Isshin Matoi''', ''Fanfic/AMinorMiscalculation''

->'''Shinji:''' Me too. I... we did what we had to do. I feel terrible about it, but we really didn't have a choice. They had... they had to be stopped, right?\\
'''Asuka:''' Right. We didn't have a choice. Really. They invaded our base and wanted to use us to fight for their madness ''[...]'' And they had... they had Katsuragi-san.
-->-- ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod''

->''The bridge crew had performed admirably given the circumstances, as Fuyutsuki had come to expect, even if they all knew that in following his orders they would be crippling themselves beyond repair. It was, as always, a necessary sacrifice.\\
Fuyutsuki almost laughed. He had lost track of how many times Ikari had used that justification for what NERV had done, and the atrocities they had committed. Lazy minds tended to drift towards the excuses that were familiar to them, usually as a simple matter of expediency; who could come up with a new excuse every time their decisions were questioned? But eventually the sacrifices deemed necessary added up to even greater costs than the things they were determined to prevent in the first place.''
-->-- ''Fanfic/NeonGenesisEvangelionGenocide''

->''"That was a reminder that you know nothing about the decisions I have to make! [[ShutUpKirk How dare you, what fucking gives you the right to question me]] you stupid dog? What gives you the fucking right to think that you know better? I have kept this Fleet safe for millennia, always trying to choose the best option when the choices are either blood or ash!"''
-->-- '''[=Gideon020=]''' to '''[=ckk185=]''', ''Fanfic/TheUniversiad''

->''"Val, the act of killing is the gravest act of man. Both on Krypton, and on Earth. Once upon a time, Lex died, and I brought him back to life. This time... I didn't do it. So we both have something to bear away from this one. We both have each other's secret. Your action was basically justified. You kept him from killing Kal and Ardora. Maybe he would have killed you and Lena afterward. There’s no telling. If a cop had come in there with a gun, he probably would have used it on Lex, as well. He might have had to yell 'Freeze!' beforehand, and he’d have to face a review board afterward. But Lex was about to commit murder again. He’d already done it once, today. And you -- saw it. So you did what you had to do. You reached out with that PK power and stopped his heart. Lex Luthor is dead, now, and neither Kal nor I are responsible, except maybe in a secondary way. As I say, Val, you did what you had to do."''
-->-- '''[[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]]''', ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn''

->''"Your [[EvilVersusEvil Blood War]] can be summed up with the two most evil phrases my people know. Your foes, the demons, have the phrase, '[[ForTheEvulz Because I can]]' on their side. You devils however have 'Because I had to' on yours. These two phrases, when distilled down to their essence, account for all suffering, and in the end, the latter is more destructive. The truest evil is not achieved by [[CardCarryingVillain the men who think themselves the villain]]. The truest evil is done by [[KnightTemplar the good man]] who does what he feels he must, and thus he does it without hesitation."''
-->-- '''Lars''', ''Fanfic/TheOpenDoor''

-->-- '''Mitch Rapp''', ''[[Creator/VinceFlynn Extreme Measures]]''

->'''Bob Howard:''' ''The [[HumanoidAbomination Black Pharaoh]]?''\\
'''The Senior Auditor:''' I said I made a DealWithTheDevil, didn't I? It was him or [[EldritchAbomination the Sleeper]]: who would you rather work for?\\
'''Bob Howard:''' That's ''treason''--\\
'''The Senior Auditor:''' Only if it be unsuccessful. The fix is in. The fix was in even before you noticed there was a problem in need of a solution. That's why I kept you in the dark, in the sandbox, for so long. We work under oath to the authority vested in the Crown: but you didn't ask ''which'' Crown the new oath and warrant cards are sworn to. The PM's dead, Bob. Half the cabinet are [[PuppeteerParasite brain-wormed]] castrati thanks to [[SinisterMinister Schiller]]. Our [[{{Eagleland}} biggest traditional ally]] appears to be in the throes of a takeover by something so much worse than the Sleeper that Schiller chose to flee and make his stand here. And the agency is in ruins. [[GodzillaThreshold What else would you expect the board to do]]? We have to be realistic. Pick fights we can win.
-->-- ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles: The Delirium Brief''

->''"Me and Jake and Rachel and Cassie and Tobias and Ax. They'd be household names, like generals from World War II or the Civil War. Patton and Eisenhower, Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee. Kids would study us in school. Bored, probably.\\
And then the teacher would tell the story of Marco. I'd be a part of history. [[WarCrimeSubvertsHeroism What I was about to do]].\\
Some kid would laugh. Some kid would say, [[TheUnfettered 'Cold, man. That was really cold.']]\\
I had to do it, kid. [[WarIsHell It was a war]]. It's the whole point, you stupid, smug, smirking little jerk! Don't you get it?\\
It was the whole point. We hurt the innocent in order to stop the evil.\\
Innocent Hork-Bajir. Innocent Taxxons. Innocent human-Controllers.\\
How else to stop [[PuppeteerParasite the Yeerks]]? How else to win?\\
No choice, you punk. We did what we had to do."''
-->-- '''Marco''', ''Literature/{{Animorphs}} #30: The Reunion''

->''"There's what's right and then there's what's necessary. They ain't always the same."''
-->-- '''Ebenezer [=McCoy=]''', ''Literature/BloodRites''

->''"Understand what a world had to do to survive."''
-->-- '''[[ArcWords Repeated line]]''', ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar''

-->-- '''O5-[[spoiler:__]]''', Wiki/SCPFoundation [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-231 on SCP-231]]

->''"I'm not sorry for what I did, Maxwell... but I am sorry I had to do it."''
-->-- '''Alexander Anderson''', ''WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged''

->''"Rose didn't always do what was best for her. But she always did what was best for Earth."''
-->-- '''Garnet''', ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E24Bubbled Bubbled]]"

->''"Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong."''
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan''' addresses the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations following the 1986 air strikes against UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi

(''shows Team Dai-Gurren a dark planet that resembles Earth, with lifeless bodies similar to Anti-Spiral's lining the entire landmass'')\\
This form is the symbol of our determination! Foolish creatures, drunk on Spiral Power! Do you possess the resolve to do that?! We defended the universe by killing our fellow spirals and halting our own evolution! Do you possess the sheer fortitude that is on par with that?! DO YOU?! '''WE SAY NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! ''NOT! AT! ALL!!!'''''"''

->''"I heard you, [[Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]]. You longed to return to Argo City. I did only what needed to be done to give you that."''
-->-- '''Cyborg Superman''', ''Comicbook/SupergirlRebirth #3''

->'''Franchise/{{Superman}}:''' You... killed them? A ship full of law officers, doing their duty?\\

->''"[[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar Adam did things to the Pykkts]]. I won't deny it. Things that don't conform to what the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica League of Justice]] likes to judge. These aliens tortured him. They killed his only child. And in return, he treated them poorly. It's all ''true''. Every word. But let me ask you this: [[Main/AlienInvasion at this time, when your life is at stake]], do you want someone who treated the Pykkts with kid gloves? Someone who coddled these monsters, defending your children? Is that really what you want? After Phoenix, after the next horror they do, do you want to fight fairly? Or, even if it's damning... do you want someone who fought like Adam fought on Rann? In other words, in the ''only'' words... do you want to ''win?''"''

->By now, you've heard my confessions. You know how long it took me to rebel against Ragyo, and the full extent of everything I had to do to carry us this far. You also know that I believe even the worst of it was necessary, no matter how much every life sacrificed in my scheming haunts me. You know the difference between guilt and regret. I won't repeat myself.
-->--'''Isshin Matoi''', ''Fanfic/AMinorMiscalculation''

'''Asuka:''' Right. We didn't have a choice. Really. They invaded our base and wanted to use us to fight for their madness [...] And they had... they had Katsuragi-san.

''(silence)''\\

'''Kaji:''' But you knew had to [...] You had a reason.

->Once, there was a youth...\\

because for her to live, others had to die.

"Fuyutsuki almost laughed. He had lost track of how many times Ikari had used that justification for what NERV had done, and the atrocities they had committed. Lazy minds tended to drift towards the excuses that were familiar to them, usually as a simple matter of expediency; who could come up with a new excuse every time their decisions were questioned? But eventually the sacrifices deemed necessary added up to even greater costs than the things they were determined to prevent in the first place.''

->''"Val, the act of killing is the gravest act of man. Both on Krypton, and on Earth. Once upon a time, Lex died, and I brought him back to life. This time... I didn't do it. So we both have something to bear away from this one. We both have each other’s secret. Your action was basically justified. You kept him from killing Kal and Ardora. Maybe he would have killed you and Lena afterward. There’s no telling. If a cop had come in there with a gun, he probably would have used it on Lex, as well. He might have had to yell 'Freeze!' beforehand, and he’d have to face a review board afterward. But Lex was about to commit murder again. He’d already done it once, today. And you -- saw it. So you did what you had to do. You reached out with that PK power and stopped his heart. Lex Luthor is dead, now, and neither Kal nor I are responsible, except maybe in a secondary way. As I say, Val, you did what you had to do."''

-->-- '''Lars''', ''FanFic/TheOpenDoor''

->''"No, Anna, I belong here. Alone. Where I can be who I am ... without hurting anybody."''
-->-- '''Elsa''', ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' ([[GoMadFromTheRevelation at least]] until she gets informed of the EndlessWinter)

->'''Frankenstein:''' ''What did you do?!''
->'''Dracula:''' I... I did what I had to do.
->'''Mavis:''' What was it? What exactly did you "have" to do? ''Tell me!''
->'''Dracula:''' I... I built the town. The staff put it all together. The... The zombies dressed up as the townspeople. Please, I... I-If you really went out there and something happened to you, I... I-I'd just couldn't live with myself.
->'''Mavis:''' But you can live with ''this?'' Lying to me? Tricking me? Keeping me here forever when you knew my dream was to go?

->'''Twilight:''' I never would have done it, but this isn't Equestria! We can't just dance around with con artists, make Rainbooms in the sky and expect everything to work out! It's not enough! ''We'' are not enough!
->'''Pinkie:''' No, Twilight! ''We'' stuck together! ''We'' were gonna get the help we needed! The only thing that stopped us was ''you!''
->'''Twilight:''' Well, I'm doing the best I can!

'''Thanos:''' [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans A small price to pay for salvation.]]

->'''Steve Rogers''': Protection? Is that how you see this? This isn't protection, it's internment, Tony. Come on, she's a kid!\\
'''Tony Stark''': Gimme a break! I'm doing what has to be done, to save us from something worse.

->'''Peter Quill''': You said you loved my mother.\\
'''Ego the Living Planet''': And that I did. My river lily who knew all the words to every song that came over the radio. I returned to Earth to see her three times. And I knew if I returned a fourth, well, I'd... I'd never leave. [[AssimilationPlot The Expansion]]... the reason for my very existence would be over. So, I did what I had to do. But... [[WhamLine it broke my heart to put that tumor in her head]].

'''The Operative:''' I'm not going to live there. There's {{no place for me there}}... any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.

-->--'''Drayton Sawyer''', ''Film/TheTexasChainSawMassacre1974''

-->--'''Viktor''', ''Film/Underworld2003''

->''"I can feel your incriminations and your judgments, and I am fine with that. You want to be loved? Go be a movie star. The world is as you find it. You've gotta deal with that reality that there are monsters in this world. We saw 3,000 innocent people burned to death by [[MiddleEasternTerrorists those monsters]], yet you object when I refuse to kiss those monsters on the cheek and say "pretty please." You answer me this, what terrorist attack would you have let go forward so you wouldn't seem like a mean and nasty fella? I will not apologize for keeping your family safe. And I will not apologize for doing what needed to be done so that your loved ones could sleep peacefully at night. It has been my honor to be your servant. [[YouBastard You chose me. And I did what you asked.]]"''
-->-- '''Dick Cheney''', BreakingTheFourthWall at the end of ''Film/Vice2018''

'''Khepri:''' [[IRegretNothing Don't — don't regret it.]] [[SavingTheWorld Was — had to. Saved lives.]] But I would do different, given a chance.

->'''Bob Howard:''' ''The [[HumanoidAbomination Black Pharaoh]]?''
->'''The Senior Auditor:''' I said I made a DealWithTheDevil, didn't I? It was him or [[EldritchAbomination the Sleeper]]: who would you rather work for?
->'''Bob Howard:''' That's ''treason''--
->'''The Senior Auditor:''' Only if it be unsuccessful. The fix is in. The fix was in even before you noticed there was a problem in need of a solution. That's why I kept you in the dark, in the sandbox, for so long. We work under oath to the authority vested in the Crown: but you didn't ask ''which'' Crown the new oath and warrant cards are sworn to. The PM's dead, Bob. Half the cabinet are [[PuppeteerParasite brain-wormed]] castrati thanks to [[SinisterMinister Schiller]]. Our [[EagleLand biggest traditional ally]] appears to be in the throes of a takeover by something so much worse than the Sleeper that Schiller chose to flee and make his stand here. And the agency is in ruins. [[GodzillaThreshold What else would you expect the board to do?]] We have to be realistic. Pick fights we can win.
-->-- ''[[Literature/TheLaundryFiles The Delirium Brief]]''

->''"[[SadClown Me]] and [[TheLeader Jake]] and [[DarkActionGirl Rachel]] and [[AllLovingHero Cassie]] and [[TheWoobie Tobias]] and [[TokenNonHuman Ax]]. They'd be household names, like generals from World War II or the Civil War. Patton and Eisenhower, Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee. Kids would study us in school. Bored, probably.\\
And then the teacher would tell the story of [[TheUnfettered Marco]]. I'd be a part of history. What I was about to do.\\
Some kid would laugh. Some kid would say, "Cold, man. That was really cold."\\
I had to do it, kid. It was a war. It's the whole point, you stupid, smug, smirking little jerk! Don't you get it?\\

-->-- '''Marco,''' ''Literature/{{Animorphs}} #30: The Reunion''

'''Jack Bauer:''' By doing what I deemed necessary to save innocent lives.\\
'''Blaine Mayer:''' So basically, what you are saying, Mr. Bauer, is that the ends justify the means and you are above the law.\\
'''Jack Bauer:''' When I am activated, when I am brought into a situation, there is a reason. And that reason is to complete the objectives of my mission at all costs.\\
'''Blaine Mayer:''' ...Even if it means breaking the law.\\
'''Jack Bauer:''' For a combat soldier, the difference between success and failure is your ability to adapt to your enemy. The people that I deal with, they don't care about your rules. All they care about is a result. My job is to stop them from completing their objective, at all costs. I simply adapted. In answer to your question: am I above the law? No, sir. I am more than willing to be judged by the people you claim to represent. I will let them decide what price I should pay. But please, sir, do not sit there with that smug look on your face and expect me to regret the decisions I have made. Because, sir, the truth is I don't.
-->-- ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'', "Day 7: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM"

-->-- '''Wesley''', ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "Spin the Bottle"

-->-- ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "Peace Out"

'''Jake:''' Yeah, but we were just doing what we had to do. We're the good guys. [''horrified realization''] This is what they all think!

'''Dalek:''' '''[[ThatLiarLies YOU LIE]]!'''\\
'''Doctor:''' I watched it happen! [[WhamLine I]] ''[[WhamLine MADE]]'' [[WhamLine it happen]]!\\
'''Dalek:''' '''YOU DESTROYED US?!'''\\
'''Doctor:''' ''(turns away, shellshocked)''...I had no choice.
-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', "Dalek"

'''Tenth Doctor:''' ''(to the Master)'' You see now? That's what they were planning... in the final days of the war. ''I had to stop them.''
-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', "The End of Time"

-->-- '''[[spoiler:The War Doctor]]''', ''Series/DoctorWho'', "The Name of the Doctor"

->''"Who we are, and who we need to be to survive, are very different things."''
-->-- '''Bellamy Blake''', ''Series/{{The 100}}''

-> ''"I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all... I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing: a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant."''
-->-- '''Benjamin Sisko''', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''

->'''Lore:''' ''[[CallingTheOldManOut You did what you had to do]]?'' What kind of answer is that?\\
'''Dr. Soong:''' The best one I can give you. [[AIIsACrapshoot You were not functioning properly]].
-->-- ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "Brothers"

-> '''Petty Officer Muldoon:''' I told you, that guy was gonna kill that woman, and then me. What the hell was I supposed to do?\\

-->-- ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', "After Hours"

->Regrets, I've had a few\\

I saw it through, without exemption.

->Pancho needs your prayers it's true, but save a few for Lefty too\\
He only did what he had to do, and now he's growing old

->In the season of snow,\\

crushed red flowers.

-->-- '''Imperial Proverb''', ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''

->''"They were so close their stench filled the air... [[EvilSmellsBad you can SMELL them]], I tell you! Somewhere between the spice of vanilla and the bitter sweetness of pustulent rot. These creatures [[PuppeteerParasite inhabit the bodies of men and women]], exorcising the human soul and replacing it with their own putrid spirits. But they couldn't fool ''me!'' No, not at all, I could SMELL them, you see! They were all around me... ''[[ParanoiaFuel dear god, all around]]''... I knew what I had to do, they had to ''go'', by blade and bullet I had to get rid of them! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! Dear god, I ''had'' to do it... ''had to''... [[YouHaveToBelieveMe You believe me, don't you?]] [-[[YouHaveToBelieveMe Don't you?]]-]"''

->'''Gavin Archer:''' Any war we fight with the Geth will be bloody, I was asked to find a way to avoid that.
->'''Commander Shepard:''' Who gave you the right to play God?
->'''Gavin Archer:''' People who were too afraid to make difficult decisions themselves. When they pray for a miracle, they're really praying for men like me to make the tough choices. If my work spares a million mothers mourning the loss of a million sons, my conscience will rest easy.

-->-- ''Videogame/{{Overwatch}}'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ09xdxzIJQ Dragons]]''

[[folder:Web Comics]]
->''"I was away for a few years and came back to a world in ruins. Death, destruction, chaos - the endless fighting - it was as if the Heterodyne Boys had '''''never existed'''''. Things were worse than ever.''
->''So I stopped it, and I did it my way this time. No more negotiating. No more promises. No more second chances! I did it alone, because I '''''had''''' to.''
-> ''And it '''''worked'''''."''
-->-- Klaus von Wulfenbach, ''WebComic/GirlGenius''

-->-- '''Garnet''', ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', "Bubbled"

->'''Shadow Weaver:''' I did what I had to do.
->'''Adora:''' [[YouKeepTellingYourselfThat Keep telling yourself that]].
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', "Failsafe"

->Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.

->[[WarIsHell War is cruelty.]] There is no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.

->This was the most hateful decision, the most unnatural and painful in which I have ever been concerned.

->''"[[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar Adam did things to the Pykkts]]. [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene I won't deny it]]. Things that don't conform to what the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica League of Justice]] likes to judge. These aliens tortured him. They killed his only child. And in return, he treated them poorly. It's all ''true''. Every word. But let me ask you this: [[Main/AlienInvasion at this time, when your life is at stake]], do you want someone who treated the Pykkts with kid gloves? Someone who coddled these monsters, defending your children? Is that really what you want? After Phoenix, after the next horror they do, do you want to fight fairly? Or, even if it's damning... do you want someone who fought like Adam fought on Rann? In other words, in the ''only'' words... do you want to ''win?''"''