Dorothea: Long ago, there was a group of intellectuals who sought to discover the secrets of the world. The Empire tried to commission them, but they refused, not wanting their work to be controlled. After that, they were classified as a cult and hunted down one by one. They all died…except for one young girl who alluded them and fled to another country.
Akame: Has that been your true goal all along? You want revenge against the Empire for slaughtering them. You want to destroy it.
Dorothea: Not quite. While giving this disgusting Empire its just desserts would be deserved, I don't really care. As of now, the Empire is more useful to me when it's up and running. Getting retribution for my ancestors was never a goal of mine.
Akame: Has that been your true goal all along? You want revenge against the Empire for slaughtering them. You want to destroy it.
Dorothea: Not quite. While giving this disgusting Empire its just desserts would be deserved, I don't really care. As of now, the Empire is more useful to me when it's up and running. Getting retribution for my ancestors was never a goal of mine.
"You want to know why I release the virus? Why I killed off 98 percent of Anshar's population? Maybe revenge against the people who didn't appreciate my genius, maybe because I hate this kingdom, maybe because I was sexually assaulted as a child. All good and tearjerking Freudian Excuses if I do say so myself. But really that's all they are, just excuses. I did it because I could, simple as that, Mother."
— Shukra, Infernal Tales A Helltaker Story
"You provided the genetic material necessary to create me, but you get no credit for making me the man I am today. If I were in any way influenced by your parenting skills, I’d be sucking dick on a street corner, begging every man who smacks my face to let me call him 'Daddy'. Everything I am is down to me. You think I regret anything I’ve done? The lives I’ve destroyed, the people I’ve killed? I’ve always done exactly what I wanted to do. And as for you - you are naught but shit on my shoe, and today is the day that I finally wipe you off."
— Edward Nygma, Rogues
"I have no dysfunctional family background. I suffered neither childhood abuse or trauma. I kill for ONE reason only, doctor — because I CHOOSE to."
— Victor Zsasz, The Batman Chronicles #3
Judge: So you are saying that you are a victim in all this as well?
The third killer: No... that's not what I mean. I'm nothing but a murderer.
— Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Justice for All
"I lost someone I loved, due to humanity's mistakes. (Beat) Would you be satisfied if I had told you that? I have not a reason. I was simply bored."
— Issac, Kamen Rider Saber
Kivas Fajo: Perhaps you would not judge me so harshly if you knew of my desperate youth, wasted, wasted on the streets of Zimballia.
Data: Your past does not excuse unethical or immoral behavior, sir.
Fajo: Well, it doesn't matter. It isn't true, anyway. My father was quite wealthy, actually. He was a thief.
Data: Your past does not excuse unethical or immoral behavior, sir.
Fajo: Well, it doesn't matter. It isn't true, anyway. My father was quite wealthy, actually. He was a thief.
"Nothing happened to me, Officer Starling. I happened. You can't reduce me to a set of influences."
— Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs
I killed so many people for them. But then I realized, I was only using Lakshmana's death as an excuse to do whatever I wanted to do. Just like you used those ashes as an excuse to do whatever you want to do. Goddamn if it isn't fun.
— Pagan Min, Far Cry 4
(During an episode of "Gumbel 2 Gumbel".)
Bryant Gumbel: "Purse snatching: society's fault, or one man's cry for help?"
Robber: "What are you talking about? I wanted her freakin' money."
Bryant Gumble: "Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm."
Robber: "What the hell's wrong with him?"
Bryant Gumbel: "Purse snatching: society's fault, or one man's cry for help?"
Robber: "What are you talking about? I wanted her freakin' money."
Bryant Gumble: "Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm."
Robber: "What the hell's wrong with him?"
"'Who was it?' I can't just be a decent person with some fucking empathy? I need to have personally known someone who suffered? Bull! Shit! You don't need to fucking have bigotry happen to you, or someone you personally know, to know it's a stupid, hateful thing that ruins lives! And the fact that that's lost on so damn many of my fellow humans pisses me off!"
— Jeremiah Cross, This Bites!
"And for all of this, I am hated. For being there at the outset, for laying the foundations that others would willingly build on. I think they wish to find something in this story that explains things - some moment of decision, some choice that could later be regretted or accounted for. But it's just as I said - none exists. I have always been on this road, never turning never deviating."
— Erebus, Horus Heresy: Child of Chaos
Frasier: Oh yes, here it comes — the old sob story. "Daddy didn't love me. Mother ignored me. The bully next door stole my baseball glove."
Phil: No! Dad loved me. Mom spoiled me. And I was the bully next door.
Phil: No! Dad loved me. Mom spoiled me. And I was the bully next door.
Linkara: I'm so sorry. I should've tried to get you away from the mirror universe version of me. I should've done something more. I should've tried to look for you more thoroughly after he was dead. Showed you that there was something more than what you went through.
Mirror Margaret: [shoots Linkara] I am not your failure. How dare you take my choices and make them your fault. How arrogant are you? He didn't take me. He didn't do anything to me. I picked him because he was a useful tool. Nothing more!
Mirror Margaret: [shoots Linkara] I am not your failure. How dare you take my choices and make them your fault. How arrogant are you? He didn't take me. He didn't do anything to me. I picked him because he was a useful tool. Nothing more!
Vegeta: I've lived my entire life under Freeza's rule. My entire kingdom, my race, was enslaved to his bidding.
Goku: I understand now. If it weren't for Freezer you wouldn't be—
Vegeta: Dying? No.
Goku: I was gonna say "evil".
Vegeta: Oh, no! I'd definitely still be evil! If this situation were reversed, this conversation would never have happened. You'd be dead, and I'd be laughing.
Goku: I understand now. If it weren't for Freezer you wouldn't be—
Vegeta: Dying? No.
Goku: I was gonna say "evil".
Vegeta: Oh, no! I'd definitely still be evil! If this situation were reversed, this conversation would never have happened. You'd be dead, and I'd be laughing.
There are no skeletons in my closet, no abusive childhood or inciting misery that might expiate my vile behavior. Nor am I insane. I know the difference between good and evil. And I am fully capable of empathizing with the pain, emotional or physical, of others. No sociopath, I. Rather, I simply prefer bad over good. Wrong over right. Dirty over clean. Sick over healthy. Untrue over true.
— Contagion, Wolverine: The Best There Is #3
Ethical Bug: You know, Jack, maybe we need to dig a little deeper. T-tell me about your childhood.
Jack Horner: Ugh... You know, I never had much as a kid. Just loving parents, and stability, and a mansion, and a thriving baked goods enterprise for me to inherit. Useless crap like that.
Jack Horner: Ugh... You know, I never had much as a kid. Just loving parents, and stability, and a mansion, and a thriving baked goods enterprise for me to inherit. Useless crap like that.
Emil: Alice, are you doing all this because you were mistreated for being a half-elf? Or is it because your parents were killed by monsters?
[beat]
Alice: [giggles] Don't be ridiculous! You've done your homework, I'll give you that. But I don't care about what happened in my childhood and avenging my parents is the furthest thing from my mind.
Marta: You don't have to act so tough.
Alice: Aren't you the one who's acting tough, Martmart? Of course I hate the Church of Martel and the monsters who killed my parents. But if you want to change the world, ultimately, you have to change yourself. If the world wants to give me misfortune, I'll just give misfortune back to the world. That's all.
[beat]
Alice: [giggles] Don't be ridiculous! You've done your homework, I'll give you that. But I don't care about what happened in my childhood and avenging my parents is the furthest thing from my mind.
Marta: You don't have to act so tough.
Alice: Aren't you the one who's acting tough, Martmart? Of course I hate the Church of Martel and the monsters who killed my parents. But if you want to change the world, ultimately, you have to change yourself. If the world wants to give me misfortune, I'll just give misfortune back to the world. That's all.
