There are precious few at ease
With moral ambiguities
So we act as though they don't exist...
With moral ambiguities
So we act as though they don't exist...
—The Wizard, Wicked
Though I do regard the Inquisition in general and the burning of Giordano Bruno in particular as blots on the history of the Roman Catholic Church, I am far from being actuated by hatred of that church, and in fact cannot imagine that European civilization would have developed or survived without it.
—Louis MacNeice
In Real Life, Commodus was actually a pretty decent emperor who ruled for a healthy thirteen years before a wrestler took him out in a nude bathhouse. Yum.
Mozart and Salieri were friends.
Mayans didn't really sacrifice hearts to Kukulkan.
Mozart and Salieri were friends.
Mayans didn't really sacrifice hearts to Kukulkan.
"As I continued reading, I was fascinated by how a counterrevolution sprung up and, in a period of about two days, the previous revolution just fell apart. I also remember the joy of leafing through my old Encyclopedia Britannica, the eleventh edition, and reading an article on the French revolution by someone who hated Robespierre; and then reading the biographical entry, which was written by someone who idealized Robespierre. I loved the cognitive dissonance. After the story was published, one reader sent me his high school thesis pointing out how Robespierre was a great man and so on...I could have written something about how Robespierre was a great man too, but that wasn't the tale that I was telling; I needed a story in which he wasn't."
— Neil Gaiman, The Sandman Companion, page 146, discussing his story "Thermidor" from Distant Mirrors.
Haillie Flanagan: Mr. O'Hara, who was Richard III?
Mr. O'Hara: A humpback and a killer.
Haillie Flanagan: Mr. De Rohan, what is Michael Grunwald's opinion of Richard III?
Mr. Dr Rohan: Michael Grunwald would say that Richard III was a great ruler and much maligned.
Haillie Flanagan: And yet this Shakespeare has written a play that is still performed while Mr. Grunwald's books gather dust.
Mr. O'Hara: A humpback and a killer.
Haillie Flanagan: Mr. De Rohan, what is Michael Grunwald's opinion of Richard III?
Mr. Dr Rohan: Michael Grunwald would say that Richard III was a great ruler and much maligned.
Haillie Flanagan: And yet this Shakespeare has written a play that is still performed while Mr. Grunwald's books gather dust.
— Cradle Will Rock
Think that thy babes were fairer than they were,
And he that slew them fouler than he is:
Bettering thy loss makes the bad causer worse:
Revolving this will teach thee how to curse.
And he that slew them fouler than he is:
Bettering thy loss makes the bad causer worse:
Revolving this will teach thee how to curse.
—Margaret of Anjou, Leaning on the Fourth Wall in Richard III
Star: I am fine ! I talked to Eclipsa like two seconds, and she was really nice! No big deal!
Moon: It could be a very big deal!
Star: Okay, fine! But why?
Moon: Star, she betrayed her kingdom! She abandoned her people so she could run off with a monster!
Star: Mhm, yes, right, I knew that, kinda selfish, okay. Then what? Blew everything up?
Moon: No! They crystallized her before she had the chance!
Star: Wait-wait-wait! You crystallized her for being in love?!
Moon: To a monster! And that's not all! She didn't respect the natural order! She meddled in The Dark Arts and created her own chapter of dangerous evil magic!
Star: ...Have you even read it?
Moon: Of course not!
Star: Well I have, and it really wasn't that big of a deal!
Moon: (Groan and turns to the Magical High Commission) Chill me anytime, guys, you knew her too!
Hekapoo: Uh, I mean, I saw her double-dipping in the ranch at the Royal Ball once.
Omnitraxus: She told me she thought Rhombulus was annoying!
Rhombulus: Can you believe it?!
Star: ...Yes.
Rhombulus: Oh, yeah, she totally used to eat babies!
Hekapoo: No, no, that wasn't Eclipsa. That was Bubipsa, the Barbarian Baby-Eater.
Rhombulus: Are you calling me a liar?!
Omnitraxus: I'm pretty sure Eclipsa was a pescetarian.
Star: Okay, guys, as fascinating and fact-filled as this conversation is, I'm feeling kinda done. The tests say I'm fine.
Moon: Star! Please! These tests are for your own good!
Star: I AM GOOD! And it sounds like Eclipsa didn't deserve to be crystallized. I mean, what's next, you're gonna crystallize me if I do something you don't approve of?
Moon: It could be a very big deal!
Star: Okay, fine! But why?
Moon: Star, she betrayed her kingdom! She abandoned her people so she could run off with a monster!
Star: Mhm, yes, right, I knew that, kinda selfish, okay. Then what? Blew everything up?
Moon: No! They crystallized her before she had the chance!
Star: Wait-wait-wait! You crystallized her for being in love?!
Moon: To a monster! And that's not all! She didn't respect the natural order! She meddled in The Dark Arts and created her own chapter of dangerous evil magic!
Star: ...Have you even read it?
Moon: Of course not!
Star: Well I have, and it really wasn't that big of a deal!
Moon: (Groan and turns to the Magical High Commission) Chill me anytime, guys, you knew her too!
Hekapoo: Uh, I mean, I saw her double-dipping in the ranch at the Royal Ball once.
Omnitraxus: She told me she thought Rhombulus was annoying!
Rhombulus: Can you believe it?!
Star: ...Yes.
Rhombulus: Oh, yeah, she totally used to eat babies!
Hekapoo: No, no, that wasn't Eclipsa. That was Bubipsa, the Barbarian Baby-Eater.
Rhombulus: Are you calling me a liar?!
Omnitraxus: I'm pretty sure Eclipsa was a pescetarian.
Star: Okay, guys, as fascinating and fact-filled as this conversation is, I'm feeling kinda done. The tests say I'm fine.
Moon: Star! Please! These tests are for your own good!
Star: I AM GOOD! And it sounds like Eclipsa didn't deserve to be crystallized. I mean, what's next, you're gonna crystallize me if I do something you don't approve of?
—Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Stranger Danger
Marcus: What of you? Do you not routinely summon armies of scarabs to undo your foes or guide sandstorms to follow your every whim?
Alex: Ah. Poor maligned Imhotep. The subject of so many tales. In my day, he was revered as a god. Now he's but a petty villain in a children's tale.
—Graveyard Shift, by Michael F. Haspil
When Alexander aimed at the sky
He may have been the first one to die
But I'm the one who paid for it
I survived, but I paid for it
Now I'm the villain in your history
He may have been the first one to die
But I'm the one who paid for it
I survived, but I paid for it
Now I'm the villain in your history
— Aaron Burr in "The World Was Wide Enough", Hamilton
"But there stands the sword of my ancestor Sir Richard Vernon, slain at Shrewsbury, and sorely slandered by a sad fellow called Will Shakespeare, whose Lancastrian partialities, and a certain knack at embodying them, has turned history upside down, or rather inside out".
— Diana Vernon, Rob Roy
"Excellent! As soon as I release this biological toxin into world's water supply, I will rule the world! I'll call it 'Lou Gherig's Disease'! I just have to remember to make sure this cap is screwed on tight-"
*The bottle falls out and breaks, Smash Cut to being in a wheeelchair*
"...Well, I guess the joke's on me."
— Lou Gherig, Family Guy
