History Quotes / BecomingTheMask

->'''Bounty Hunter:''' "[[WhatWereYouThinking What do you know of the right thing to do? You — who would risk exposing the entire project for a game? A game!]]"
->'''Josh Exley:''' "I hit a home run tonight."
->'''Bounty Hunter:''' "[[EvilCannotComprehendGood A home run?]]"
->'''Josh Exley:''' "Number 61. I set a record."
->'''Bounty Hunter:''' "[[FaceDeathWithDignity Show me your true face so you can die with dignity]]. As your executioner I show you my true face before I kill you." [He morphs into a grey alien] "Show me your true face or you will die without honour."
->'''Josh Exley:''' "[[IAmWhatIAm This is my true face.]]"
->'''Bounty Hunter:''' "So be it."
->[Josh Exley turns and presents the back of his neck to the Bounty Hunter as Officer Dales arrives. The Bounty Hunter stabs Josh Exley in the neck with the stiletto.]
->'''Officer Dales:''' "No! Stop!" [He runs to Josh Exley] "Ex?!"
->'''Josh Exley:''' "No... Let me be! Let me be! Arthur get off of me! Our blood is like acid to you people. Arthur, get away. Don't touch it."
->'''Officer Dales:''' "It's just blood, Ex. Look. It's just blood." [Officer Dales fingers are covered in red blood]
->'''Josh Exley:''' "Wow." [He laughs, then dies in Officer Dales arms]

->[Josh Exley turns and presents the back of his neck to the Bounty Hunter as Officer Dales arrives. The Bounty Hunter stabs Josh Exley in the neck with the stiletto

[[folder:Videogame]]

-->--'''[[spoiler:Saul Tigh]]''', ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined''

[[folder:fiction]]

->''Chicanery will always make you happy\\
But we all know the hat is wearing me''
-->-- '''Music/MarilynManson''', "Dope Hat"

->''Paint her in\\
One colour ends and one begins\\
Brush away what's stray\\
Add the finishing touch\\
The rapture's cold as a pearl\\
Now the portrait has captured the girl''
-->-- "Portrait of A Girl", in ''Bare: A Pop Opera''

-->-- '''Creator/GeorgeOrwell''', ''Shooting an Elephant''

->We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
-->-- '''Creator/KurtVonnegut''', ''Literature/MotherNight''

->You've been in that skin-suit too long. You've forgotten. There used to be a ''real'' Margaret Blaine. You [[FaceStealer killed her and stripped her and used the skin]]. You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips.
-->-- '''The Ninth Doctor''' to '''Blon''', ''Series/DoctorWho'', "Boom Town"

->My mask is growing heavy, but I've forgotten who's beneath.
-->-- '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiDJ-3VvTM0 ''Reclusion'']]''', ''Anberlin''

-->-- '''[[spoiler:Saul Tigh]]''', ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]

->Ginny Usher didn't give a damn about Mesan goons - had even, if not perhaps to the same extent as Berry, managed to put her past life behind her. But she did care, and deeply, about the young man standing in their midst. And was probably wondering - as Thandi had sometimes wondered, about herself - how often a human being could assume a role before the role itself became the reality. Before a man, or a woman, became the golem of their own creation.
-->-- On '''Victor Cachat''', ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington Crown of Slaves]]''

-->--'''[[Series/{{Dexter}} Dexter Morgan]]'''

->Perhaps it's impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.
-->--'''''Literature/EndersGame'''''

-->-- '''The Jackal''', ''{{VideoGame/Far Cry 2}}''

->You're Puss in Boots, the one who tricks the prince. He hides who he really is and pretends to be someone else forever. So in time he becomes that person, so his lie becomes the truth, see? He transcends the mask. Well, don't you get it? That's how he finds happiness. That's pretty good, right?
-->-- '''Ninamori''', ''Anime/{{FLCL}}''

->[[spoiler:Reki]] freed herself from the curse of the sinbound by choosing a difficult path and by being kind to the weak. This began as an act, a mercenary attempt to gain salvation, yet over time it became her true nature.
-->-- '''Anime/HaibaneRenmei'''

->You've fooled them all into thinking that you ''are'' Caine; you've even fooled yourself.
-->-- Duncan Michaelson, ''[[Literature/TheActsOfCaine Heroes Die]]''

->Before you start, I have something to say: I came here as a patriot. I had a mission, and I carried it out. What I couldn't know is that I would come to care for the Earth and her people... That I'd come to care for all of you. I've spent the last five years torn between my feelings and my duty. I won't ask you to do the same.
-->-- '''[[spoiler:Hawkgirl]]''', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''

-->-- '''Moon Child''', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''

-->-- '''Windmill man''', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''

->Shock of impact ran along my arm. Jet of warmth spattered on chest, like hot faucet. It was Kovacs who said "Mother" then, muffled under latex. It was Kovacs who closed his eyes. It was Rorschach who opened them again.
-->-- '''Rorschach''', ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}''

->I didn’t want to send that email to [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Miss]] [[HeroAntagonist Militia]] because I liked those guys. That wasn’t the big realization. What made me stand up and burn the envelope was the realization that I liked those guys, I was fond of them, [[TrueCompanions I trusted them to have my back…]]\\\
Yet I’d always held myself at arm’s length.\\\
It was stupid, it was selfish, but I really, desperately wanted to see what it would be like to get to know [[TheEvilGenius Lisa]], without worrying that she would find out my scheme. I’d like to see what it was like to interact with her without having to censor myself out of fear that I’d provide [[AwesomenessbyAnalysis that damning clue]]. I wanted to get to know [[TheBrute Bitch]] and [[TheDarkChick Alec]] better. And [[TheLeader Brian]]. I wanted to be closer to Brian. I couldn’t phrase it any better than that, because I didn’t know if there would be any future with him beyond a simple friendship. I didn’t expect there to be. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming It still mattered]].
-->--[[VillainProtagonist Taylor Hebert]], '''Literature/{{Worm}}'''

->Gods are not like people. '''They''' are real. '''We''' are creatures of story. I stepped into your part. And now that part steps into me.
-->--'''Loki''', ''[[ComicBook/YoungAvengers Young Avengers]]'' Vol.2, Issue #5

-->-- '''Creator/CSLewis''', ''Surprised by Joy.''

->'''Charlie Rose:''' Is [[VillainProtagonist Walter White]] still out there?\\
'''Gretchen Schwartz:''' No he's not.\\
'''Charlie Rose:''' You sound very sure of that.\\
'''Gretchen Schwartz:''' I can’t speak of this Heisenberg people refer to. But whatever he became, the sweet, kind man we once knew? He’s gone.
-->--''Series/BreakingBad''

->''"The only things I care about in this world are my parents and my sister. I care about them because my whole purpose was to pretend to be [[spoiler: Valkyrie]] and pretend to care about [[spoiler: her]] family. Only it stopped being an act. I stopped pretending and I started caring. I love them. I'd do anything to protect them."''
-->--'''[[spoiler: The Reflection/Stephanie Edgeley]]''', ''[[Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant Last Stand of Dead Men]]''

->But at some point, the man became incapable of distinguishing his performance from his person.
-->--'''Rosalind Lutece''', ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite''

->The thought [to try and be myself] was terrifying. I'd spent so long hiding behind masks I was no longer sure there was a genuine Ciaphas underneath them any more, just a quivering little bundle of self-interest.
-->--'''Commissar Cain''', ''[[Literature/CiaphasCain For the Emperor]]''

->It's too late--I have cast myself into my mould. I wore vice like clothing, now it is stuck to my skin. I am truly a ruffian, and when I joke about people like me, I feel serious as Death in the middle of my gaiety. To kill Tarquin, Brutus played the madman, and what surprises me now is, he didn't lose his mind at that game. Learn from me, Philippe, here's what I have to say to you--don't work for your country.
-->-- '''Creator/VictorHugo''', ''Lorenzaccio.''}


->'''Bounty Hunter:''' "[[WhatWereYouThinking What do you know of the right thing to do? You — who would risk exposing the entire project for a game? A game!]]"
->'''Josh Exley:''' "I hit a home run tonight."
->'''Bounty Hunter:''' "[[EvilCannotComprehendGood A home run?]]"
->'''Josh Exley:''' "Number 61. I set a record."
->'''Bounty Hunter:''' "[[FaceDeathWithDignity Show me your true face so you can die with dignity]]. As your executioner I show you my true face before I kill you." [He morphs into a grey alien] "Show me your true face or you will die without honour."
->'''Josh Exley:''' "[[IAmWhatIAm This is my true face.]]"
->'''Bounty Hunter:''' "So be it."
->[Josh Exley turns and presents the back of his neck to the Bounty Hunter as Officer Dales arrives. The Bounty Hunter stabs Josh Exley in the neck with the stiletto
->'''Officer Dales:''' "No! Stop!" [He runs to Josh Exley] "Ex?!"
->'''Josh Exley:''' "No... Let me be! Let me be! Arthur get off of me! Our blood is like acid to you people. Arthur, get away. Don't touch it."
->'''Officer Dales:''' "It's just blood, Ex. Look. It's just blood." [Officer Dales fingers are covered in red blood]
->'''Josh Exley:''' "Wow." [He laughs, then dies in Officer Dales arms]
-->-- '''TheXFiles''', ''The Unnatural.''}

[[/folder]]

[[folder:real life]]

->People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked...
-->-- '''Creator/AynRand''', ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''

->''"Ooh, lookit me! I'm gonna put on silly outfits! Pretend to be other pop stars, but it's still just ''me!'' Lil' ol' Taylor Swift! These costumes don't fit ''me!''"'' Yes they do. You are those costumes. They are your personality. They are who you are now. You'll never "band geek" Taylor Swift again. '''You're''' [[AlphaBitch the cheer captain]], and...I dunno, {{Music/Lorde}} is on the bleachers.\\\
''(realization hits)'' Oh God, ''Lorde!'' Where's ''she'' gonna be in five years?
-->--'''WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows''' on [[Music/TaylorSwift "Shake It Off"]]

->When you are in the public space you'd better sound like a true believer. An actor immersed in a role is going to be better at it.
-->--Journalist '''Michael Malice''' on living in UsefulNotes/NorthKorea

->''"When he became stuck in his morphed form, it could be interpreted that that's how he saw himself all the time: as a Ranger. He wasn't Tommy Oliver, he became the powers. It was all he ''was'' anymore."''
-->-- '''[[WebVideo/HistoryOfPowerRangers Linkara]]''', interpreting Tommy's character in ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder''.

->''Bounty Hunter:'' "[[WhatWereYouThinking What do you know of the right thing to do? You — who would risk exposing the entire project for a game? A game!]]"
->''Josh Exley:'' "I hit a home run tonight."
->''Bounty Hunter:'' "[[EvilCannotComprehendGood A home run?]]"
->''Josh Exley:'' "Number 61. I set a record."
->''Bounty Hunter:'' "[[FaceDeathWithDignity Show me your true face so you can die with dignity]]. As your executioner I show you my true face before I kill you." [He morphs into a grey alien] "Show me your true face or you will die without honour."
->''Josh Exley:'' "[[IAmWhatIAm This is my true face.]]"
->''Bounty Hunter:'' "So be it."

->''Officer Dales:'' "No! Stop!" [He runs to Josh Exley] "Ex?!"
->''Josh Exley:'' "No... Let me be! Let me be! Arthur get off of me! Our blood is like acid to you people. Arthur, get away. Don't touch it."
->''Officer Dales:'' "It's just blood, Ex. Look. It's just blood." [Officer Dales fingers are covered in red blood]
->''Josh Exley:'' "Wow." [He laughs, then dies in Officer Dales arms]

->One last thing: The video. It has also become controversial, mostly because of the, uh, [[LesYay tunnel of butts]]. (And yes, the tunnel of butts was indeed a bad idea. It was a very, very bad idea. Bad Taylor Swift.) But I hate the video for a different reason...''"Ooh, lookit me! I'm gonna put on silly outfits! Pretend to be other pop stars, but it's still just ''me!'' Lil' ol' Taylor Swift! These costumes don't fit ''me!''"'' Yes they do. You are those costumes. They are your personality. They are who you are now. You'll never "band geek" Taylor Swift again. '''You're''' [[AlphaBitch the cheer captain]], and...I dunno, {{Music/Lorde}} is on the bleachers.\\\

->Although Bobby [Kennedy] had been very much involved in [[UsefulNotes/VietnamWar getting us into Vietnam]] — he once said we had '[[AmericaSavesTheDay every moral right]]' to be there — toward the end, he saw the light, or the votes, and became a peace candidate. Also, though I don’t believe in character changes, I do have a theory that if you keep giving a conservative politician liberal speeches to read, he will eventually become a liberal, and vice versa. Friends of mine who were close to Kennedy tell me that in the last months of his life, he really seemed to believe his own rhetoric, had come to identify with the poor and the dispossessed. If so, good.

cIt's too late--I have cast myself into my mould. I wore vice like clothing, now it is stuck to my skin. I am truly a ruffian, and when I joke about people like me, I feel serious as Death in the middle of my gaiety. To kill Tarquin, Brutus played the madman, and what surprises me now is, he didn't lose his mind at that game. Learn from me, Philippe, here's what I have to say to you--don't work for your country.

-->-- '''XFiles''', ''The Unnatural.''}

->It's too late--I have cast myself into my mould. I wore vice like clothing, now it is stuck to my skin. I am truly a ruffian, and when I joke about people like me, I feel serious as Death in the middle of my gaiety. To kill Tarquin, Brutus played the madman, and what surprises me now is, he didn't lose his mind at that game. Learn from me, Philippe, here's what I have to say to you--don't work for your country.
-->-- '''Creator/VictorHugo''', ''Lorenzaccio.''

-->--'''Rosalind Lutece'', VideoGame/BioshockInfinite

->''People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked...''

->''"Although Bobby ''[Kennedy]'' had been very much involved in [[UsefulNotes/VietnamWar getting us into Vietnam]] — he once said we had 'every moral right' to be there — toward the end, he saw the light, or the votes, and became a peace candidate. Also, though I don’t believe in character changes, I do have a theory that if you keep giving a conservative politician liberal speeches to read, he will eventually become a liberal, and vice versa. Friends of mine who were close to Kennedy tell me that in the last months of his life, he really seemed to believe his own rhetoric, had come to identify with the poor and the dispossessed. If so, good."''

->''"When you are in the public space you'd better sound like a true believer. An actor immersed in a role is going to be better at it."''
-->--Journalist '''Michael Malice''' on living in NorthKorea

->''"Chicanery will always make you happy\\
But we all know the hat is wearing me"''

->''"Paint her in\\

Now the portrait has captured the girl"''

->''"He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it."''

->''"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."''

->''"You've been in that skin-suit too long. You've forgotten. There used to be a ''real'' Margaret Blaine. You [[FaceStealer killed her and stripped her and used the skin]]. You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips."''

->''"My mask is growing heavy, but I've forgotten who's beneath."''

->''"My name is [[spoiler:Saul Tigh]] and if I die today, then that's who I'll be."''

->''Ginny Usher didn't give a damn about Mesan goons - had even, if not perhaps to the same extent as Berry, managed to put her past life behind her. But she did care, and deeply, about the young man standing in their midst. And was probably wondering - as Thandi had sometimes wondered, about herself - how often a human being could assume a role before the role itself became the reality. Before a man, or a woman, became the golem of their own creation.''

->''Somewhere along the line, the fake life that we created as a cover for me to kill became real. It's not fake to me anymore.''

->''"Perhaps it's impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be."''

->''"You can't break a man the way you break a dog or a horse. [[DefiantToTheEnd The harder you beat a man the taller he stands.]] [[DespairEventHorizon To break a man's will, to break his spirit, you have to break his mind]]. Men have this idea that [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen they can fight with dignity, that there is a proper way to kill someone]]. It's absurd, it's an aesthetic. We need that idea to endure the bloody horror of murder. You must destroy this idea. Show them [[WarIsHell what a messy, terrible thing it is to kill a man]]... [[BloodKnight And show them that you relish in it.]] [[CombatPragmatist Shoot the wound, then]] [[CoupDeGrace execute the wounded]]. [[KillItWithFire Burn them]], [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown take them in close combat,]] destroy any preconceptions as to what a man is and [[TheDreaded you become their personal monster. When they fear you]], you become stronger, you become better. But let's never forget, it's a display, a posture, like a lion's roar or a gorilla thumping at its chest. [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope If you lose yourself in the display, if you succumb to the horror,]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters you become the monster, not more of a man, but less... and it can be fatal.]]"''

->''"You're Puss in Boots, the one who tricks the prince. He hides who he really is and pretends to be someone else forever. So in time he becomes that person, so his lie becomes the truth, see? He transcends the mask. Well, don't you get it? That's how he finds happiness. That's pretty good, right?"''

->''"I know that you weren't Eas. You're Setsuna."''
-->-- '''Cure Peach''', ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure''

->''"[[spoiler:Reki]] freed herself from the curse of the sinbound by choosing a difficult path and by being kind to the weak. This began as an act, a mercenary attempt to gain salvation, yet over time it became her true nature."''

->''"You've fooled them all into thinking that you ''are'' Caine; you've even fooled yourself."''

->''"Before you start, I have something to say: I came here as a patriot. I had a mission, and I carried it out. What I couldn't know is that I would come to care for the Earth and her people... That I'd come to care for all of you. I've spent the last five years torn between my feelings and my duty. I won't ask you to do the same."''

->''"If you have so many masks, what does your ''true'' face look like?"''

->''"A mask is just like a musical instrument--it reflects the character of its owner."''

->''"Yes, it's me and I feel just like a...Smurf!"''
-->-- '''Smurfette''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs''

->''"SO! You wish to learn the sacred art of the grapple from me, Los Tiburon? It would be my pleasure to pass along the ideals from my teachers and ancestors to another generation! ... Know this, my child, that when you wear the mask, who you were underneath is gone, and you must BECOME the mask! Let the mask give you strength, and give that strength to the mask itself!"''

->''"Shock of impact ran along my arm. Jet of warmth spattered on chest, like hot faucet. It was Kovacs who said "Mother" then, muffled under latex. It was Kovacs who closed his eyes. It was Rorschach who opened them again."''

->''"NO!! MY FACE!! GIVE BACK MY FACE!!!"''
-->-- '''Rorschach upon being unmasked''', ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}''

->'''Miles:''' Why did you do it, Arde? You could have just surrendered peaceably. You're Betan, they'd have to have treated you all right....
->'''Mayhew:''' Seems to me that dreadnought was about to blow you all into the next dimension
->'''Miles:''' True. So?
->'''Mayhew:''' So—well—it didn't seem to me a, a right and proper Armsman ought to be sitting on his ass while that was going on
->'''Bothari:''' Welcome to my lords service—Armsman
-->''-- [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga The Warriors Apprentice]]''

->''I didn’t want to send that email to [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Miss]] [[HeroAntagonist Militia]] because I liked those guys. That wasn’t the big realization. What made me stand up and burn the envelope was the realization that I liked those guys, I was fond of them, [[TrueCompanions I trusted them to have my back…]]''

->''Yet I’d always held myself at arm’s length.''

->''It was stupid, it was selfish, but I really, desperately wanted to see what it would be like to get to know [[TheEvilGenius Lisa]], without worrying that she would find out my scheme. I’d like to see what it was like to interact with her without having to censor myself out of fear that I’d provide [[AwesomenessbyAnalysis that damning clue]]. I wanted to get to know [[TheBrute Bitch]] and [[TheDarkChick Alec]] better. And [[TheLeader Brian]]. I wanted to be closer to Brian. I couldn’t phrase it any better than that, because I didn’t know if there would be any future with him beyond a simple friendship. I didn’t expect there to be. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming It still mattered]].''

->''"Gods are not like people. '''They''' are real. '''We''' are creatures of story. I stepped into your part. And now that part steps into me."''

->''And the distinction between pretending you are better than you are and beginning to be better in reality is finer than moral sleuthhounds conceive.''

->'''Charlie Rose:''' Is [[VillainProtagonist Walter White]] still out there?
->'''Gretchen Schwartz:''' No he's not.
->'''Charlie Rose:''' You sound very sure of that.
->'''Gretchen Schwartz:''' I can’t speak of this Heisenberg people refer to. But whatever he became, the sweet, kind man we once knew? He’s gone.

->"But at some point, the man became incapable of distinguishing his performance from his person."

->''The thought [to try and be myself] was terrifying. I'd spent so long hiding behind masks I was no longer sure there was a genuine Ciaphas underneath them any more, just a quivering little bundle of self-interest.''

->''"When he became stuck in his morphed form, it could be interpreted that that's how he saw himself all the time: as a Ranger. He wasn't Tommy Oliver, he became the powers. It was all he ''was'' anymore."''
-->-- '''[[WebVideo/HistoryOfPowerRangers Linkara]]''', interpreting Tommy's character in ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder''.

->''"It's too late--I have cast myself into my mould. I wore vice like clothing, now it is stuck to my skin. I am truly a ruffian, and when I joke about people like me, I feel serious as Death in the middle of my gaiety. To kill Tarquin, Brutus played the madman, and what surprises me now is, he didn't lose his mind at that game. Learn from me, Philippe, here's what I have to say to you--don't work for your country."''

-->-- '''The Jackal''', ''FarCry 2''

->''Chicanery will always make you happy''
->''But we all know the hat is wearing me''

->Paint her in
->One colour ends and one begins
->Brush away what's stray
->Add the finishing touch
->The rapture's cold as a pearl
->Now the portrait has captured the girl

->''People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked...''
-->-- '''Creator/AynRand''', ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''

->''You've been in that skin-suit too long. You've forgotten. There used to be a real Margaret Blaine. You killed her and stripped her and used the skin. You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips.''

->''"He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it."''
-->-- '''Creator/GeorgeOrwell''', ''Shooting an Elephant''

->''"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."''
-->-- '''Creator/KurtVonnegut''', ''Literature/MotherNight''

->''"It's too late--I have cast myself into my mould. I wore vice like clothing, now it is stuck to my skin. I am truly a ruffian, and when I joke about people like me, I feel serious as Death in the middle of my gaiety. To kill Tarquin, Brutus played the madman, and what surprises me now is, he didn't lose his mind at that game. Learn from me, Philippe, here's what I have to say to you--don't work for your country."''
-->-- '''Creator/VictorHugo''', ''Lorenzaccio.''

->''It's too late--I have cast myself into my mould. I wore vice like clothing, now it is stuck to my skin. I am truly a ruffian, and when I joke about people like me, I feel serious as Death in the middle of my gaiety. To kill Tarquin, Brutus played the madman, and what surprises me now is, he didn't lose his mind at that game. Learn from me, Philippe, here's what I have to say to you--don't work for your country.''

->''The thought [to try and be yourself] was terrifying. I'd spent so long hiding behind masks I was no longer sure there was a genuine Ciaphas underneath them any more, just a quivering little bundle of self-interest.''

-->-- '''MarilynManson''', ''Dope Hat''

-->-- '''AynRand''', ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''

-->-- '''[[spoiler: Saul Tigh]]''', ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]

-->-- '''Ninamori''', ''{{FLCL}}''

-->-- '''Cure Peach''', ''FreshPrettyCure''

-->-- '''[[spoiler:Hawkgirl]]''', ''JusticeLeague''

-->CSLewis, ''Surprised by Joy.''

-->''—[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga The Warriors Apprentice]]''

-->Miles: ''Why did you do it, Arde? You could have just surrendered peaceably. You're Betan, they'd have to have treated you all right....''
-->Mayhew:''Seems to me that dreadnought was about to blow you all into the next dimension''
-->Miles: ''True. So?''
-->Mayhew:''So-well-it didn't seem to me a, a right and proper Armsman ought to be sitting on his ass while that was going on...''
-->Bothari: ''Welcome to my lords service-Armsman''
-->[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga The Warriors Apprentice]]

-->''And the distinction between pretending you are better than you are and beginning to be better in reality is finer than moral sleuthhounds conceive.''

-->"But at some point, the man became incapable of distinguishing his performance from his person."

->''You've been in that skin-suit too long. You've forgotten. There used to be a real Margaret Blaine. You killed her and stripped her and used the skin. You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips.''
-->-- '''The Ninth Doctor''' to '''Blon''', ''Series/DoctorWho'', "Boom Town"

->Paint her in
->One colour ends and one begins
->Brush away what's stray
->Add the finishing touch
->The rapture's cold as a pearl
->Now the portrait has captured the girl
-->-- "Portrait of A Girl", in ''Bare: A Pop Opera''