History Quotes / BlackAndGrayMorality

->''"The Choice between Good and Bad is not a matter of saying 'Good!' It is about deciding which is which."''
-->-- '''The Lord of Dark''', ''Literature/TheSwordOfGood''

->[[Literature/BookOfMalachi Malachi]] had to adapt his teachings to some who were sincere but mistaken. To them the Divine fire is disciplinary. "He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver." \\
But he also had to adapt his teachings to some who were [[CardCarryingVillain wilfully]] and persistently wrong. To them the Divine fire is, in some sense, destructive- consuming. "The proud shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up."
-->-- '''R. Tuck''' sermonizing on "[[http://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/tuck/the_divine_fire.htm The Divine Fire]]" [[note]]Edited for grammatical clarity.[[/note]]

->''"Let me give you some advice, Captain. It may help you to make sense of the world. I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are the good people and the bad people. You're wrong, of course. There are, always and only, bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides."''
-->-- '''Lord Vetinari''', ''Literature/GuardsGuards''

->''Ah, finally, the ultimate showdown between vaguely-evil and somewhat-ambiguous!''
-->-- '''Tom Servo''', ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': ''Film/Escape2000''

->'''Phyllis:''' We're both rotten.\\
'''Walter Neff:''' Only you're a little more rotten.
-->-- ''Film/DoubleIndemnity''

-> '''[[ByTheBookCop Ward]]''': Just don't lose sight of whose rights are being violated!
-> '''[[CowboyCop Anderson]]''': Don't put me on your perch, Mr. Ward.
-> '''Ward''': Don't drag me into your gutter, Mr. Anderson!
-> '''Anderson''': [[TheKlan These people]] are crawling out of the SEWER, MR. WARD! Maybe the gutter's where we outta be!
-->-- ''Film/MississippiBurning''

->'''Megan''': Wait! You're my hero!
->'''[[HeroicComedicSociopath Wade]]''': No, no, no, no, no. That I ain't.
->'''Wade (narrating)''': Nope, never will be. I'm just a bad guy who gets paid to fuck up worse guys.
-->-- ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}''

->What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be? You need people like me. You need people like me so [[DesignatedVillain you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy."]] So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. [[DirtyCoward You just know how to hide, how to lie.]] Me, I don't have that problem. Me, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.]] So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way!
-->-- '''Tony Montana''', ''Film/{{Scarface 1983}}''

->'''Gary Johnston''': We're dicks! We're reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the Film Actors Guild are pussies. And Kim Jong-il is an asshole. Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes - assholes who just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way, but the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is that sometimes they fuck too much, or fuck when it isn't appropriate - and it takes a pussy to show 'em that. But sometimes pussies get so full of shit that they become assholes themselves, because pussies are only an inch-and-a-half away from assholes. I don't know much in this crazy, crazy world, but I do know that if you don't let us fuck this asshole, we are going to have our dicks and our pussies all covered in shit.
->'''Spottswoode''': Yes, Gary, yes.
->'''Gary Johnston''' : And it takes a pussy to show 'em that. But sometimes pussies get so full of shit that they become assholes themselves, because pussies are only an inch-and-a-half away from assholes. I don't know much in this crazy, crazy world, but I do know that if you don't let us fuck this asshole, we are going to have our dicks and our pussies all covered in shit.
-->--''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice''

->''Goodness has only once found [[UsefulNotes/JesusChrist a perfect incarnation]] in a human body and [[GoodIsImpotent never will again]], but evil can always find a home there. [[HumansAreBastards Human nature]] is not black and white but black and grey.''

->''What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be? You need people like me. You need people like me so [[DesignatedVillain you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy."]] So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. [[DirtyCoward You just know how to hide, how to lie.]] Me, I don't have that problem. Me, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.]] So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way!''

->[[Literature/TheBible Malachi]] had to adapt his teachings to some who were sincere but mistaken. To them the Divine fire is disciplinary. "He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver." \\

-->--from ''[[Wiki/SCPFoundation the SCP Foundation's]] [[http://www.scpwiki.com/ethics-committee-orientation Ethics Committee Orientation]]''

->[[TheMan The Technocracy]] may wish to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans remake the world in its own sterile image]], but at least at the end of the process there'd be a world left. [[OurMagesAreDifferent The Traditions]] may [[WeAreStrugglingTogether squabble among themselves]], but they squabble about what to do with the world - not how best to destroy it. [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity The Marauders may be mad]], but destruction is incidental to their attempts [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds to create a more comfortable reality for themselves]]. The [[OmnicidalManiac Nephandi]], by doing the will of their [[EldritchAbomination Dark Masters]], would destroy all - and they're [[CardCarryingVillain cheerfully unapologetic about it]].

->When will you fools learn that there are no battles fought by heroes?

->"What do you call assassins who accuse assassins?"

->"That woman deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die. But then again, so does she. So I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"

->What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be? You need people like me. You need people like me so [[DesignatedVillain you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy."]] So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. [[DirtyCoward You just know how to hide, how to lie.]] Me, I don't have that problem. Me, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.]] So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way!

-->-- '''Mina Davis, ''Literature/AssholeYakuzaBoyfriend'''''

->Ah, finally, the ultimate showdown between vaguely-evil and somewhat-ambiguous!
-->-- '''Tom Servo''', ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': ''Film/{{Escape 2000}}''

->I think her bad guys are badder than my bad guys.

->Sometimes, life seems so complicated. Nothing is truly good or truly evil. Everything seems to be a shade of grey. And then you spend some time with a man like Dukat, and you realize that there is really such a thing as truly evil.

->There is no such thing as innocence -- only degrees of guilt.
-->-- '''[[SuperSoldier Space Marine]] [[PsychicPowers Librarian]]''', ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: VideoGame/DawnOfWar''

->Vladimir was one of those old-time bad guys with honor and morals, which made him almost one of the good guys. None of us was a saint.

-->--''from [[Wiki/SCPFoundation the SCP Foundation's]] [[http://www.scpwiki.com/ethics-committee-orientation Ethics Committee Orientation]]''

->If your [[VillainProtagonist "heroine"]] is a [[AxCrazy murdering butcher]] half the time, how do you keep the audience from wanting her to be captured and/or put down? She can't just keep taking down [[RedShirt nameless and faceless guards]] all the time, so what do you do? Make nearly ''everyone'' around her [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the most]] [[MoralEventHorizon irredeemable]] [[AssholeVictim fucksticks]] in the ''history'' of fucksticks.

->Vice is punished, but virtue is not rewarded.

->Goodness has only once found [[UsefulNotes/JesusChrist a perfect incarnation]] in a human body and [[GoodIsImpotent never will again]], but evil can always find a home there. [[HumansAreBastards Human nature]] is not black and white but black and grey.

->Votez escroc, pas facho! [translation: Vote for the crook, not the fascist!]

->Goodness has only once found a perfect incarnation in a human body and never will again, but evil can always find a home there. Human nature is not black and white but black and grey.

-->-- '''The Lord of Dark]]''', ''Literature/TheSwordOfGood''