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Anime & Manga
Vegeta: You should be impressed! Very few are willing to train as intensely as I have for this much power!
Android 18: How sad. To work so hard... for so little.
Vegeta: Sad FOR YOU!
Android 18: How sad. To work so hard... for so little.
Vegeta: Sad FOR YOU!
Comic Books
"I used to think I was special! But I'm not, am I? I'm not anything, I'm just...I'm just an M.T.O. with ideas above his station. Cyberutopia's a lie, I'll never get to be a Prime, and I've made an enemy of just about everyone I've ever met. Your death is literally all I've got to look forward to."
— Getaway to Rodimus, Lost Light issue #20
Fanfiction
Shinji: Figures. How much did you actually tell my father, anyway?
Rei: Few details. Only that everything he had worked towards and everything he had put myself and his only son through had been for nothing, and that he would die alone and unmourned, rejected by the only person he had ever truly loved. [...] It was... cathartic.
Rei: Few details. Only that everything he had worked towards and everything he had put myself and his only son through had been for nothing, and that he would die alone and unmourned, rejected by the only person he had ever truly loved. [...] It was... cathartic.
Gendo leaned back in his chair. "All for nothing," he whispered. He looked at Shinji, a hint of regret in his eyes, then looked away.
Film
John: You shouldn't even exist. We took down Cyberdyne over ten years ago! We stopped Judgment Day!
The Terminator: You only postponed it. Judgment Day is inevitable.
The Terminator: You only postponed it. Judgment Day is inevitable.
Literature
J is a consonant in English, but some nations use it as a vowel— than which nothing could be more absurd. Its original form, which has been but slightly modified, was that of the tail of a subdued dog, and it was not a letter but a character, standing for a Latin verb, jacere, "to throw," because when a stone is thrown at a dog the dog's tail assumes that shape. This is the origin of the letter, as expounded by the renowned Dr. Jocolpus Bumer, of the University of Belgrade, who established his conclusions on the subject in a work of three quarto volumes and committed suicide on being reminded that the j in the Roman alphabet had originally no curl.
Obi-Wan: Padme, you must help me. Anakin must be found. He must be stopped.
Padme: How can you say that? He's just won the war!
Obi-Wan: The war was never the Republic against the Separatists. It was Palpatine against the Jedi. We lost. The rest of it was just playacting.
Padme: It was real enough for everyone who died!
Obi-Wan: Yes. Including the children at the Temple.
Padme: How can you say that? He's just won the war!
Obi-Wan: The war was never the Republic against the Separatists. It was Palpatine against the Jedi. We lost. The rest of it was just playacting.
Padme: It was real enough for everyone who died!
Obi-Wan: Yes. Including the children at the Temple.
Live-Action TV
"[Matty] went to Hoffman, he took the money, but he hesitated. Even looking like you're doing the right thing to those two meant that he wasn't solid, that he couldn't be trusted. I got Matty to take the money... and they killed him two days later. He was the strongest person that I ever knew. He'd have never done it, not even to save himself. I was the only one... I was the only one that could get him to debase himself like that. And it was for nothin'. I made him lesser. I made him like me... and the bastards killed him anyway."
— Mike Ehrmantraut, Better Call Saul, "Five-O"
Orac: Within the last few hours, Zerok has ceded to the Federation.
Dayna: So that black gold will be of use to Servalan. The Federation doesn't know how she's got it. She's made herself a good profit.
Orac: [Almost laughing] It's... worse than that, unfortunately.
Tarrant: Worse?
Orac: The Federation banking system will now take over that of Zerok. All bank notes drawn by the Bank of Zerok will be declared invalid within seven days and all private transactions will be illegal directly. The consequences of this are clear.
Tarrant: Yes, they're clear all right. Aren't they, Avon? We've just risked our lives... for nothing!
Soolin: Not for nothing, Tarrant. We risked our lives to make Servalan rich!
[Hurls banknotes at Avon, who starts to laugh maniacally...]
Dayna: So that black gold will be of use to Servalan. The Federation doesn't know how she's got it. She's made herself a good profit.
Orac: [Almost laughing] It's... worse than that, unfortunately.
Tarrant: Worse?
Orac: The Federation banking system will now take over that of Zerok. All bank notes drawn by the Bank of Zerok will be declared invalid within seven days and all private transactions will be illegal directly. The consequences of this are clear.
Tarrant: Yes, they're clear all right. Aren't they, Avon? We've just risked our lives... for nothing!
Soolin: Not for nothing, Tarrant. We risked our lives to make Servalan rich!
[Hurls banknotes at Avon, who starts to laugh maniacally...]
— Blake's 7, "Gold"
"To think we were deceived by such a thing... How did I devote all my life to this?! What... What did I even live for?! Galactic Scientist Doldora... What has she even accomplished?!"
— Doldora after The Reveal in episode 46 of Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman
King Edward VII: Austria sets out to be independent of Germany and ends up being tied more firmly to her coat-tails than ever before, Russia looks for some slight prestige after her humiliation by Japan and ends up by being humiliated all over again, Germany starts off by supporting Turkey at the expense of Austria and ends up by supporting Austria at the expense of Turkey! Does it make sense? It seems to me the more surely we set our course north-east, the more surely we end up by going south-west!
Edward Grey: I don't think we're as helpless as all that, Sir.
King Edward VII: I tell you, Grey, I'm tired. For years, I've traipsed all over Europe for you politicians, and I tell you, I don't think it makes a damn bit of difference what we do.
Edward Grey: You take too gloomy a view, Sir. After all, if Germany and Austria are closer together now, we're much closer to Russia and France than anyone would have thought possible five years ago. That's a comfort.
King Edward VII: Is it? Haven't you just drawn the future battle lines of Europe?
Edward Grey: I don't think we're as helpless as all that, Sir.
King Edward VII: I tell you, Grey, I'm tired. For years, I've traipsed all over Europe for you politicians, and I tell you, I don't think it makes a damn bit of difference what we do.
Edward Grey: You take too gloomy a view, Sir. After all, if Germany and Austria are closer together now, we're much closer to Russia and France than anyone would have thought possible five years ago. That's a comfort.
King Edward VII: Is it? Haven't you just drawn the future battle lines of Europe?
Davos: I loved that girl like she was my own! She was good, she was kind, and you KILLED HER!
Melisandre: So did her father. So did her mother. Her own blood knew it was the only way...
Davos: The only way for what!? They all died anyway!
Melisandre: So did her father. So did her mother. Her own blood knew it was the only way...
Davos: The only way for what!? They all died anyway!
"Y'know, Mister Gently, you can spend your whole life on somethin' only to realize it's all been for nothing. Nothing's what you think it is. 'Cept death, maybe."
— Peter Turner, Inspector George Gently, "Gently Going Underground"
Absolute Tartarus: I am Absolute Tartarus. I am from tens of thousand years in the future. Let me show you your future. You fused with Alien Reiblood and gained the power of darkness, only to have your ambitions being shattered by Ultraman Zero on numerous occasions. Ultimately, your fate was sealed by one who as created from your genes... Ultraman Geed. You evolved into your ultimate form and challenged him, but were defeated and destroyed.
Ultraman Belial: *laughs* What a joke. All that trouble to get the power I desired, only to be executed by my own son.
Ultraman Belial: *laughs* What a joke. All that trouble to get the power I desired, only to be executed by my own son.
—Ultraman Belial in Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Absolute Conspiracy episode 4.
Miratrix: After all I've done for you... All for Nothing!
Kamdor: Pity, isn't it?
Kamdor: Pity, isn't it?
Ryan: I don't get it. I don't get what I did wrong.
Dwight: Not everything's a lesson, Ryan. Sometimes you just fail.
Dwight: Not everything's a lesson, Ryan. Sometimes you just fail.
Music
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter...
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter...
— Linkin Park, "In the End"
And if I do what you demand (You say!)
You'll let me understand (You say!)
You're gonna hold me to your word
And if I sell myself away (You say!)
I'll have no debt to pay (You say!)
I'm gonna get what I deserve
Your word... obeyed!
My debt... repaid!
Our trust... betrayed!
All for nothing! All for nothing!"
You'll let me understand (You say!)
You're gonna hold me to your word
And if I sell myself away (You say!)
I'll have no debt to pay (You say!)
I'm gonna get what I deserve
Your word... obeyed!
My debt... repaid!
Our trust... betrayed!
All for nothing! All for nothing!"
Did you really believe when they told you The Cause?
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
The killing and dying
The suffering and shame
It happened again
And again, and again.
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
The killing and dying
The suffering and shame
It happened again
And again, and again.
— Music Eric Bogle, No Man's Land (AKA Willie McBride and The Green Fields of France)
I spent my life in foolish quest
For gold and riches I'd contest
And now I'm left with just regrets
Too late to change my ways;
My life, it seems, has slipped away
I leave no legacy to praise
Nothing more for me to say
My life has been a waste
For gold and riches I'd contest
And now I'm left with just regrets
Too late to change my ways;
My life, it seems, has slipped away
I leave no legacy to praise
Nothing more for me to say
My life has been a waste
— Amon Amarth, "Doom Over Dead Man"
Theatre
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
— Macbeth, William Shakespeare's Macbeth
"So go ahead. Tell everyone we were wrong! Because someday, somewhere, someone's gonna stick a knife in you, and tell you that everything you worked for your whole life amounts to SHIT!"
— Mickey, The Normal Heart
Video Games
"It’s not possible… Alm is the emperor’s true son? Which makes him the rightful successor to the imperial throne. All this time… All the effort! What has it all been for?! …No. It isn’t true. It can’t be. I refuse to believe it. Nothing but lies... Lies, lies, lies, lies, LIES!"
— Berkut, upon learning that Alm is the true heir to the Rigelian throne, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
"Everything I've done up until now... it was all for nothing...!"
— Princess Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
"Did you carry him all the way from the temple? Shame."
— Zoran Lazarevic, mocking Nathan Drake's effort to save a hurt cameraman right before killing the latter, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
"Those quiet moments when we just walked side by side, the precious time we spent with Hanako and Akira, the casual chatter we had during lunchtimes, the times we made love, the confessions of our feelings to each other... All pointless. All just a fleeting moment in our young lives.
We're just two children pretending to be adults, aren't we?"
We're just two children pretending to be adults, aren't we?"
— Hisao Nakai to Lilly Satou, after she tells him she's leaving for Scotland, never to see him again, Katawa Shoujo
Takaya: My... Protecting your would-be murderer...? Ohhh, but that's right! Whether or not to this boy's revenge, you are fated to die, regardless.
Shinjiro: ......
Ken: What... What does he mean!?
Takaya: You've been taking those suppressants for some time now... You don't have much longer.
Shinjiro: That's bullshit!
Takaya: Listen to your body... The signs have already begun.
Shinjiro: ...!
Ken: What're you talking about...? You're just going to die... no matter what!? Even f I don't do anything...? That's not fair! This is all I've been living for... What was even the point then!?
Shinjiro: ......
Ken: What... What does he mean!?
Takaya: You've been taking those suppressants for some time now... You don't have much longer.
Shinjiro: That's bullshit!
Takaya: Listen to your body... The signs have already begun.
Shinjiro: ...!
Ken: What're you talking about...? You're just going to die... no matter what!? Even f I don't do anything...? That's not fair! This is all I've been living for... What was even the point then!?
Web Animation
"But if Bismarck had one great failing, one true tragedy to his life, it would be that he could not envision a world without Bismarck. At least, not until it was far too late. And so all of this effort, all of this work he did to ensure a strong but peaceful future for Germany, would wash away in other leaders' hands. Feeding directly into the looming catastrophe of 1914."
— Extra Credits on the life of Otto von Bismarck
"You mean I got gonorrhea in my mouth from eating Princess Potato for nothing?!"
Web Video
Woolie: Oh man, speaking of losing everything? Gyro's main reason for entering the race and doing the whole thing is 'cuz he's fighting to save a child that's wrongfully sentenced to die, and if he wins the race he can probably save the child.
Pat: Alright.
Woolie: So the whole thing goes down and eventually the boy gets acquitted because "Yay, the good guys win"... and then a single panel with a picture of the boy's face says "And then he died of a cold".
(Beat, Pat starts screaming and laughing in disbelief)
Woolie: It is the single coldest - pun intended - harshest, most fucking unbelievable thing Araki has done.
Pat: That's... Okay, so I have just invented a term in my mind for this, and we will find other ways to use this term, and it's called "Arc Nullification". And you can immediately think of other things!
Woolie: Yeah, absolutely!
Pat: It's where a single line of dialogue, or a single event or whatever, completely nullifies every event and every character growth and everything that happened in an arc.
Woolie: Like, it's a single panel and it's just a cute little picture of the boy's face, and it's just like "And then he eventually died of a cold". And that's all you get. It is unbelievable.
Pat: Alright.
Woolie: So the whole thing goes down and eventually the boy gets acquitted because "Yay, the good guys win"... and then a single panel with a picture of the boy's face says "And then he died of a cold".
(Beat, Pat starts screaming and laughing in disbelief)
Woolie: It is the single coldest - pun intended - harshest, most fucking unbelievable thing Araki has done.
Pat: That's... Okay, so I have just invented a term in my mind for this, and we will find other ways to use this term, and it's called "Arc Nullification". And you can immediately think of other things!
Woolie: Yeah, absolutely!
Pat: It's where a single line of dialogue, or a single event or whatever, completely nullifies every event and every character growth and everything that happened in an arc.
Woolie: Like, it's a single panel and it's just a cute little picture of the boy's face, and it's just like "And then he eventually died of a cold". And that's all you get. It is unbelievable.
Western Animation
Willow: Oh, thorns.
Luz: What happened?
Willow: She caught the Rusty Smidge.
Luz: The what?
Boscha: Yeah, while you were celebrating your victory, I caught this guy. It means we automatically win. All magic sports are like this.
Luz: That just invalidates ALL our efforts. If catching that thing is so important, why do anything else? There's NO reason to watch ANY of the other players! THAT'S SUCH A STUPID RULE!
Luz: What happened?
Willow: She caught the Rusty Smidge.
Luz: The what?
Boscha: Yeah, while you were celebrating your victory, I caught this guy. It means we automatically win. All magic sports are like this.
Luz: That just invalidates ALL our efforts. If catching that thing is so important, why do anything else? There's NO reason to watch ANY of the other players! THAT'S SUCH A STUPID RULE!
— The Owl House, "Wing It Like Witches"
Stan: Dude, so my vote didn't even really matter!
Randy: Hey, that's not true, Stan.
Sharon: You can't judge the merits of voting on whether or not your candidate won.
Randy: Your vote still mattered.
Mr. Garrison: [bursts in] Hey everybody! They just found all the PETA members murdered at their compound!
Mr. Mackey: What the? They're all dead? Well, that means...
Clyde: That we can go back to being the South Park Cows!
[everyone cheers]
Randy: Now your vote didn't matter.
Randy: Hey, that's not true, Stan.
Sharon: You can't judge the merits of voting on whether or not your candidate won.
Randy: Your vote still mattered.
Mr. Garrison: [bursts in] Hey everybody! They just found all the PETA members murdered at their compound!
Mr. Mackey: What the? They're all dead? Well, that means...
Clyde: That we can go back to being the South Park Cows!
[everyone cheers]
Randy: Now your vote didn't matter.
— South Park, "Douche and Turd"
Diane: Princess Carolyn, wait! I understand. You're trying to be helpful, in your own pushy, self-absorbed way.
Princess Carolyn: Oh, thank you.
Diane: But I don't want to write a middle-grade fiction detective series.
Princess Carolyn: I think you do, though. Because when I was reading it, I could tell you were having fun.
Diane: Yeah, but I'm not writing a book to "have fun". If I don't write my book of essays now, I never will!
Princess Carolyn: So? Don't write your book of essays.
Diane: I have to!
Princess Carolyn: Why?
Diane: Because if I don't, that means that all the damage I got isn't good damage. It's just damage. I have gotten nothing out of it, and all those years I was miserable was for nothing. I could have been happy this whole time, and written books about girl detectives, and been cheerful, and popular, and had good parents! Is that what you're saying?! What was it all for?!
Princess Carolyn: I... I don't know, Diane. All I know is that this book about the girl detective is fun. I liked it. I like thinking that my daughter could grow up in a world with books like that. Or, if my daughter's not a reader, a lucrative film adaptation.
Diane: When I was a little girl, I thought that everything, all the abuse and neglect, it somehow made me special. And I decided that, one day, I would write something that would make little girls like me feel less alone. And if I can't write that book...
Princess Carolyn: Then... Then maybe write this other book. Maybe this book does that, too.
Diane: Yeah?
Princess Carolyn: [nods her head]
Princess Carolyn: Oh, thank you.
Diane: But I don't want to write a middle-grade fiction detective series.
Princess Carolyn: I think you do, though. Because when I was reading it, I could tell you were having fun.
Diane: Yeah, but I'm not writing a book to "have fun". If I don't write my book of essays now, I never will!
Princess Carolyn: So? Don't write your book of essays.
Diane: I have to!
Princess Carolyn: Why?
Diane: Because if I don't, that means that all the damage I got isn't good damage. It's just damage. I have gotten nothing out of it, and all those years I was miserable was for nothing. I could have been happy this whole time, and written books about girl detectives, and been cheerful, and popular, and had good parents! Is that what you're saying?! What was it all for?!
Princess Carolyn: I... I don't know, Diane. All I know is that this book about the girl detective is fun. I liked it. I like thinking that my daughter could grow up in a world with books like that. Or, if my daughter's not a reader, a lucrative film adaptation.
Diane: When I was a little girl, I thought that everything, all the abuse and neglect, it somehow made me special. And I decided that, one day, I would write something that would make little girls like me feel less alone. And if I can't write that book...
Princess Carolyn: Then... Then maybe write this other book. Maybe this book does that, too.
Diane: Yeah?
Princess Carolyn: [nods her head]
— BoJack Horseman, "Good Damage"
Sh'Okanabo: This is impossible! The Kanabo have thrived before on countless planets under countless suns.
Viral: Not impossible, Dread Lord. Merely improbable. Analysis indicates that the unique wavelength of this planet's solar radiation's focus through its unusually oxygenated atmosphere has a dire effect on the emerging symbiosis. In other words...
Sh'Okanabo All my efforts have been in vain! The Kanabo cannot survive on Earth. [angrily roars as he tosses things around in his lair]
Viral: Not impossible, Dread Lord. Merely improbable. Analysis indicates that the unique wavelength of this planet's solar radiation's focus through its unusually oxygenated atmosphere has a dire effect on the emerging symbiosis. In other words...
Sh'Okanabo All my efforts have been in vain! The Kanabo cannot survive on Earth. [angrily roars as he tosses things around in his lair]
"All the Wakfu gathered in 200 years... FOR TWENTY MISERABLE MINUTES!?"
— Nox, Wakfu, "Mount Zinit"
Princess Toadstool: Guys, you've been tricked! This race was one of Koopa's traps!
Toad: Yeah! The bill collector after my mushroom hide was just a phony.
Luigi: You mean, I risked my neck for nothing?!
Mario: You mean, I wasted my tomato sauce?
Toad: Yeah! The bill collector after my mushroom hide was just a phony.
Luigi: You mean, I risked my neck for nothing?!
Mario: You mean, I wasted my tomato sauce?
— The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, "The Great BMX Race"
Finn: Shoot, man! Looks like everyone here is crazy dead.
Pudding Troll: I've been guarding dead people for five-hundred years. Wow, I need to sit with that.
Pudding Troll: I've been guarding dead people for five-hundred years. Wow, I need to sit with that.
— Adventure Time, "Bleanas"
Real Life
"This too shall pass."
— Phrase on the ring of King Solomon, according to legend
"The ends can justify the means, but there needs to be something which justifies the ends."
