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Anime and Manga
When will you fools learn that there are no battles fought by heroes?
— Talpa, Ronin Warriors
Comic Books
Ex-President "The Beast": My job is to keep the majority of the people in this country alive. That's it. If fifty-one percent eat a meal tomorrow and forty-nine percent don't, I’ve done my job.
President Garry "The Smiler" Callahan: I wanted to be the President so I could fuck with people!
President Garry "The Smiler" Callahan: I wanted to be the President so I could fuck with people!
Film — Live-Action
"What do you call assassins who accuse assassins?"
— Kurtz to Willard, Apocalypse Now
Megan: Wait! You're my hero!
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.
— Deadpool
Phyllis: We're both rotten.
Walter Neff: Only you're a little more rotten.
Walter Neff: Only you're a little more rotten.
"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?"
— Budd, Kill Bill
Ward: Just don't lose sight of whose rights are being violated!
Anderson: Don't put me on your perch, Mr. Ward.
Ward: Don't drag me into your gutter, Mr. Anderson!
Anderson: These people are crawling out of the SEWER, MR. WARD! Maybe the gutter's where we outta be!
Michael Sullivan: He murdered Annie and Peter!
John Rooney: There are only murderers in this room! Michael! Open your eyes! This is the life we chose, the life we lead. And there is only one guarantee - none of us will see heaven.
Michael Sullivan: Michael could.
John Rooney: Then do everything that you can to see that that happens.
John Rooney: There are only murderers in this room! Michael! Open your eyes! This is the life we chose, the life we lead. And there is only one guarantee - none of us will see heaven.
Michael Sullivan: Michael could.
John Rooney: Then do everything that you can to see that that happens.
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 you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, 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, 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.
Will Munny: It's a hell of a thing, ain't it, killin' a man. You take everything he's got... and everything he's ever gonna have...
The Schofield Kid: Well, I guess they had it... comin'.
Will Munny: We all got it comin', Kid.
The Schofield Kid: Well, I guess they had it... comin'.
Will Munny: We all got it comin', Kid.
Literature
"The world isn’t black and white, obviously, but once grey goes to a dark enough shade the difference is largely opinion."
— Mina Davis, Asshole Yakuza Boyfriend
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 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."
But he also had to adapt his teachings to some who were 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 "The Divine Fire
" note
" 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, Guards! Guards!
"The Choice between Good and Bad is not a matter of saying 'Good!' It is about deciding which is which."
— The Lord of Dark, The Sword of Good
"It is the logic of our times,
No subject for immortal verse -
That we who lived by honest dreams
Defend the bad against the worse."
No subject for immortal verse -
That we who lived by honest dreams
Defend the bad against the worse."
— Poet and World War II Propagandist C. Day Lewis, "Where are the War Poets?"
Legend: So where do you stand, then? Where do you see yourself in terms of the sliding scale of good and evil, heroes and villains?
Skitter: All of the above? None of the above? Does it matter? Some of us wear the villain label with pride, because they want to rebel against the norms, because it’s a harder, more rewarding road to travel, or because being a ‘hero’ often means so very little. But few people really want to see themselves as being bad or evil, whatever label they wear.
Skitter: All of the above? None of the above? Does it matter? Some of us wear the villain label with pride, because they want to rebel against the norms, because it’s a harder, more rewarding road to travel, or because being a ‘hero’ often means so very little. But few people really want to see themselves as being bad or evil, whatever label they wear.
Live-Action TV
Ah, finally, the ultimate showdown between vaguely-evil and somewhat-ambiguous!
— Tom Servo, Mystery Science Theater 3000: ''Escape 2000'
I think her bad guys are badder than my bad guys.
— Echo, Dollhouse
Emma: I thought our family were the good guys.
Regina: Life is too messy for it to ever be that simple.
Regina: Life is too messy for it to ever be that simple.
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.
— Capt. Benjamin Sisko, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Waltz"
Vila: Where are all the good guys?
Blake: You could be looking at them.
Avon: What a very depressing thought.
— Blake's 7, "Shadow"
Music
"Shadow and shade mix together at dawn
But by the time you catch them simplicity's gone."
But by the time you catch them simplicity's gone."
—"Hero", David Crosby
Tabletop Games
There is no such thing as innocence — only degrees of guilt.
The Technocracy may wish to remake the world in its own sterile image, but at least at the end of the process there'd be a world left. The Traditions may squabble among themselves, but they squabble about what to do with the world - not how best to destroy it. The Marauders may be mad, but destruction is incidental to their attempts to create a more comfortable reality for themselves. The Nephandi, by doing the will of their Dark Masters, would destroy all - and they're cheerfully unapologetic about it.
—Mage: The Ascension - The Book Of Madness
Video Games
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.
— Max Payne, Max Payne
"Evil is evil - lesser, greater, middling, makes no difference. The degree is arbitrary. The definition is blurred. If I'm to choose between one evil and another, I'd rather not choose at all."
— Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Killing Monsters trailer
"It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Gray... I don't know what to do with gray."
— Garrus Vakarian, Mass Effect
"I'm a villain, but I'm not a demon. You must know that real demons actually roam this world."
— Raven, Honkai Impact 3rd
Web Original
"Dark Billy, I am aware that there is no such thing as a good man. There only people from those with glaring moral flaws brought into light out of desperation such as myself, to the psychotic, sadistic sort who lives for themselves such as you. I am also aware that war isn't about who is right, but who is left. Knowing this, may the battle between the desperate and the horrible commence."
-Dark Elliot/Elliot Sigma, HGS: Convergence
"You've done horrible, awful things while working for the Foundation — don't try to deny it, Doctor. We've all done horrible awful things while working for the Foundation. That is one of the unavoidable consequences of working with SCPs. And on occasion, you've wondered if we are the, quote unquote, bad guys. Well... we're not. And that is because of the Ethics Committee. This is your first lesson. Do you understand?
Remember this: the Foundation is not evil. We do not torture people "just because". We are against unnecessary cruelty. Which means somebody has to decide when cruelty is necessary. And that somebody is us.
Stop trembling. It is important that you remember this. It is your second lesson. The Foundation does not rule the world. The Foundation serves the world. Do you understand what that means? Regardless of what the general population might think it wants, what we do, what the Foundation does, is in the overall best interests of that general population. Yes, I'm sure you did realize that already... but you haven't thought of the deeper implications. You've consoled yourself by thinking that all the torture and murder is for the greater good. This implies that there is a greater good... and a lesser good. It implies that there are multiple distinct goods, and that these can be quantified and compared. This is what we on the Ethics Committee do."
Remember this: the Foundation is not evil. We do not torture people "just because". We are against unnecessary cruelty. Which means somebody has to decide when cruelty is necessary. And that somebody is us.
Stop trembling. It is important that you remember this. It is your second lesson. The Foundation does not rule the world. The Foundation serves the world. Do you understand what that means? Regardless of what the general population might think it wants, what we do, what the Foundation does, is in the overall best interests of that general population. Yes, I'm sure you did realize that already... but you haven't thought of the deeper implications. You've consoled yourself by thinking that all the torture and murder is for the greater good. This implies that there is a greater good... and a lesser good. It implies that there are multiple distinct goods, and that these can be quantified and compared. This is what we on the Ethics Committee do."
Web Video
If your "heroine" is a 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 nameless and faceless guards all the time, so what do you do? Make nearly everyone around her the most irredeemable fucksticks in the history of fucksticks.
— Bennett the Sage, on Elfen Lied
Real Life
Vice is punished, but virtue is not rewarded.
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.
— Graham Greene
Votez escroc, pas facho! [translation: Vote for the crook, not the fascist!]
—Campaign poster in the French presidential election of 2002, between Jacques Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen.
