Quotes / Broken Ace

Anime & Manga

"He might be talented, but he's still a child with problems."

— Maxime (about Elliot), Inazuma Eleven: Ares

Film — Animated

Sulley: Look, Mike, I know how you feel.
Mike: Don't do that! Please don't do that! You do not know how I feel!
Sulley: Mike, calm down.
Mike: Monsters like you have everything! You don't have to be "good"! You could mess up over and over again, and the whole world loves you!
Sulley: Mike...
Mike: You'll never know what it's like to fail, because you were born a Sullivan!
Sulley: Yeah, I'm a Sullivan! I'm the Sullivan who flunked every test! The one who got kicked out of the program! The one who is so afraid to let everyone down, that I cheated! ...And I lied! (sigh) Mike, I'll never know how you feel, but you're not the only failure here. I act scary, Mike. But most of the time... I'm terrified.

—Monsters University

Film — Live Action

"I'm Tony Stark. I build neat stuff, got a great girl, occasionally save the world. So why can't I sleep?"

—Tony Stark, Iron Man 3 trailer

Literature

Ziel: I will admit, I underestimated you all. You're freaks, and I say that with true admiration. I salute you. But you're all burning with ambition, and that fire went out of me years ago.
Eithan: It did, and it left behind a pile of ashes. But I can't help but look at those ashes and think, "What a blaze that must have been."

— Cradle Series: Reaper

"A natural athlete who barely had to try at games, he stopped trying at all. He scorned everything in this world, heaped contempt on it. He even ate less and less, as if a bite of shepherd's pie would trap him down here in the darkness, like Persephone. He lived for Fillory. But Fillory didn't live for him. In my later life I have known alcoholics, more than a few, and I recognized in their faces some of what I saw in Martin's. Loyal prophets of an indifferent god."

— Rupert Chatwin, The Magician's Land

Kaladin: You want too much of me. I'm not some glorious knight of ancient days. I'm a broken man. Do you hear me, Syl? I'm broken.
Syl: That's what they all were, silly.

— Words of Radiance (second book of The Stormlight Archive)

Live-Action TV

"I used to be picked first for everything. Earth Skills, Zero-G Mech course ... first, every time. So how the hell did I end up here?"

— Raven Reyes, The 100

"Now he knows I'm not some innocent lamb.
He sees me for what I am.
Which is a horrible, stupid, dumb
And ugly, fat and simple, self hating...
Biiiiiiiitch."

— Rebecca Bunch, "You Stupid Bitch." Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Nick Murdoch: That kid is eventually gonna die. Whether it's today, or tomorrow, or a month from now. There's nothing I can do. Nothing works. Now his parents want to talk to me, what am I supposed to tell them?! "Peter lived a good long seven years"? Seven years, man! ... [whispers] It's not fair. I hate this place, I hate this job. I can't do it anymore. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. [starts crying]
J.D.: [internal monologue] The scariest thing is I thought he was stronger than all of us.

— Scrubs

Music

"You're as bright as the sun
and as bold as the moon
I don't know when you'll break
but it's gonna be soon..."

— "Salt Skin" by Ellie Goulding

"You pretend what you say you feel
You pretend that you're something special
All the lies that you hide behind
I see right through you, see right through you
Paint it on, cover every inch
Any flaw will expose your weakness
I'm immune to your fantasy
I won't become you, won't become you..
You want a perfect, PERFECT LIFE
Nothing wrong, nothing real inside
All I see is a perfect lie.
I don't want your perfect life"

— "Perfect Life", Red

I'm in love with an angel who's afraid of the light
Her halo is broken but there's fight in her eyes...

— "Angel", Theory of a Deadman

"Everybody stares, as she goes by
'Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes
Watch her when she's lighting up the night
Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl
And it's a lonely world..."

— "Girl On Fire", 'Alicia Keys

"She's a dancer on the glass
That's broken like her past
She would never flee..."

— "Dancer", by Xandria

"I am a saint
An icon made of plastic and self-contempt
Tortured by the desperate need to be loved by you"

— "Ghost Royale", by Rave the Reqviem

Video Games

"Legendary Guardian? I was a boy, a boy about your age, actually. I wanted to change the world too, but I changed nothing. That, is my story."

— Auron, Final Fantasy X

Tabletop Games

"The Emperor was a brilliant scientist, a powerful warrior, and great psyker, but he was a terrible father..."

— Roboute Guilliman on the God Emperor of Mankind, Warhammer 40,000

Web Animation

"Azula is a terrifying weapon of war, but she's also a lonely 14-year-old with a ton of issues and no concept of healthy social relationships."

— Red, Overly Sarcastic Productions "Trope Talk: Evil Minions"

Western Animation

Wanda: Every good thing that ever happened to you happened because of network executives like me. That show you spend all day watching, your house, your career —

BoJack: Great house, great career, great life! That must be why I'm so goddamn happy all the time! You don't know —

— Bojack Horseman, "Yes And"

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