Quotes / Death of a Thousand Cuts

Comic Books

"At this speed, I could punch him a thousand times before he can react. But at this speed, once is more than enough."

— Flash, Justice League of America

Fan Works

"As General Iroh's siege of Ba Sing Se was the talk of the nation at the time their teacher had posed a hypothetical scenario to the class about how they would go about breaching the legendary walls. Most of the class had offered uninspired answers: siege towers, underground tunnels, or even firing soldiers over the wall via catapults. But when it was Tanya's turn the little blonde girl had launched into a twenty minute pitch on not just how to breach the walls, but also claim and hold the entire outer section of the city. She advocated sending raiding parties out across the surrounding lands to burn every village in the province to the ground: notably not killing anyone, but giving the survivors the barest amount of supplies necessary for them to make the journey to Ba Sing Se. By flooding the city with refugees, she reasoned, Ba Sing Se's government would be incapable of properly handling the logistics needed to provide them all with food and shelter, leading to a growing sense of discontentment as the city clogged up with people and more refugees turned to crime in order to survive. If an uprising didn't naturally occur within the six weeks, spies could be snuck in amongst the refugees with orders to burn the food stores. Once the uprising began many soldiers posted on the outer walls would have to be pulled back to help deal with it, leaving the wall undermanned for a mass incursion via siege ladders."

— The Saga Of Tanya The Firebender

Film — Animated

"Death by a thousand cuts, Tiger. I'll have that card by number 10."

— Professor Zoom, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay

Literature

Go ahead, draw your sword! We will see who dies from a thousand tiny cuts!

— Toot-Toot, Changes

"I wonder how many of these little cuts it will take to kill you. Thousands and thousands, I bet."

— Yana Savari, Fingerprints

"Killing a hero, in Amadeus's experience, was like peeling an onion. Layer by layer it went, until all that remained was the weeping."

— A Practical Guide to Evil

"If you can't hit me with big attacks, there's no point in fighting. However... small attacks can hurt when they're repeated several times!"

— Xellos, Slayers

Live-Action TV

Garibaldi: These PPG's don't do much more than sting it. Prowls around hurt for a while and comes back stronger.
Sheridan: Well, one bee sting may be an annoyance, but a hundred of them can kill you.

— Babylon 5, "The Long Dark"

"If one hit isn't enough, then hit him 10 times! If that's still not enough, then hit him 100 times! Keep at it until your enemy is completely pulverized."

— Shroud, Kamen Rider Double

Music

The first cut won't hurt at all.
The second only makes you wonder.
The third will have you on your knees.
You start bleeding, I start screaming...

— Propaganda, "Duel"

Tabletop Games

"Never underestimate the power of overwhelming stupidity in overwhelming numbers."

— Goblin token flavor text, Magic: The Gathering

"The Legionnaire that scoffs at a lasgun has not charged across an open field against a hundred of them."

— Maor the Scarred, Siege-Champion of the Skargiven, Warhammer 40,000: Black Crusade

Video Games

While not particularly harmful towards dwarves, it is nonetheless recommended to stay at range or take the hive out with sustained fire. Deadly or not, being bitten and stung by 100.000 creatures at the same time is never fun.

— Miner's Manual on the Deeptora Honeycomb, Deep Rock Galactic

"If one is an annoyance then a hundred is a threat."

— Karui proverb/Flavor Text for "Quill Rain", Path of Exile

"These twin machine guns are all about quantity over quality. The individual blasts don't do much damage, but they offer a great rate of fire."

— The instruction manual of Ratchet: Deadlocked, in reference to the Dual Vipers.

"If it's alive, it can die, so let's hit it till it does. As many times as it takes."

— Cloud Strife faces off against Supraltima Weapon, World of Final Fantasy.

"Perhaps one is weak. To be ignored. Perhaps two are not much better. But what of five? Ten? Twenty?..."

— Description for the Cluster weapon, Wynncraft

Webcomics

"Fight his arm. Win. Then fight his leg. Fight him piece by piece 'til he's all defeated."

— The Swordmaster, Oglaf

Web Video

"The Dual Blades have some of the lowest damage per hit, but fortunately they hit frequently, which allows you to take advantage of monsters' elemental weaknesses. Except you won't do it nearly as well as the Sword & Shield, because they're inferior in every way."

— A Crap Guide To Monster Hunter: World - The Dual Blades

Miscellaneous

"He who fears not the death of a thousand cuts will dare to unhorse the emperor."

— Chinese proverb

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