Why give up?
Why give in?
It's not enough, it never is.
So I will go on until the end.
We've become desolate.
It's not enough, it never is.
But I will go on until the end.
Why give in?
It's not enough, it never is.
So I will go on until the end.
We've become desolate.
It's not enough, it never is.
But I will go on until the end.
— Breaking Benjamin, "Until the End"
When I was born I got my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck, both arms and one of my ankles. Mom said there came a point when the doctors stopped delivering me and just started laughing. I mean, if I ever let being bad at something stop me, I wouldn't even be here. That thing some men call 'failure', I call living, breakfast. And I'm not leaving till I've cleaned out the buffet.
— Pierce, Community, "Beginner Pottery"
The reason why I'm so useless. I try even though I know I can't do anything right. Even when I said I wouldn't try anymore, I kept on trying anyway.
— Miranda Lotto, D.Gray-Man
Vulcan Raven: It's clear now. Snake will kill me. That's why I can't see any further into the future. [...] If I must die I will face it with peace in my heart rather than bitter rebellion.
Sprit Guide:...you're still going to fight Snake though, right?
Vulcan Raven: Oh hell yes.
Sprit Guide:...you're still going to fight Snake though, right?
Vulcan Raven: Oh hell yes.
Certainty of death? Small chance of success? ...What are we waiting for?
You might be bad at everything you try, but at least you're turning out to be pretty bad at giving up.
— Katia, Prequel
She fights even though there is no hope.
— Kyubey, on Homura, Puella Magi Madoka Magica
In the sweetest child there's a vicious streak
In the strongest man there's a child so weak
In the whole wide world there's no magic place
So you might as well rise, put on your bravest face
In the strongest man there's a child so weak
In the whole wide world there's no magic place
So you might as well rise, put on your bravest face
— Rush, "Bravest Face"
There's a vulture on my shoulder
And he's telling me to give in
Always hissing right in my ear
Like it's coming from my own head
It's got me mixed up
Trying not to give up
Tell me there's a way to get out of here
Fixed at zero.
And he's telling me to give in
Always hissing right in my ear
Like it's coming from my own head
It's got me mixed up
Trying not to give up
Tell me there's a way to get out of here
Fixed at zero.
— Versaemerge, "Fixed At Zero"
What is your duty? To look the universe in the face and then spit in its eye. To die with a curse on your lips and your finger on the trigger. To know that you are doomed, but try anyway.
A trifling victory... but a victory nonetheless.
— The Ancestor, Darkest Dungeon
Winning? Is that what you think it's about? I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because — because I wanna blame someone! It's not because it's fun. God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works because it hardly ever does! I do what I do because it's RIGHT! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind! It's just that... Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, you know, maybe there's no point in any of this at all. But it's the best I can do, so I'm gonna do it. And I will stand here doing it 'till it kills me. You're going to die too! Some day... And how will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand... is where I fall.
— The Twelfth Doctor, Doctor Who, "The Doctor Falls"
Fighting the Machine is like fighting the ocean. You literally cannot hurt it. Doesn’t matter how much poison we dump into the ocean. We’ll only kill the things in it. We’ll never kill it. Same with the God-Machine. Kill angels, traitors, stigmatics, cultists, cryptids, whatever, you’ll never hurt the Machine Itself. No, that doesn’t mean we stop trying. You stop trying, you drown. Screw that.
— Mr. Bliss, Guardian Inquisitor, as found in the Night Horrors: Enemy Action sourcebook for Demon: The Descent
You know you're smarter than gamers who beat you regularly. You lose games you should win, not deliberately, but stubbornly. You're playing the game at a different level. Not trying to win, trying to win with kindness. Altruism.
Anyway, we have any number of brilliant scientists, brilliant analysts, brilliant communicators, brilliant theoreticians, brilliant physicists, brilliant techs, and brilliant astronomers on board the MCQ3. I asked myself what we didn't have, and the answer came to me. We had no brilliant losers.
—Lackofa, to Toomin, Animorphs - The Ellimist Chronicles
Can there be a day beyond this night?
I don't know anymore what is true
I can't find my direction, I'm all alone
The only star that guided me was you
How to rise from the floor
When it's not you I'm rising for?
Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing
I don't know anymore what is true
I can't find my direction, I'm all alone
The only star that guided me was you
How to rise from the floor
When it's not you I'm rising for?
Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing
—Princess Anna, "The Next Right Thing" Frozen II
Cold: the air and water flowing
Hard: the land we call our home
Push to keep the dark from coming
Feel the weight of what we owe
This: the song of sons and daughters
Hide the heart of who we are
Making peace to build our future
Strong, united, working 'till we fall
Cold: the air and water flowing
Hard: the land we call our home
Push to keep the dark from coming
Feel the weight of what we owe
This: the song of sons and daughters
Hide the heart of who we are
Making peace to build our future
Strong, united, working 'till we fall
And we all lift
And we're all adrift together, together
Through the cold mist
'Till we're lifeless together, together
Hard: the land we call our home
Push to keep the dark from coming
Feel the weight of what we owe
This: the song of sons and daughters
Hide the heart of who we are
Making peace to build our future
Strong, united, working 'till we fall
Cold: the air and water flowing
Hard: the land we call our home
Push to keep the dark from coming
Feel the weight of what we owe
This: the song of sons and daughters
Hide the heart of who we are
Making peace to build our future
Strong, united, working 'till we fall
And we all lift
And we're all adrift together, together
Through the cold mist
'Till we're lifeless together, together
— Warframe, "We All Lift Together"
Hades: Why? Why do you keep showing up in spite of knowing that the outcome shall be just the same as how it always was?
Zagreus: Beats having to toil away under your overbearing supervision.
Vader: You would be wise to surrender.
Cal: Yeah. Probably.
Paul Sinha: When you do the tasks, Alex says you don't know how the others have done.
Joe Thomas: Quite right.
Paul: ... so I'm thinking, as long as I get sand into the bucket, then, at least some fuckwit's gonna disqualify himself.
Iain Stirling: [raising his hand] Er...guilty!
Paul: And then at least I can get two points.
Joe Thomas: Quite right.
Paul: ... so I'm thinking, as long as I get sand into the bucket, then, at least some fuckwit's gonna disqualify himself.
Iain Stirling: [raising his hand] Er...guilty!
Paul: And then at least I can get two points.
You know, we're just not reaching that guy.
— The Devil, discussing a guy cheerfully whistling while toiling away in Hell, The Far Side
"I know I can never defeat you, lobo, but I will never stop fighting for this life."
—Puss, to the Wolf/Death, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
"So concludes the life and times of King Sisyphus... a fitting end to an existence defined by a futile struggle. Doomed from the very start... and I don't regret a SECOND of it!"
—Sisyphus Prime, ULTRAKILL
