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Anime & Manga
Yes we are!!
We decide which order we go with Rock-Paper-Scissors,
Since that's nice and fair
Warriors are fair
You'd better remember that
We decide which order we go with Rock-Paper-Scissors,
Since that's nice and fair
Warriors are fair
You'd better remember that
Look at them. Can you not hear their souls crying out?! You abandoned them! Your real family! You threw them away like trash. Fool. If you turned your back on something you wanted, YOU DON’T DESERVE TO CALL YOURSELF "GREED"!
— Ling Yao, Fullmetal Alchemist
Greed: Oh man, she's a peach! Sounds like she wants everything. My kinda girl.
Ed: That kind of wanting is dangerous. It's not how reality works. (lifts automail arm) Take a look. This is what I got for wanting something unrealistic.
Greed: I disagree. You want to bring back someone that you've lost. You might want money. Maybe you want women. Or... you might want to protect the world. These are all common things people want; things that their hearts desire. Greed may not be good, but it's not so bad, either. You humans think greed is just for money and power, but everyone wants something they don't have.
Ed: That kind of wanting is dangerous. It's not how reality works. (lifts automail arm) Take a look. This is what I got for wanting something unrealistic.
Greed: I disagree. You want to bring back someone that you've lost. You might want money. Maybe you want women. Or... you might want to protect the world. These are all common things people want; things that their hearts desire. Greed may not be good, but it's not so bad, either. You humans think greed is just for money and power, but everyone wants something they don't have.
Comic Books
The Penguin: You're new here, Grant, so let me explain. Here we believe that being a criminal is no excuse not to try to improve yourself. So, every day we each learn a new word. Because, as we all know...
Gang: (in unison) Money can't buy ya class.
Gang: (in unison) Money can't buy ya class.
Fanfiction
They were without honor, without mercy, and beyond redemption. The Arcosian people value honor above all else, my son. If a being proves to be without honor, or integrity, if they choose to make themselves our enemies... Then they will know only a cold death.
— Queen Arctriza, Frigid Future
It had always been about Shendu. What he wanted, he did his best to get, no matter who else was in his way. On one hand, Valerie secretly admired his determination. Yet on the other, she wished he didn't do it to disregard others and their welfare. Perhaps if he hadn't, things wouldn't be so tense between them.
Films - Animated
Megamind... I don't even know if you're listening, but if you are, you can't give up! The Megamind I know would never run from a fight even if he knew he had absolutely no chance of winning! It was your best quality.
—Roxanne Richie, being held hostage by Hal, Megamind
Films - Live-Action
You’re strong — me... You’re generous — me... But I never taught you to lie. That’s why you’re so bad at it.
— Thanos, Avengers: Infinity War
"You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues: Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. As I read the list, I knew I had none of them. But I have other virtues, father. Ambition. That can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness, Courage - perhaps not on the battlefield, but... there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family and to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. "
— Commodus in Gladiator
Money cannot buy... the honor that you have earned tonight. You make us all proud. Only Effort. Discipline. Loyalty...earn the right to wear the dragon dogi. You are here because the outside world rejects you. This is your family! I am your father! I want you all to become full members...of the Foot.
— The Shredder, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Literature
Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.
In the bed of the forest grow many vines. They seek the light and climb great trees to reach the fresh, free air. Some "foolish" vines, as it were, may even grow so thickly as to kill their trees and bring them crashing down; and so destroy themselves. You've seen that, I'm sure. But others simply use the great trunks of their hosts; they share the earth and the air and the light between them; they live out their lives together. Indeed, some vines are beneficial to their host trees. Ah, but then comes the drought. The trees wither, blacken, crumble, and the forest is no more. But down in the fertile earth, the vines live on, waiting. Aye and when the trees grow in fifty, a hundred years, back come the vines to climb again towards the light. Who is the stronger: the tree for his girth and sturdy branches, or the slender, insubstantial vine for his patience? If patience is a virtue, Thibor of Wallachia, then the Wamphyiri are virtuous as all the ages...
—Faethor Ferenczy, Necroscope II: Wamphyri
Your mistake, Queen of Blades, is in thinking that virtue is the province of Good. Every Tyrant who has ever claimed the Tower, every fool and every madman, had the seed of greatness in them. Courage, cleverness, ambition, will. We may lose our way, we may lose ourselves, but every time we get… a little closer. You think I am afraid of death? I am a droplet in the tide that will drown Creation. I take pride in this, even in my hour of failure. Empresses rise, Empresses fall. But the Tower? Oh, the Tower endures.
— Dread Empress Regalia the First, A Practical Guide to Evil
To be greatly and effectively wicked a man needs some virtue. What would Attila have been without his courage, or Shylock without self-denial as regards the flesh?
“When your laboratory explodes, lacing your body with a supercharged elixir, what do you do? You don't just lie there. You crawl out of the rubble, hideously scarred, and swear vengeance on the world. You keep going. You keep trying to take over the world.”
— Doctor Impossible, Soon I Will Be Invincible
Live-Action TV
"No one ever accused you of being lazy. Every other sin in the book, but not that one."
— Chuck McGill to Jimmy McGill, Better Call Saul
Radio
You can't bribe me! Satan is incorruptible! ...Weird as that may sound.
— Satan to an oligarch trying to bribe his way out of Hell, Old Harry's Game
Video Games
Sonic: "I can't figure you out. One second you're contemplating genocide, and the next, you're saving one of your worst enemies!"
Eggman: "I'm a complicated guy."
Eggman: "I'm a complicated guy."
"Feelins? Look mate, you know who has a lot of 'feelings' — blokes what bludgeon their wife to death with a golf trophy. Professionals have standards: Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
Webcomics
"It is a blasphemous thing of the Heterodynes! ... And the Heterodynes looked after their own!"
— Brother Ulm explaining why he thinks Agatha Heterodyne released the Beast, in Girl Genius (Vol. 14 p. 86)
)"Struggle is all there is. Want and struggle are the twin essences of existence, and to rest is death. You are a mercurial fighter, quick of finger; you hate stagnation and thirst terribly for power. You accept the world not as it is but seek greater shapes beyond, and strive fiercely to carve it to your will with the dread instruments of hunger. For this you are my strongest disciple."
— Top God YISUN to Pree Ashma, Kill Six Billion Demons
Yoda: Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger.
Anakin: But anger leads to passion.
Yoda: Passion leads to jealousy.
Anakin: Jealousy leads to nurturing.
Yoda: Nurturing leads to weakness.
Anakin: Weakness leads to humility.
Yoda: Humility leads to injustice.
Anakin: Injustice leads to heroism.
Yoda: Heroism leads to pride.
Anakin: Pride leads to patriotism.
Yoda: Patriotism leads to totalitarianism.
Anakin: Totalitarianism leads to power.
Anakin: But anger leads to passion.
Yoda: Passion leads to jealousy.
Anakin: Jealousy leads to nurturing.
Yoda: Nurturing leads to weakness.
Anakin: Weakness leads to humility.
Yoda: Humility leads to injustice.
Anakin: Injustice leads to heroism.
Yoda: Heroism leads to pride.
Anakin: Pride leads to patriotism.
Yoda: Patriotism leads to totalitarianism.
Anakin: Totalitarianism leads to power.
Web Video
The theme of loyalty, especially among the forces of evil, seemed to be a major factor. Individual monsters and generals expressed individual fealty towards their leader far more so than in previous series, with the exception of Ecliptor, though his loyalty was more about fatherly love. Most villains seemed dedicated to a wider range of emotions and priorities than just straight up evil.
Western Animation
Alistair Smythe: [referring to the Hobgoblin] "He'll be the ruin of us. He's devious, a liar, and entirely too ambitious."
The Kingpin: "Exactly. Those are the qualities one needs in order to advance in this enterprise. He reminds me of myself as a young man. Perhaps I'll train him as my protégé."
The Kingpin: "Exactly. Those are the qualities one needs in order to advance in this enterprise. He reminds me of myself as a young man. Perhaps I'll train him as my protégé."
No one is perfect, Starscream, but like his departed twin, Dreadwing understands honor.
— Megatron, Transformers: Prime
Real Life
The followers of a robber asked: 'Do robbers have morals or not?' Answered he: 'Why do you say they have no morals? By sagacity they calculate what treasures lie hidden in a house, by courage they go first into danger, by justice they leave last, by wisdom they know whether or not a hit can succeed, and by kindness they split the spoils.
—Zhuang Zi, On Thievery
Psychopaths have a lot of good things going for them. They are fearless, confident, charismatic, ruthless and focused - qualities tailor-made for success in twenty-first century society.
— Kevin Dutton, The Wisdom of Psychopaths
