Quotes / Good Is Impotent

The Pope! How many divisions has he got?

—Joseph Stalin, when asked if the Vatican could counter the threat of Nazism

They say, 'Evil prevails when good men fail to act.' What they ought to say is, 'Evil prevails.'

— Yuri Orlov, Lord of War

Tails: Give me back my robot!
Eggman: ...Or what?
Tails: That's a fair question.

—Sonic Boom, "Translate This"

You can't even break rules. How could you be expected to break bones?

—Khan to Spock, Star Trek Into Darkness

You're probably a vegetarian aren't you, you big flop-haired wuss!

— Dream Lord, Doctor Who ("Amy's Choice")

Superman has morals. He has ethics. He is unrelentingly good. Because of that, I will win.

—Lex Luthor, Lois & Clark

You're one of a kind in this world—or others. And now, your misguided sense of altruism sends you to your doom. It's like watching Isaac Newton die in a house fire in a vain attempt to save his cat.

—Andrew Ryan, Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea

I have more respect for you, Mulder. You're becoming a player. You can kill me now, but you'll never know the truth... (Mulder removes his finger from the trigger)...and that's why I'll win. Don't worry. This'll be our secret.

—Cigarette Smoking Man, The X-Files ("One Breath")

Poor Sarah Essen, an amateur in No Man's Land. She confronts The Joker in Commissioner Gordon's office, which is crawling with babies. Dumb move: The Clown shoots her when she has no choice but to catch one.

—Topless Robot, "The Joker's 10 Craziest Kills"

It breaks my heart to see that Robert Beltran and Robert Duncan McNeill were chosen to face off with Kurtwood Smith's Annorax because they are two of the weakest performers in a mixed regular cast. McNeill makes Paris far too stubborn and don't get me started on Beltran's hero worship of their host! It's a shame because I think Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan (Seven would be able to see the logic in improving planets) would have done a much better job. As a result these scenes are pretty flat despite Smith's efforts to make them work.

—Doc Oho on Star Trek: Voyager, "Year Of Hell"

David: If I were Lex, Clark would scare the crap out of me.
Chris: Only until you saw him try and do something after three hours of deliberating and then immediately trip over one of the eight hundred thousand radioactive meteor rocks scattered around his farm.

—Smallvillains on Smallville ("Justice")

Magneto is, ostensibly, a bad guy, but he's also a guy who tries to break the Beast out of prison, not for his own gain, but because he's helping out a fellow mutant. It's a nice introduction to how he works, especially with the way he calls out Xavier for leaving his student to rot in jail. For his part, the Beast politely refuses the rescue, which does a nice job of representing Xavier's more pacifist views. Or, you know, as pacifist as you can be while still running an outlaw paramilitary strike force featuring a guy who with can punch you with a fist made of knives, but it still counts. Then again, with the way Beast's trial is going to end up going, it's not exactly a glowing recommendation for passive resistance.

—Chris Sims on X-Men: The Animated Series, "Enter Magneto"

"We're the good guys. We can't just do stuff."

—The Good Place

"Dammnit, why do people always have to choose between omnipotent evil and impotent good?"

—Timjer, Fundies Say the Darndest Things

"We can't do these things in the force."

Inspector Lestrade on Holmes breaking into a foreign spy's home to find proof of his actions, "The Second Stain"

"THE HARBINGER GUARDS IN VAIN."

—-The Iris on Harbinge Technologies, Gemini Home Entertainment.