"When you're pushed, killing's as easy as breathing."
— John J. Rambo, Rambo IV
Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he sings at grave-making?
Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
Lara: I killed some of them.
Roth: That can't have been easy.
Lara: It's scary just how easy it was.
Roth: That can't have been easy.
Lara: It's scary just how easy it was.
Mike Toreno: Look, I spoke to the big man. You've got clearance to eliminate these fuckers. How's that?
Carl "C.J." Johnson: Man, kill Government agents?!
Toreno: Kill, schmill... C'mon, don't look at it that way, will ya? Think of it as pest control. It works for me!
Carl "C.J." Johnson: Man, kill Government agents?!
Toreno: Kill, schmill... C'mon, don't look at it that way, will ya? Think of it as pest control. It works for me!
Mizo: You have a habit of leaving people to die, don't you?
Jak: You get used to it.
(Jak walks away as Mizo's car explodes)
Jak: You get used to it.
(Jak walks away as Mizo's car explodes)
"With every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel."
— Capt. Miller, Saving Private Ryan
"So what's that make? Twelve, fifteen counts of Self-Defense With An Automatic Weapon? I'm losing count, and I don't think the cops are going to buy it. I better just keep quiet about this when I get out. I'll have to fight my urges to brag about it when I get a new job."
"Just. Gets. Easier."
— Guardian Medivh (possessed by Sargeras), Warcraft: The Last Guardian
Dryden: How did he die?
Bond: Your contact? Not well.
Dryden: Made you feel it, did he? Well, you needn't worry. The second is—
Bond: [Shoots Dryden] Yes. Considerably.
Bond: Your contact? Not well.
Dryden: Made you feel it, did he? Well, you needn't worry. The second is—
Bond: [Shoots Dryden] Yes. Considerably.
"You know the first time, the first time you do it? You're scared. Blood's pumping. Your head's going a hundred miles an hour. You feel such power and strength. And after you get that feeling, you just want to do it again and again. It's like a drug. Each time it gets a little easier. First girl, I couldn't look in her eyes. I had to turn away, but now, it is so fucking routine. I can look right at you, I can stare right through you, and I can pull this fucking trigger."
— Jack Carter, The Hitchhiker
"Unfortunately, killing is just one of those things that gets easier the more you do it."
— Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid
"I don't enjoy killing, but when done righteously, it's a chore like any other. And practiced hands make for quick labor."
—Joshua Graham, Fallout: New Vegas
"Now if you have a taste for this experience
And you're flushed with your very first success
Then you must try a twosome or a threesome
And you'll find your conscience bothers you much less
Because murder is like anything you take to
It's a habit-forming need for more and more
You can bump off every member of your family
And anybody else you find a bore"
And you're flushed with your very first success
Then you must try a twosome or a threesome
And you'll find your conscience bothers you much less
Because murder is like anything you take to
It's a habit-forming need for more and more
You can bump off every member of your family
And anybody else you find a bore"
— The Police, "Murder by Numbers"
Capt. Kanril Eleya: At ease. This your first time in a real fight?
Ens. Arak Esplin: Yes, ma'am.
Eleya: How are you feeling?
Esplin: Ma'am?
Eleya: Yes, I'm serious.
Esplin: During the fight, I was scared.
Eleya: And now?
Esplin: Numb, ma’am. How am I supposed to feel? I just killed people.
Cdr. Tess Phohl: No, you didn’t; I did, but that’s not important right now. You’re feeling about what the skipper and me expected. Right, ma’am?
Eleya: (nods, puts hand on Esplin's shoulder) You’ll be fine. I’m not going to rely on cliché here: the first battle isn’t the hardest, it’s just the first. And frankly, as pathetic as that one was, I guarantee the next will be harder. You do your job and work with your crewmates and you get through. The rest is up to the Prophets.
Ens. Arak Esplin: Yes, ma'am.
Eleya: How are you feeling?
Esplin: Ma'am?
Eleya: Yes, I'm serious.
Esplin: During the fight, I was scared.
Eleya: And now?
Esplin: Numb, ma’am. How am I supposed to feel? I just killed people.
Cdr. Tess Phohl: No, you didn’t; I did, but that’s not important right now. You’re feeling about what the skipper and me expected. Right, ma’am?
Eleya: (nods, puts hand on Esplin's shoulder) You’ll be fine. I’m not going to rely on cliché here: the first battle isn’t the hardest, it’s just the first. And frankly, as pathetic as that one was, I guarantee the next will be harder. You do your job and work with your crewmates and you get through. The rest is up to the Prophets.
(If you choose to Mercy Kill Cornelius Slate)
Elizabeth: Do you ever get used to it? The killing?
Booker DeWitt: Faster than you can imagine.
Elizabeth: Do you ever get used to it? The killing?
Booker DeWitt: Faster than you can imagine.
Wrex: You ready?
Liara: Absolutely.
Wrex: No worrying? No emotional concerns? You've grown up, T'Soni.
Liara: Killing people gets less troubling after the first few hundred.
Wrex: It does indeed.
Liara: Absolutely.
Wrex: No worrying? No emotional concerns? You've grown up, T'Soni.
Liara: Killing people gets less troubling after the first few hundred.
Wrex: It does indeed.
— Mass Effect 3, Citadel DLC
"The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others."
— Sans, Undertale
Vanessa: I know what I've done.
Ethan: Do you? Do you know what it is... to walk with someone's body tied around your neck for the rest of your goddamn life? Do you know what that is, little girl? Let me tell you about it. First time is hard. I'm sure you cried a bit, didn't you? Don't worry, that'll pass. Second time is easier. Third time, you don't blink. Then it's all just repetition. You don't cry anymore. You don't even remember when you used to cry. You're alive and they're dead.
Ethan: Do you? Do you know what it is... to walk with someone's body tied around your neck for the rest of your goddamn life? Do you know what that is, little girl? Let me tell you about it. First time is hard. I'm sure you cried a bit, didn't you? Don't worry, that'll pass. Second time is easier. Third time, you don't blink. Then it's all just repetition. You don't cry anymore. You don't even remember when you used to cry. You're alive and they're dead.
"Of course, the best way to fight the Beast is to keep oneself in fighting trim, and that means eating regularly. Then again, eating regularly usually means that sooner or later, you start killing kine - mortals, pardon me again - and the more kine you kill, the easier the killing gets. So the Beast wins that way as well. Even if you don't mean to, even if the process begins with an accident, sooner or later you get inured to the sight of a brand-new corpse that you're responsible for, lying dead at your feet. After the tenth, hundredth, thousandth or whatever corpse, it stops being a person and becomes an object, a vessel. A footnote in your history of the ages. And you, at that moment, cease to be remotely human."
"Look, this happens to everyone their first time. Normally when they kill a man, but for you, a dog. So what? There's no shame in it. You remember your first time, Garo? My first time - Afghanistan. We were moving through a house, and suddenly a man was there and I shot him in the stomach. Yeah, that's a real war story. There are never any good stories like in the movies, they're shit. A man was there - boom - stomach. I was so scared I didn't pull the trigger again for the rest of the day. I thought, "Well, that's it Bacho, you put a bullet in someone. You're not you anymore. You'll never be you again." But then you wake up the next morning and you're still you. And you realize... that was you all along. You just didn't know."
"It's a difficult thing, isn't it? Taking a life...feeling of the weight and responsibility of all the years the person you've murdered has lived. The moments that they've cherished. The dreams that they've struggled towards, gone...because of you. I want you to know something. Something important that I've learned. That it gets easier... the more you do it."
— Wilson Fisk, Daredevil (2015), "The Ones We Leave Behind"
"It's so easy you almost feel sorry for them. You'll get used to killing. Just forget about that mortal coil. You'll become accustomed to it, all too quickly."
—Lestat de Lioncourt, Interview with the Vampire
"Now, the first guy you kill is always the hardest. I don't care if you're the Boston Strangler or Wyatt Earp. You can be that Texas guy, Charles Whitman, the fella who shot all them guys from that tower? I'll bet you green money that first little black dot that he took a bead on was the bitch of the bunch. No fooling, the first one's a tough one to hoe. Now, the second one, while it ain't no Mardi Gras, it ain't half as bad as the first. You still feel something, but it's just so diluted this time around. Then you completely level off on the third one. The third one's easy. Now? Shit, now I'll do it just to watch their expression change."
— Virgil, True Romance
Kyril: Have you ever killed someone?
Grace: N-No... I hope never to do so.
Kyril: Can you kill someone?
Grace: I... I don't think I can...
Kyril: Good. I am not one to give out advice, but causing death is addictive. It will turn anyone into a bloodthirsty beast. It is not something to be glorified, but only endured.
Grace: N-No... I hope never to do so.
Kyril: Can you kill someone?
Grace: I... I don't think I can...
Kyril: Good. I am not one to give out advice, but causing death is addictive. It will turn anyone into a bloodthirsty beast. It is not something to be glorified, but only endured.
"It's like you said. Killing is like smoking. Only the first time is hard."
"What's the difference between killing one man or two?"
— Akira Nishikiyama, Yakuza Kiwami
"Death always tasted bitter. 'When it’s too easy,' [Byleth's] father had once taught her, 'it’s time to retire.'"
Remember, oh student, this above all other laws: the grip of a sword is suffused with a deep and powerful poison that rots to the bone. It can never be rid of once touched, no matter how much you wish otherwise.
The sword does not kill. The hand kills. The hand is the most beautiful part of a human being, and is capable of nearly infinitely other things than parting men from their ghosts. Once you touch the sword, a terrible tragedy will occur, and your hand will slowly lose this ability. Over time, it will cease to be a hand, and become a sword.
"Guess I'm used to this by now..."
— Hibiki Takane, Samurai Shodown (2019)
