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Anime and Manga
Ryuk: But if you did that [killing all evil people], it would make you the only bad person left.
Light: Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about, Ryuk. I'm a hardworking honor student who's considered to be one of Japan's best and brightest.
Light: Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about, Ryuk. I'm a hardworking honor student who's considered to be one of Japan's best and brightest.
Tucker: I don't see what you're so upset about. This is how we progress. Human experimentation is a necessary step. I would think a scientist should understand...
Ed: SHUT UP! Do you really think you can get away with this?! Messing around with someone's life like that! YOUR OWN DAUGHTER!
Ed: SHUT UP! Do you really think you can get away with this?! Messing around with someone's life like that! YOUR OWN DAUGHTER!
"You're the kind of evil that doesn't realize it's evil... the worst kind of evil there is."
Comic Books
"Me, a villain? Goodness, no."
— Granny Goodness, Batman Beyond Unlimited
Superman: Who are you...Why are you attacking me—? [...] I want an explanation, Jevik—! What do you want with me—[...]
Jevik: ...Jevik not understand...Jevik only do what Jevik is told...
Jevik: ...Jevik not understand...Jevik only do what Jevik is told...
As I come to understand Vietnam and what it implies about the human condition, I also realize that few humans will permit themselves such an understanding.
— Dr. Manhattan, Watchmen
Fan Works
"There had to be such a woman on Earth. There were billions of women. Certainly he could find one who would be suitable. And he'd show her a good time, oh, yes, he would. He'd make her have a good time. It was all so, so important. And after he was born on Earth, why, he'd mature in a few days and then permanently fix his age at maturity and use his father's science to make a Golden Age on Earth.
Even if the woman didn't understand it at first, after it was all over, she'd be unutterably grateful to him for it all.
He was certain of that."
Even if the woman didn't understand it at first, after it was all over, she'd be unutterably grateful to him for it all.
He was certain of that."
— Marcus Inmortus, A Prize for Three Empires
Film — Animated
Anna: (singing) I get the feeling you don't know...
Elsa: What do I not know?!
Anna: Arendelle's in deep, deep, deep, deep...snow.
Elsa: What do I not know?!
Anna: Arendelle's in deep, deep, deep, deep...snow.
— Frozen
"Judge Claude Frollo longed to purge the world of vice and sin.
And he saw corruption everywhere... except within."
And he saw corruption everywhere... except within."
Pterano: People will think we're up to no good!
Rinkus: But we are up to no good.
Pterano: No! I work for the greater good! My purpose is noble!
Rinkus: But we are up to no good.
Pterano: No! I work for the greater good! My purpose is noble!
Film — Live-Action
Sgt. Prendergast: Now, let's go meet some nice policemen. They're good guys. Come on, let's go.
Bill Foster: I'm the bad guy?
Sgt. Prendergast: Yeah.
Bill Foster: How'd that happen? I did everything they told me to. Did you know I build missiles? I helped to protect America. You should be rewarded for that. Instead they give it to the plastic surgeons, y'know, they lied to me.
Bill Foster: I'm the bad guy?
Sgt. Prendergast: Yeah.
Bill Foster: How'd that happen? I did everything they told me to. Did you know I build missiles? I helped to protect America. You should be rewarded for that. Instead they give it to the plastic surgeons, y'know, they lied to me.
Literature
<It's a game,> I said.
<What is?> Cassie asked. She had morphed to wolf.
<The Howlers. The killing. It's a game to them. They're having fun. They're enjoying it. Like when dolphin leap into the air just for the fun of it and play follow the leader, it's a game.>
<They're destroying entire races for fun?>
<Yes. They don't know what they're doing. Cassie... they aren't adults. The Howlers are all children.>
<What is?> Cassie asked. She had morphed to wolf.
<The Howlers. The killing. It's a game to them. They're having fun. They're enjoying it. Like when dolphin leap into the air just for the fun of it and play follow the leader, it's a game.>
<They're destroying entire races for fun?>
<Yes. They don't know what they're doing. Cassie... they aren't adults. The Howlers are all children.>
— Animorphs #26: The Attack
"I'm sorry. Sorry. But it hurts and I couldn't talk to you."
— The Parasite, explaining to her father that she risks his life just by existing, The Dresden Files
"A curious thing about Ugu the Shoemaker was that he didn't suspect in the least that he was wicked. He wanted to be powerful and great, and he hoped to make himself master of all the Land of Oz that he might compel everyone in that fairy country to obey him. His ambition blinded him to the rights of others, and he imagined anyone else would act just as he did if anyone else happened to be as clever as himself."
"The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding."
Live-Action TV
"Nothin' worse than a monster who thinks he's right with God."
— Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly, "Heart of Gold"
Locutus of Borg: Why do you resist us? We only wish to improve quality of life for all species.
Worf: I like my species the way it is!
Worf: I like my species the way it is!
"No one ever thinks that they're the evil one."
— Negan Smith, The Walking Dead (2010)
Web Animation
"You are a DUMB MONSTER!!!"
— A Team Rocket Agent seeing that Rusty stuffed fifteen Bidoofs into one Pokéball in Pokémon Rusty
Western Animation
"Not understanding that you're a horrible person doesn't make you less of a horrible person!"
— BoJack Horseman, BoJack Horseman
"Unlike other villains, I shan't be telling you my plan. Good day.
(leaves, then returns for one last comment)
Oh, and in my mind, I'm not a villain. I think what I'm doing is good."
(leaves, then returns for one last comment)
Oh, and in my mind, I'm not a villain. I think what I'm doing is good."
— Big Jo, Disenchantment
"(Glad One) I'm helping, Ms. Tulip. I'm putting it (Sad One) where it's supposed to be. (Glad One) If they knew it was broken, (Sad One) they would've fixed it. (Both) They don't need to worry anymore, I'm here to get things back in order."
Jacob: I'm the good guy here!
Camila: Yeah, a lot of bad guys say that.
Camila: Yeah, a lot of bad guys say that.
Bow: Your army is called the Evil Horde.
Adora: [offended] Who calls us that?!
Bow: ...EVERYBODY!
Adora: [offended] Who calls us that?!
Bow: ...EVERYBODY!
Chase: I was selfless once: that time we left the movie theater and I laid down a jacket so you could step over that puddle, huh?
Emma: It was my jacket and a puddle you made!
Chase: Those large movie theater drinks are, like, three bladders big!
Julia: [retches] That is beyond gross!
Chase: What about when I donated a kidney to your uncle?
Emma: You gave him a goat kidney from the butcher!
Chase: What about the time I painted your room Tuscan sun yellow, which is your favorite color?
Emma: You did it with a pressure washer, without moving any of the furniture out of my room, while I was asleep in my bed!
Chase: [chuckles] You looked like a trophy.
Julia: [to Chase] Every time you talk, you become a worse person. [to Emma] How long did you date him?
Emma: Too long!
Chase: Let's not forget that I was the one who rescued your cat when it was stuck in that tree!
Emma: By cutting down the tree WHICH LANDED ON MY MOTHER!
Chase: She's perfectly fine!
Emma: Then why does she call me Geoff?
Chase: I meant the cat! Wait — on out anniversary, I went to one of those star registry places and named a star after you!
Julia: I... guess that's nice?
Emma: He named the star "Chase's Girlfriend!"
[the others ad-lib noises of surprise and frustration]
Chris McLean: Yikes!
Chef Hatchet: Someone raised that child all wrong.
Chase: I've explained this so-many-times: the plan was to legally change your name to "Chase's Girlfriend." It was a two-part gift!
Emma: It was my jacket and a puddle you made!
Chase: Those large movie theater drinks are, like, three bladders big!
Julia: [retches] That is beyond gross!
Chase: What about when I donated a kidney to your uncle?
Emma: You gave him a goat kidney from the butcher!
Chase: What about the time I painted your room Tuscan sun yellow, which is your favorite color?
Emma: You did it with a pressure washer, without moving any of the furniture out of my room, while I was asleep in my bed!
Chase: [chuckles] You looked like a trophy.
Julia: [to Chase] Every time you talk, you become a worse person. [to Emma] How long did you date him?
Emma: Too long!
Chase: Let's not forget that I was the one who rescued your cat when it was stuck in that tree!
Emma: By cutting down the tree WHICH LANDED ON MY MOTHER!
Chase: She's perfectly fine!
Emma: Then why does she call me Geoff?
Chase: I meant the cat! Wait — on out anniversary, I went to one of those star registry places and named a star after you!
Julia: I... guess that's nice?
Emma: He named the star "Chase's Girlfriend!"
[the others ad-lib noises of surprise and frustration]
Chris McLean: Yikes!
Chef Hatchet: Someone raised that child all wrong.
Chase: I've explained this so-many-times: the plan was to legally change your name to "Chase's Girlfriend." It was a two-part gift!
Real Life
"Bad guys think they're the heroes of their own stories; they're not sitting there thinking, 'Yeah, I get to be evil today.'"
— Jeff Abbott
"Boys throw stones at frogs in fun, but the frogs do not die in fun, but in earnest."
— Bion Of Borysthenes
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth."
— C. S. Lewis, "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment"
"It may be comfortably asserted that no man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks."
— Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men
Miscellaneous
"Fool of a Took! Of course he's evil!"
— Gandalf to Pippin, regarding the balrog, Sev Space
