Fiction
"Look, I don't do this... uh, ever. But you guys are basically like kittens stuck on a leaking lifeboat in a typhoon. Just run."
— Sarda, 8-Bit Theatre
A-B-C-D-E F-U
Fuck you and your mom and your sister and your job,
and your broke-ass car and the shit you call "art";
Fuck you and your friends that I'll never see again,
everybody but your dog, you can all fuck off.
Fuck you and your mom and your sister and your job,
and your broke-ass car and the shit you call "art";
Fuck you and your friends that I'll never see again,
everybody but your dog, you can all fuck off.
— Gayle, "abcdefu"
Rachel: Did I... did I make a difference? My life, and my... my death... was I worth it? Did my life really matter?
The Ellimist: Yes. You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered.
— Animorphs — The Ellimist Chronicles
"Oh, hooray! In a lifetime of evil, at least he didn't add 'Animal Cruelty' to the list!"
— A skeptical Sokka on Zuko, Avatar: The Last Airbender
G'Kar: [stunned] I could have died back there. You risked your life to save mine.
Londo: Yes, you would done the same.
G'Kar: Yes, but I am the better person.
Londo: Yes, you would done the same.
G'Kar: Yes, but I am the better person.
"I do this last kindness in her name, she who loved you humans and cared for your ills. Take your family and leave Wallachia tonight. Pack and go, and do not look back."
— Dracula, to an elderly woman who paid respect for his dead wife, Castlevania (2017)
Twice she'd taken pity. A little girl from New Hyde Park, Long Island, had caressed the webbing of her fingers as if trying to heal it. She'd held the girl and kissed her cheek. Another time, she'd spared a sleeping baby. The child's crib had looked especially warm, and though she'd done it hundreds of times before, her mind had set like a strip of steel. She would not steal the child from a happy dream. She would rather have died.
— The Changeling, by Sarah Langan
"But yeah, I've racked up such a rep for killing things that it actually makes you suspicious when I take a moment to help out a mom and her little girl. Maybe you think there's a bit of a weird vibe there and that's all you need to go to town, right? Shrinks and mommy issues."
— Alcatraz, Crysis: Legion
Blon: I could have killed but I didn't. I spared her life.
The Doctor: I believe you.
Blon: Then you know I can change! That I am changing!
The Doctor: You let one of them go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared... because she smiled, 'cos he's got freckles, 'cos they begged. And that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction, you happen to be kind.
The Doctor: I believe you.
Blon: Then you know I can change! That I am changing!
The Doctor: You let one of them go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared... because she smiled, 'cos he's got freckles, 'cos they begged. And that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction, you happen to be kind.
— Doctor Who, "Boom Town"
"Untithed to any thane or hold, and self-governed, with free worship, with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empire except as writ in the armistice of old wheresoever those might still apply, and henceforth let no man or mer say that the Sons and Daughters of Kyne are without mercy or honor."
— A declaration from the High King of Skyrim (a nation with a history of spectacular Fantastic Racism against elves) that grants the island of Solsteim to Dunmer refugees, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
"I've murdered tens of thousands in cold blood. If I can't ice the sad-eyed puppy too, I don't deserve the job."
"We must know when to be strong... and when to show compassion."
Rest assured, Mr Merrick, you are a creation of God, and all his makings are wondrous, none more so than yourself.
Y- You don't understand! I have a daughter and... she's sick!... That makes it okay for me to break the law... I'm not a bad person!
"I've never felt normal a day of my life. Between the Dillards and the Stokes, I've never felt really accepted. I loved the Johnsons, but... I was always Mariah's. You were the only Stokes I could ever count on. Oh, I remember your laugh. You introduced me to Nina, Stevie, Sly, Curtis. You bought me my first casio! "Play what you feel inside, baby girl. Play what you got inside. Your song is your truth." I wanted to. I really did. I was always afraid of what I might find inside... and now I know I was right to be afraid. I am the product of rape, incest, murder. Stokes twice over. You knew that: you saw Pete's face and his eyes in mine, and you still loved me anyway. I thank you for that. Thank you, cousin. Thank you always..."
"I don't think Locria is coming back anymore. Oh, me? I'm a mouse Locria liked to dote over. He had a creepy "Nwehehehehe" laugh, so he might've seemed like a mean person in most people's eyes, but he was very nice to me, at least. Do you think he'll be coming home soon? I'm so lonely."
— Locria's pet mouse, Mother 3
Fate: No, they did it out of their own free will. I picked up 57 more of them and sent them to school. Well, it looks like it's a hobby for me.
Rakan: Hey, hey, you serious? Doing such a nice thing and all... it's surprising.
"But you are here, in the darkness." He added, "Asleep, but aware. Consciously dreaming. Technically alive, but apparently dead."
"One might even say undead," she chimed in, seeing his train of thought to its logical conclusion.
"No," he corrected her. "The opposite. Unalive."
Again, it was not an insult. It wasn't even that mean. For the first time, the old man seemed almost kind. Frankly, it made Catherine more uncomfortable. She had to turn away from him.
"Would you like to die?"
The question echoed around the walls of her mind. She turned back to that sallow face, those sunken eyes suddenly free from malice and filled instead with an earnest seriousness. His gaze no longer searched or prodded. Instead, he waited, simply waited, for an answer.
"One might even say undead," she chimed in, seeing his train of thought to its logical conclusion.
"No," he corrected her. "The opposite. Unalive."
Again, it was not an insult. It wasn't even that mean. For the first time, the old man seemed almost kind. Frankly, it made Catherine more uncomfortable. She had to turn away from him.
"Would you like to die?"
The question echoed around the walls of her mind. She turned back to that sallow face, those sunken eyes suddenly free from malice and filled instead with an earnest seriousness. His gaze no longer searched or prodded. Instead, he waited, simply waited, for an answer.
— An Unattractive Vampire, by Jim McDoniel
Kerillian: Do you know what I think, Bardin?
Bardin: Do I know what an elf thinks? No one does.
Kerillian: I don't think you really are searching for Karak Zorn.
Bardin: Preposterous! You don't know what you're saying!
Kerillian: Don't I? You forget, I've observed your "search" for some time now.
Bardin: Spying, is it?
Kerillian: Of course, I'm a "wutelgi". That's what we do, so I'm told.
Bardin: A well-earned slight, by the sound of it.
Kerillian: I don't think you're searching for anything at all, Bardin. I think you're avoiding going home. And if I'm right...
Bardin: [low growl] Choose your next words carefully.
Kerillian: Then you have my sympathy. That is all. I hope you find whatever it is you are really seeking.
"And so, I told the undead pharaoh of my woes, of my love Karelia’s poisoning at the hands of Heinrich von Bruno and my desperate quest. The priest quietly translated all to the unmoving mummy. When I finished the courtyard was still for the span of three heartbeats. Sutekh gestured and Razim’s head was struck off his shoulders. He spoke and then, amazingly he smiled, nodding to me once before he rose and departed, his armoured guard smoothly withdrawing to surround him. The priest walked to me and said, 'My lord commands me to tell you that he too, loved once. He too, would’ve gone to the ends of the world to save his love. I am to show you the wisdom you seek.'"
— Metrious Null, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Old World Bestiary — A Compendium Of Creatures Fair And Foul
Real Life
"Jessie's lost in the black depths of junkie despair, scratching and flailing at the pills, “I need them!” Thrashing like a tasered hippie, Zack's forced to physically restrain her. Rather than picking her pocket, feeling up her butt, or calling a Time-Out because he feels super awkward, Zack tenderly talks her down, reminiscing about the time they snuck out together to see ET as kids, and got scared riding home in the dark on their bikes. They got through that, didn't they?"
— Stuart Millard, So Excited, So Scared: The Saved by the Bell Retrospective
"It means a lot to me that you've come this far, endured this much. Every wisecrack, every insensitivity, every setback you've forgiven me is a kingly gift you've given me."
Anon #1: Fate Tertium Averruncus promotes destruction of entire civilizations, squishing innocent passerby with giant monoliths, and completing primary education. What a nice chap.
Anon #2: Well it's only fair that they have a future before he destroys it.
Anon #2: Well it's only fair that they have a future before he destroys it.
— 4chan, on chapter 260 of Negima! Magister Negi Magi (see above)
"A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog, and, believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore, saying they had a package for us. We went down to get it. You know what it was?
It was a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate that he had sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it Checkers.
And you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it."
It was a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate that he had sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it Checkers.
And you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it."
— Richard Nixon, The Checkers Speech, possibly the ultimate example in politics
"Here is just one small moment in "Return of the Jedi," a moment you could miss if you looked away from the screen, but a moment that helps explain the special magic of the Star Wars movies. Luke Skywalker is engaged in a ferocious battle in the dungeons beneath the throne room of the loathsome, Jabba the Hutt. His adversary is a slimy, gruesome, reptilian monster made of warts and teeth. Things are looking bad when suddenly the monster is crushed beneath a falling door. And then (here is the small moment) there's a shot of the monster's keeper, a muscle-bound jailer, who rushes forward in tears. He is brokenhearted at the destruction of his pet. Everybody loves somebody."
— Roger Ebert, discussing Return of the Jedi
"It's reasonable to conclude that someone who mistreats animals has a moral blindspot. But subconsciously, we may irrationally conclude that the inverse is true: a person who treats animals well must be a good person."
— Nathan J. Robinson, "Puppaganda: How Politicians Use Pets to Convince You of Their Humanity", Current Affairs
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