Quotes / Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

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Anime and Manga

"We made use of hatred. We let it grow. We believed it would save us... We took every problem caused by our shortcomings and spat them all out onto an "island of devils." And the result... was the birth of that monster... who has now come to repay us for all of the hate we've ever shown... If it's possible... for us to ever have a future again. I will never make the same mistakes... I swear it. If we ever see... another tomorrow..."

— Muller, Attack on Titan

"Their love for their country will destroy them."^note (Each of the opposing party is convinced the other is going to destroy them, hence the war.)

— Crocodile, One Piece

Comic Books

"And if I do end up collapsing the Jedi Order, just remember one thing. You started it."

— Zayne Carrick, Knights of the Old Republic

Film — Animation

"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."

— Master Oogway, Kung Fu Panda (taken from a Chinese proverb)

"The young lord set out to change his fate. But what he did next... only sealed it."

— Soothsayer, Kung Fu Panda 2

Film — Live-Action

Oracle: Don't worry about the vase.
Neo: What vase?
[Neo turns to look for a vase, and as he does, he knocks over a vase of flowers, which shatters on the floor]
Oracle: That vase.
Neo: I'm sorry...
Oracle: I said don't worry about it. I'll get one of my kids to fix it.
Neo: How did you know?
Oracle: Ohh, what's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?

— The Matrix

"The machine predicts a war - and we go to war to avert it. It predicts a plague - we herd all the sick together, create a plague. Whatever future this predicts, we make happen. We give over control of our lives completely."

— Michael Jennings, Paycheck

"I saw darkness. I'd sensed it building in [Ben]. I'd seen it in moments during his training. But then I looked inside, and it was beyond what I ever imagined. Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction, pain and death, and the end of everything I love because of what he will become. And, for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it. It passed like a fleeting shadow. And I was left with shame, and with consequence. And the last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose master had failed him."

— Luke Skywalker, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

"Let's imagine: if you glimpsed the future and were frightened by what you saw, what would you do with that information? You would go to who, politicians? Captains of industry? And how would you convince them? With data? Facts? Good luck. The only facts they won't challenge are the ones that keep the wheels greased and the dollars rolling in. But what if...what if there was a way of skipping the middleman and putting the critical news directly into everyone's head? The probability of widespread annihilation kept going up. The only way to stop it was to show it. To scare people straight. Because what reasonable human being wouldn't be galvanized by the potential destruction of everything they've ever known or loved? To save civilization, I would show its collapse. But how do you think this vision was received? How do you think people responded to the prospect of imminent doom? They gobbled it up like a chocolate eclair! They didn't fear their demise, they repackaged it! It can be enjoyed as video games, as TV shows, books, movies. The entire world wholeheartedly embraced the apocalypse and sprinted towards it with gleeful abandon. Meanwhile, your Earth was crumbling all around you. You've got simultaneous epidemics of obesity and starvation. Explain that one! Bees and butterflies start to disappear, the glaciers melt, algae blooms, all around you the coal mine canaries are dropping dead, and you won't take the hint! In every moment there is the possibility of a better future, but you people won't believe it! And because you won't believe it, you won't do what is necessary to make it a reality! So you dwell on this terrible future, you resign yourselves to it. For one reason: because that future doesn't ask anything of you today. So yes, we saw the iceberg, we warned the Titanic, but you all just steered for it anyway, full steam ahead. Why? Because you want to sink. You gave up. That's not the Monitor's fault. That's yours."

— David Nix, Tomorrowland

Literature

"I was expecting to meet you in Pseudopolis."

— Death riffing on "Appointment in Samarra", The Colour of Magic

"Prophecy and prescience — How can they be put to the test in the face of the unanswered questions? Consider: How much is actual prediction of the "wave form" (as Muad'Dib referred to his vision-image) and how much is the prophet shaping the future to fit the prophecy? What of the harmonics inherent in the act of prophecy? Does the prophet see the future or does he see a line of weakness, a fault or cleavage that he may shatter with words or decisions as a diamond-cutter shatters his gem with a blow of a knife?"

— Princess Irulan, Dune, "Private Reflections on Muad'Dib"

"Some [visions] never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them."

— Galadriel, The Lord of the Rings

"Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute."

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, Winter Notes on Summer Impressions (1863)

"Telling someone about a prophecy, nine times out of ten? Makes it happen."

— Veracity, Stellar Ranger Dark Star

Live-Action TV

"The fear of not being able to buy guns has led to buying so many guns that now we can't buy any guns just like we feared."

— Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report

Theatre

"There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."

— Death, Sheppey by Somerset Maugham

Video Games

Urð: There is no grand design. No script. Only the choices you make. That your choices are so predictable merely make us seem prescient.
Freya: When my son was born [...] your prophecy said he would die a needless death!
Urð: And he did. Because YOU could not let him go. Because HE thirsted for revenge. And because [Kratos] kills gods. [...] You are the sum of your choices, nothing more.

— God of War Ragnarök

Web Animation

"Columbia starts off perfectly fine, resembling an idyllic, cartoonishly racist Disneyland, until Father Comstock, city leader and alleged prophet, marks out DeWitt as the guy who's destined to fuck everyone up, so he's forced to fuck everyone up after they all turn on him for being the guy who was going to fuck everyone up."

— Yahtzee, Zero Punctuation, reviewing Bioshock Infinite

Assuming that destiny and fate are a legitimate force in the universe, then that means that The Chosen One is destined to eventually triumph over the dark lord or ancient evil. So the forces of evil will send their best troops to destroy the Chosen One before they even begin their quest. However, the Chosen One would have never started their quest in the first place if the forces of evil hadn't attacked their home, forcing them to begin their hero's journey. Wouldn't that mean that the only way for the dark lord to avoid defeat would be to ignore the machinations of destiny and gamble that he was living in a free will based universe? Wouldn't knowingly engaging with the prophecy only validate it?

— Terrible Writing Advice, "CHOSEN ONES"

Webcomics

"21st-century readers are no doubt aware that this "self-fulfilling prophesy" approach has been done quite literally to death over the course of 2500 years. All that remains to be innovated there is "how to trick the protagonist into creating the future he seeks to prevent, while preventing the reader from seeing this as a rehash of Oedipus the King." Have you ever read one of these stories, or seen one of these films, and wanted to poke your eyes out? Now you know why."

— Howard Taylor discussing the trope, in the author's notes for the Schlock Mercenary strip for 4 Oct 2005

"[The crystal balls] work fine but this is a special case. A prophecy that wouldn't happen if not for the prediction ... But it's not an actual vision of the future— it's just fortune-telling feedback, see?"

— Xyzor, Oglaf, "Hardwood"

Web Original

"If I am granted a vision of the future, I will not try to prevent anything that I see. It never works."

— "The Things I Will Do if I Am Ever the Hero"

Western Animation

Bill: What has gotten into you, son?!
Gramma: You just couldn't handle sharing the spotlight with your sister, couldja?!
Cricket: What?! This isn't about Tilly! It's about the evil puppet!!
Tilly: "Evil puppet"? Cricket, do you not like Henry?
Cricket: Of course I don't! He's horrifying! I didn't say anything 'cause I didn't wanna ruin your fun, and well... I guess I went ahead and did that anyway, huh?
Tilly: Yup. You did...

— Big City Greens

Real Life

"My own belief is that Russian and Chinese behaviour is as much influenced by suspicion of our intentions as ours is by suspicion of theirs. This would mean that we have great influence over their behaviour - that, by treating them as hostile, we assure their hostility."

— J. William Fulbright

"It's not the crime that kills you, it's the cover-up."

— Richard Nixon

"Watch your thoughts; for they become words. Watch your words; for they become actions. Watch your actions; for they become habits. Watch your habits; for they become character. Watch your character for it will become your destiny."

— Frank Outlaw

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