"If we affirm one moment, we thus affirm not only ourselves but all existence. For nothing is self-sufficient, neither in us ourselves nor in things; and if our soul has trembled with happiness and sounded like a harp string just once, all eternity was needed to produce this one event — and in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed."
— Friedrich Nietzsche, showing that the rest of them fail to understand what he was truly trying to say.
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Anime and Manga
"Don't worry whether you live or die, life is a waste anyway."
— Wyald, Berserk
"There was nothing to believe in. There is no need to believe... There's nothing in this world to believe in."
— Vicious, Cowboy Bebop, "Jupiter Jazz (Part 2)"
"Gods don't exist, and Buddhas don't either. Yet these people lived for decades without realizing it. Once they die, it's all just gonna return to nothing. They won't feel anything. And then they rot into the ground. As long as you live on this Earth, that's your eternal fate. They just can't accept that simple fact. It must be so hard being stupid. I want to make these sorrowful people happy. I want to help them. That's the reason I was born, after all."
— Doma, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
"There was never any meaning. The world is meaningless, humans are born with no purpose, live for no reason, and die for nothing, because this world is pointless, and our lives are aimless."
— Misogi Kumagawa, Medaka Box
"Do you still wish to suffer? Telling yourself 'someday, eventually'? How long have you continued fighting with your thoughts clouded by such sweet poison?"
— Rau Le Creuset, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
"It's like we're walking through a maze of sorts. There are always so many paths to choose from. We pick a path, and we follow it. You people walk your path believing that something you desire is waiting for you. I walk it to confirm that there is nothing there."
"Complete nothingness, devoid of light, and even the passage of time has halted. This is how the world ends. A world which has reached the end of time. People may struggle all they like, but the outcome will not change. Surely even you understand this. Hope and possibility are nothing but fleeting dreams glimpsed at the doorstep of this nothingness. Illusions that offer no comfort. They lead people astray and create meaningless conflict. It is Newtypes who know this truth. One shouldn't place unwarranted hope in life that merely exists and then fades away."
— Full Frontal, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
"There is only one thing that is equal for all, and that is death."
— Johan Liebert, Monster
"There's nothing special about being born. Not a thing. Most of the universe is just death, nothing more. In this universe of ours, the birth of a new life on some corner of our planet is nothing but a tiny, insignificant flash. Death is a normal thing. So why live?"
— Johan Liebert, Monster
Comic Books
"A lion doesn't pass judgement on a gazelle. Cancer doesn't pass judgement on a brain. I've been saying this all along. Evil doesn't exist. There are only actions. We got to the same place — the top of the food chain — just on different paths. Mine was more fun."
"Man needs no divine assistance. He makes himself! I chose to exterminate the zombies. I chose to kill. But I hurt myself, too — to remind me that even I am only human!"
— Victor Zsasz, Batman: Shadow of the Bat
"When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was, I went crazy as a coot! I admit it! Why can't you? I mean, you're not unintelligent! You must see the reality of the situation. Do you know how many times we've come close to World War III over a flock of geese on a computer screen? Do you know what triggered the last world war? An argument over how many telegraph poles Germany owed its war debt creditors! Telegraph poles! Ha ha ha ha ha! It's all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for... it's all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing?"
"The fact I derive pleasure from cruelty doesn't make me feel guilty, Frank... guilt is ridiculous. There is no 'good' or 'bad'. There is only pleasure and pain... with no heaven or hell at the end of it!"
— Colonel De Sade, The Punisher
"There is no God. There are no souls. All we are is meat and bones. These are certainties I learned long ago."
"Life is meaningless! Chaos! The universe has no center! Its creator is a drooling idiot!"
"Oh, I didn't like the killing, Wolverine. I loved the killing. And unlike you, I was always smart enough to know what I really was. We're monsters, buddy. Plain and simple. I don't dress it up with fancy names like 'mutant' or 'post-human'; men were born crueler than apes and we were born crueler than men. It's just the natural order of things. Charles Xavier is like a vegetarian who doesn't want to admit what his eye teeth are for. The Brotherhood are too full of themselves to admit that we're everything they hate about humankind and a little more besides."
— Sabertooth, Ultimate X-Men (2001)
Edward Blake/The Comedian: Once you figure out what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.
Doctor Manhattan: The charred villages, the boys with necklaces made of human ears... these are part of the joke?
Blake: Hey, I never said it was a good joke. I'm just playing along with the gag.
Doctor Manhattan: The charred villages, the boys with necklaces made of human ears... these are part of the joke?
Blake: Hey, I never said it was a good joke. I'm just playing along with the gag.
— Watchmen
Fan Works
San-2/Youngest Brother: we tried at first tried to find meaning in their screams tried to find meaning in yours there was nothing to find
Vivienne Graham: That's nice. I'm trying to sleep.
San-2/Youngest Brother: that is the meaning we found it is nothing there is no meaning we conquered we hunted we killed every world was mindless the ones who made us screamed when we killed them nothing left all gone lives wasted honors meaningless you were so small before so small and weak and temporary you were mindless and screaming your life meaningless so we snatched you up
Vivienne Graham: That's nice. I'm trying to sleep.
San-2/Youngest Brother: that is the meaning we found it is nothing there is no meaning we conquered we hunted we killed every world was mindless the ones who made us screamed when we killed them nothing left all gone lives wasted honors meaningless you were so small before so small and weak and temporary you were mindless and screaming your life meaningless so we snatched you up
"I knew someone would come. I knew it not because I had planned for you to be here, or because I'm somehow in control of these grand events. No, I knew it because I hadn't planned for it. I knew it because I'm not in control. This isn't my story. I'm not the hero, but neither am I the villain. I'm just like you, in fact. Just like them. I'm a puppet. I'm just another fucking plaything for the real villains. Freedom is a joke, and choice is an illusion. In the end there's only a hoofful of ponies who can honestly say that they've ever actually had one, and most of them never even realized it. Me? I want to be one of them. I want myself to matter. But I can't ever do that unless those same forces that are pulling the strings want to let me. I am at their mercy, just like every other sucker in the whole damn universe. You know how I feel about that? I hate it."
— Max Cash, Harmony Theory
"What's the point of anything? We're all gonna grow old and die. Then everypony who knows me will grow old and die, and everypony who knew them will grow old and die, and it'll be like I was never born! Equestria will fall one day like every country in the world before in history did. My town will be abandoned and be forgotten. Ponies will go extinct or evolve into a new species and forget what old ponies looked like. The sun will burn out some day and the world will get eaten up the sun or freeze. And it'll be like ponies never existed. There's no point to anything!
All fires burn out, and the fires of friendship will turn to cinders too eventually, everything stops, dies, and turns to ashes. The more beautiful the flame, the more quickly it dies."
All fires burn out, and the fires of friendship will turn to cinders too eventually, everything stops, dies, and turns to ashes. The more beautiful the flame, the more quickly it dies."
— Button Mash, Pony POV Series
"Our choices, personality, and identities are meaningless. If the shadows desire it, a saint can become a monster, and a monster can become a saint. It doesn't matter if it's not a choice we'd make, that it goes against our true nature, and it ignores or discards traits we've already shown. There is no point to any of it."
— Diamond Tiara, Pony POV Series
"These ponies, they're all blind. But that blindness is what makes this Equestria, isn't it? Too blind to see that maybe the end of everything is kinder than continuing at any cost. Too caught up in the lie that life is always worth living. I'll dive into the maelstrom. No more pretenses. This is the only path to freedom I have: obliteration."
— Diamond Tiara, Pony POV Series
"You see, I've seen some truly horrible things in life, Moka. You'd be surprised how similar humans and monsters really are. How they both claim they desire peace, yet both destroy everything around them. How they both claim they can love, yet they both hurt and attack everything different. You see, it doesn't matter if you are human or a monster, a life is a life. And all lives are trash. All lives are a waste. Everything that lives only wants to live for the sake of living, and will step on anything to get its wish. Monsters, humans, they all claw at any vain attempt to live on, both killing anything that seems different or strange in fear of its own existence. There is no difference, Moka. All life is evil."
— Hokuto Kaneshiro, Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness
"So naïve to the ways of the world, so full of optimism and hope. I, however, have seen the world for how it truly is. Despair is the only truth in this world of lies and hypocrisy. This world is not worth the dirt we walk upon. Unless it is destroyed and remade properly, it will remain that way, a diseased mire, and everyone – humans, witches, and other creatures alike – shall continue to dance like court jesters to its incomprehensible whims. If you live long enough, you shall see it sooner or later, even if I must be the one to teach you that."
— Cancer Lucrenian, Soul Eater: Troubled Souls
Film — Animation
"This is what happens when you dummies try to think! WE'RE ALL JUST TRASH WAITING TO BE THROWN AWAY! THAT'S ALL A TOY IS!"
— Lots-o'-Huggin Bear, Toy Story 3
"I was a boy. I was lying in the shadow of the berry bush taking a snooze. One of the berries, just one, fell right upon my eye. Just. There. A hungry bird spied the berry. It was a crow, I believe. And it pecked for the berry, but got my eye as well. Senseless! YES! I had done nothing to earn such a fate, and ever since, I've known that the world made no sense, and had acted accordingly."
— Professor Screweyes, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
"Every decision we make is meaningless. Because somewhere, on a parallel Earth, we have already made the opposite choice. We're nothing. Less than nothing."
— Owlman, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Film — Live-Action
"I work for nobody. I don't care about the Manhattan Corporation! I don't care about the girl, I don't care about politics, I don't care about anything! I believe in nothing. I'm Hammer — The Exterminator!"
— Hammer the Exterminator, 1990: The Bronx Warriors
"Say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism, man, but at least it's an ethos."
— Walter complaining about nihilism, The Big Lebowski
Kelly: Shut that sonuvabitch down NOW. This ain't what I signed on for. I'm not ready to die, not for you.
Deakins: Everybody dies, Kelly. I'm as good a reason as any.
Deakins: Everybody dies, Kelly. I'm as good a reason as any.
"I suppose he had some private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself. He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away, he just left you a tip, hmm? Ha. He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions. But he never believed in anything except Charlie Kane. He never had a conviction except Charlie Kane in his life. I suppose he died without one. It must have been pretty unpleasant. Of course, a lot of us check out without having any special convictions about death, but we do know what we believe in, we do believe in something."
— Leland, Citizen Kane
"There's no good reason, there's no bad reason to live or to die."
— Vincent, Collateral
"We are lost! Belief will not help you, nor shall knowledge! Everything is lies!"
— Faust, Faust
Miles: I love Becky. Tommorow, will I feel the same?
Danny: There's no need for love.
Miles: No emotion? Then you have no feelings, only the instinct to survive. You can't love or be loved, is that right?
Danny: You say it as if it were terrible. Believe me, it isn't. You've been in love before — it didn't last, it never does. Love, desire, ambition, faith... without them, life's so simple, believe me.
Danny: There's no need for love.
Miles: No emotion? Then you have no feelings, only the instinct to survive. You can't love or be loved, is that right?
Danny: You say it as if it were terrible. Believe me, it isn't. You've been in love before — it didn't last, it never does. Love, desire, ambition, faith... without them, life's so simple, believe me.
"I really should thank you for it; after all, it was your life that taught me the purpose of all life. The purpose of life is to end."
— Smith, The Matrix Revolutions
"Life is cruel. Why should the afterlife be any different?"
— Davy Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
"Grow up! It's 'fuck your buddy, cheat on your wife, call your mother on Mother's Day.' Charlie, it's all shit."
— Col. Frank Slade, Scent of a Woman
"Nothing survives. Not your parents. Not your children. Not... even... stars."
— Pinbacker, Sunshine
"No one has any idea what kind of phenomenal, superhuman mind has come to an end with Dr. Mabuse's death. This mind would have laid waste to our whole rotten world, which is long overdue for destruction. This godless world, devoid of justice or compassion, consisting only of selfishness, cruelty and hatred. This mind would have destroyed mankind, which itself knows only destruction and extermination and which could only have been saved in its final hour through terror and horror!"
— Dr. Baum, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Harry: Nobody thinks in terms of "human beings". Governments don't, why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs — it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, and so have I.
Holly: You used to believe in God.
Harry: Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe in God and mercy and all that, but the dead are happier dead. They don't miss much here, poor devils...
Holly: You used to believe in God.
Harry: Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe in God and mercy and all that, but the dead are happier dead. They don't miss much here, poor devils...
"You have faith. I don't."
— William Strannix, Under Siege
Literature
The story thus far:
In the beginning, the universe was created.
This made a lot of people very angry and has widely been regarded as a bad move.
In the beginning, the universe was created.
This made a lot of people very angry and has widely been regarded as a bad move.
"You would not enjoy Nietzsche, sir. He is fundamentally unsound."
— Reginald Jeeves, Carry on, Jeeves
"You make me laugh, with your metaphysical anguish, it's just that you're scared silly, frightened of life, of men of action, of action itself, of lack of order. But everything is disorder, dear boy. Vegetable, mineral and animal, all disorder, and so is the multitude of human races, the life of man, thought, history, wars, inventions, business and the arts, and all theories, passions and systems. Its always been that way. Why are you trying to make something out of it? And what will you make? what are you looking for? There is no Truth. There's only action, action obeying a million different impulses, ephemeral action, action subjected to every possible and imaginable contingency and contradiction, Life. Life is crime, theft, jealousy, hunger, lies, disgust, stupidity, sickness, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, piles of corpses. What can you do about it, my poor friend?"
— Blaise Cendrars, Moravagine
"What if I don't want the Pattern to continue? We live the same lives! Over and over and over. We make the same mistakes. Kingdoms do the same stupid things. Rulers fail their people time and time again. Men continue to hurt and hate and die and kill. What if I think it's all meaningless? What if I don't want it to keep turning? We live our lives by the blood of others! And those others become forgotten. What good is it if everything we know will fade? Great deeds or great tragedies, neither means anything! They will become legends, and then those legends will be forgotten, then it will start all over again! What if he is right? What if it's better for this all to end?"
— Rand Al'thor, The Wheel of Time
Believe in nothing. There is no purpose in birth, no salvation of the soul in life, no reward after death. Abandon hope and you shall become free, and with freedom acquire emptiness.
— Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred, by Donald Tyson
"Life itself is only a vision; a dream. Nothing exists, but an empty space and you. And you are but a thought."
Live-Action TV
"There's only one thing that ever changes anything, and that's death. Everything else is just a lie. You can't be saved by a lie... you can't be saved at all."
— Connor, Angel
"Always so concerned with the human condition. It's no big mystery, man. They suffer, they die. That's what they're there for."
— Angelus, Angel
"World is what it is. We fight, we die. Wishing doesn't change that."
— Wishverse Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "The Wish"
"Dying. Everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart and I thought there's no point. No point to anything. Not ever."
— Lucy Saxon, Doctor Who, "Last of the Time Lords"
"Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb, but refuse. They cling to the realm, or love, or the gods... illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is. But they’ll never know this. Not until it's too late."
— Petyr Baelish, Game of Thrones
"The true meaning of life... the actual ethical system that you should all follow... is nihilism. The world is empty. There is no point to anything, and you're just gonna die. So do whatever!"
— Chidi (he gets over it), The Good Place, "Jeremy Bearimy"
"Just as a story's end mark completes it, people are completed through death."
— Kiyoto Maki, Kamen Rider OOO
"We all die in the end."
Finch: Have you forgotten her so quickly [after she died]? You've already discarded her, and you're a human being. Imagine how quickly that thing that you've created would discard you. Do you ever lay awake at night, wondering if one day it will see you as a threat? Or worse, as irrelevant?
Greer: How arrogant of you to think that any of us are anything but irrelevant.
Greer: How arrogant of you to think that any of us are anything but irrelevant.
— Person of Interest, "Aslyum"
"The ontological fallacy of expecting a light at the end of the tunnel, well, that's what the preacher sells, same as a shrink. See, the preacher, he encourages your capacity for illusion. Then he tells you it's a fucking virtue. Always a buck to be had doing that, and it's such a desperate sense of entitlement, isn't it?"
— Det. Rustin Cohle, True Detective
Scully: I hoped and prayed you were dead, you chain-smoking son of a bitch.
Cigarette-Smoking Man: You waste your time. Ask Mulder. He knows the futility of hopes and prayers.
Cigarette-Smoking Man: You waste your time. Ask Mulder. He knows the futility of hopes and prayers.
— The X-Files, "The Truth"
Music
Nothing can take the horror from me
Your sick world the loss of all morality
My hate has grown as strong as my confusion
My only hope, my only solution
Is a violent revolution
Your sick world the loss of all morality
My hate has grown as strong as my confusion
My only hope, my only solution
Is a violent revolution
— Kreator, "Violent Revolution"
Tabletop Games
All ends in obliteration — love in hatred, life in death, and light in empty darkness.
"Is not the only constant in the universe change? One day all this will be dust, and even the stars above us will flicker and grow dim. Your life is but a tiny candle in the darkness, and your death an afterthought, shorn of meaning by its insignificance.
Come, little one, and let me show you how your flame can burn bright..."
Come, little one, and let me show you how your flame can burn bright..."
— Vilitreska, Lord of the Flux, Warhammer: Warriors Of Chaos Army Book (7th edition)
To look upon a Great Unclean One is to gaze upon the face of decay, to realize that all things must break down, must collapse and congeal, must rot and rust and fall to ruin, that the great works of man will one day vanish from the universe, and the stars themselves must one day die.
— Deathwatch: Mark Of The Xenos
The world is a mad design, written in the dust of the vast, hollow emptiness. It was dust, is dust, and always will be dust. Use your knowledge to annihilate the world! Accelerate the cycle. Bring on Gehenna.
— The Absolutely Nihilism belief, Vampire: The Masquerade — Clanbook: Malkavian
The Light, the Fire, twists against Darkness. In the infinite Void, it sheds a faint and solitary glare. Sooner or later, it will consume all its tinder, sputter and go out forever.
Campfires. Hearthfires. Sunfires. Godfires. None of them last forever.
In the beginning, there was Darkness. And when the Sun burns out, as we know it will, to that Darkness we shall return.
All of us.
Campfires. Hearthfires. Sunfires. Godfires. None of them last forever.
In the beginning, there was Darkness. And when the Sun burns out, as we know it will, to that Darkness we shall return.
All of us.
— Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade — Infernalism
Theatre
Well, someone's got to clean them up, my friends
Before the little harvest
Disappears into the mud
Someone's got to collect their odds and ends
When the gutters run with blood.
It's a world where the dog eats the dog
Where they kill for bones in the street
And God in His Heaven
He don't interfere
'Cause he's dead as the stiffs at my feet
Before the little harvest
Disappears into the mud
Someone's got to collect their odds and ends
When the gutters run with blood.
It's a world where the dog eats the dog
Where they kill for bones in the street
And God in His Heaven
He don't interfere
'Cause he's dead as the stiffs at my feet
— Thenardier, Les Misérables, "Dog Eat Dog (the Sewers)"
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
— Macbeth, Act 5, Scene V
Video Games
Sword and crown are worthless here; I invite everybody to dance
Laborers, lawyers, church and gown, all make their little prance
This life is full of random deaths, and heaps of grief and shame
So few are soothed by "accident", you want someone to blame
Fire, plague and strange disease,
Drowned, murdered, or — if you please —
A long fall down the basement stairs
None are expected, no one cares
Laborers, lawyers, church and gown, all make their little prance
This life is full of random deaths, and heaps of grief and shame
So few are soothed by "accident", you want someone to blame
Fire, plague and strange disease,
Drowned, murdered, or — if you please —
A long fall down the basement stairs
None are expected, no one cares
— The Walrus, Alice: Madness Returns
"This world is a machine. A machine for pigs! Fit only for the slaughtering of pigs!"
— The Engineer, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Haer'Dalis: Everything ends, Edwin. Everything dies. The dust of a god looks much the same as yours and mine will.
Edwin: For a bard, I bet you're not much fun at parties.
Edwin: For a bard, I bet you're not much fun at parties.
"This world is nothing but lies, LIES, LIES, LIES!! Allow me to show you the one truth, the truth I'd like to call DESPAIR!!"
— Yuuki Terumi, BlazBlue
"It matters not who lives and dies! Blood is shed, as it has always been. There's nothing else... in this forsaken... existence..."
— Renegade Sgt. Avitus, Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising
"And what is this path, this meaning, this purpose, to which we gather the skulls of our foes? It is nothing. There is no meaning, no purpose. We murder. We kill. It is mindless savagery, this UNIVERSE is mindless. In mere hours, billions will die, innocent, guilty, strong and weak, honest and deceitful, ALL of them! They will scream, they will burn, and for no purpose but that mighty Khorne may revel in their bloodshed. And united in this void of purpose, fear, or duty... we, shall at long last, be FREE! Blood! for the Blood God! Skulls! for the Skull Throne! Let! the galaxy! BURRRRRN!!!"
— Chapter Master Azariah Kyras, Dawn of War II: Retribution
"What worth is wealth and power when all must inevitably be consigned to nothingness? If man has nothing, he need not know the pain of loss. So let there be nothing."
Kefka: Why create, when it will only be destroyed? Why cling to life, knowing you have to die? None of it will have meant anything once you do.
Terra: We live to protect the things we hold dear. When you have that, you can find the meaning on your own.
Kefka: Meaning, schmeaning. The whole world's going bye-bye, you included! Life, dreams, hope... Where do they come from, and where do they go? None of that JUNK is enough to fill your hearts! DESTRUCTION! DESTRUCTION IS WHAT MAKES LIFE WORTH LIVING! Destroy... destroy... destroy! LET'S DESTROY EVERYTHING!
Terra: We live to protect the things we hold dear. When you have that, you can find the meaning on your own.
Kefka: Meaning, schmeaning. The whole world's going bye-bye, you included! Life, dreams, hope... Where do they come from, and where do they go? None of that JUNK is enough to fill your hearts! DESTRUCTION! DESTRUCTION IS WHAT MAKES LIFE WORTH LIVING! Destroy... destroy... destroy! LET'S DESTROY EVERYTHING!
"All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came."
— Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Kingdom Hearts
Jabberwock: Gato, why?! You worked so hard to make a better place. Was it all an act?!
Yuto Gato: Make the world a better place...? Keke... Kuhahaha! AHAHAHAHA! HYAHAHAHA! Oh. Sorry for laughing Jabberwock, but you sound so foolish. Kekeke... Jabberwock, this world...is done. Humanity is lost.
Jabberwock: Gato...
Gato: I had faith in this world, I gave myself to it. But I was betrayed. No, maybe I never had faith in the first place.
Yuto Gato: Make the world a better place...? Keke... Kuhahaha! AHAHAHAHA! HYAHAHAHA! Oh. Sorry for laughing Jabberwock, but you sound so foolish. Kekeke... Jabberwock, this world...is done. Humanity is lost.
Jabberwock: Gato...
Gato: I had faith in this world, I gave myself to it. But I was betrayed. No, maybe I never had faith in the first place.
"Ideals?! WHAT A LIE!!!"
— Dr. Weil, Mega Man Zero
"Free will is a myth. Religion is a joke. We are all pawns, controlled by something greater. Memes: the DNA of the soul."
— Monsoon, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
"The pain and effort that keep me alive will never know relief, never bear fruit, never be repaid. I know that, but I told myself to focus on some hope, a nonexistent hope to guide me through this burning world. A hope — call it a dream. A melancholic delusion."
— Skull Face, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
"Remove the shadow from the light, the shadow grows. The legacy of life is death, Raiden."
— Shinnok, Mortal Kombat X
"This world holds only despair! It is not worth existing!"
"The truth is unattainable... It will always be shrouded in fog. Though you reach through the murk and the gloom to grasp something, you have no means to know it is the truth. In which case, why? What sense is there in yearning for truth?"
— Shadow Teddie, Persona 4
"I want to face the truth of myself and know I was right to throw everything away. To live for nothing but the thrill, and know that nothing else exists. And I want everyone to face that truth and come away knowing what their true selves are. I'd like to see the smile that was carved in me on every face. So they know and understand who they really are and what this world really is!"
— Black Dahlia, Skullgirls
"Why do flowers bloom knowing they are destined to wither? Their time of beauty is so short-lived."
— Merlina, Sonic and the Black Knight
"Maybe all the robots and death traps will finish Sonic, and maybe they won't. Does it really matter in the cosmic scheme of things? We're all gonna die eventually..."
— Zor, Sonic Lost World
"It's futile. The world will betray you. Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?"
— Mephiles the Dark, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
"There is no purpose. There is no value. There is no point. Life is ridiculous. The universe is one big joke and the joke is on us. The best we can hope for is entertainment. We'll get along as long as you provide amusement - fighting our wars for us, fixing our worlds, looking for meaning where there is none, and groveling in the dirt to fetch us plants. So keep it up! Just remember that we're laughing all the time."
— Blocks of Chance, volumes 4 through 6, Sporenote
Chun-Li: All the innocent lives you destroyed!
Juri Han: Give me a break, sweetheart. There's no such thing as innocent. It must suck to be so stupid.
Juri Han: Give me a break, sweetheart. There's no such thing as innocent. It must suck to be so stupid.
"Count Bleck does not care about any world! They are all meaningless. Better that I destroy them! Better yet, I shall make it as if they never existed at all!"
"Many years ago, Avatar, I went to Skara Brae, the ghost city. The way the world is now reminds me of that dead place. In Skara Brae I had a spiritual experience so profound that I have never spoken of it to another soul. I would like to share that experience with thee now, Avatar. There at Skara Brae I saw a man who was called The Tortured One. I asked this dead man, "Pray tell, what is the answer to the question of Life and Death?" He gave me no reply, and I asked him again. I beseeched him to impart some small parcel of wisdom upon me. "What is the answer to the question of Life and Death?!" He said nothing, but in his eyes... In his eyes I could see, Avatar, that he could not answer me for there was no answer to give. No answers to the question of Life and Death! It was then I understood. No meanings! No virtues! No values!!! ...I commend thee, Avatar, for reaching that same liberating illumination!"
— Batlin, should the Avatar resolve the plot of Ultima VII: The Black Gate by casting the Armageddon spell
"Or maybe... maybe you think you can "rise above" all that. But there ain't no heaven up there, honey, and there ain't no hell down below. There's only this shit every day until you die. Then you know what's the fuckin' kicker? You get up and keep walking. Now that's some biblical shit, ain't it?"
— Randall, The Walking Dead Michonne
"The preciousness of limited life, the beauty of death. You're intoxicated by that narcissism. It's such an incredibly human choice."
— Wilhelm, Xenosaga
Webcomics
Galatea: Oh no! Enough!! I'll grudgingly tolerate meaningless talk of 'abstract morality' from my miseducated sibling, but not from you chimps! Even my talk of 'destiny' is an illusion! I know that! For all of life is a meaningless farce, and I will wrest from it all the pleasure and power I can while I live! Molly was born in a freak accident! And I'm a redundant copy of that! My very existence proves the randomness of everything!!
Bob: Wha... how can you say that? I mean, look at you! You're... so smart! And weird! And amazing! How can you say you're not here for a reason? And that reason... can't be to hurt people!... It just can't!
Bob: Wha... how can you say that? I mean, look at you! You're... so smart! And weird! And amazing! How can you say you're not here for a reason? And that reason... can't be to hurt people!... It just can't!
"Good luck having a meaningless existence, with only one thing in the world that will ever make you feel better: your hand."
"Meaning? Fffuckin' holy men. Walk this rubbish-heap a while and ask the ghosts about meaning... Yeh've somethin' more precious'n all the world in your mitts: screamin', wrigglin', ruttin' life! But all yeh can do is ask why?!"
Jadis: The totality of space and time is a beautiful piece of amber, in which we are frozen. A speck... Of a speck of a speck of a speck of a speck of a speck. Upon this amber, all our decisions, all our triumphs, all our sins - in all possible worlds - are permanently engraved. Perfect, and perfectly still. Forever. It's not your fault, Allison. All things in their totality are immutable. We simply do what we do.
Allison: Then... What's the point in anything?
Jadis: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Jadis: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Web Originals
"I think there was probably a time when I had joy, or I experienced fleeting happiness. Or anger. Or fear. But God, it's just been so long, Merle. I used to spend my days considering the nature of time and existence, and maybe that brought me joy once. But, unlike everybody else who ever thought about those questions, who ever pondered the meaning of it all, I... and you may find this hard to believe, but... I solved it. I saw the fullness of Time, I pondered Eternity, and was the first person, and only person, to successfully visualize its treacherous arc. You're a Man of the Cloth, Merle. Certainly you've wondered, too, about what awaits our consciousness after death, or... [pauses, laughs] What am I saying? I've given you a first-hand experience a few times in this very room. Perhaps for some people who think about it, there's nothing but infinite oblivion, or the eternal erasure of your consciousness. Or for some, it's eternal life in their god's glorious kingdom, or eternal cycling through all the inhabitants of their world. Any of these options, Merle, any of them — erasure or contentment or revival — any of them are fine as abstract concepts. But eternally, Merle? Eternally? You can't possibly conceive of the length of Eternity. I have. It's maddening and hopeless, but it's this burden we're all saddled with from the moment of our creation. It's a finish line that, by its very definition, will never arrive. It stretches forever and ever. It's too ambivalent to even taunt those trapped behind it. It is the cruel price of existence, and it is too horrible to bear once you've seen it! Existence, Merle... Life, Merle... is horrible To exist, to live, is horrible!"
Asdrubael Vect: Life has no MEANING! Not really. Regardless of how long we extend our lifespans, regardless of our emotions, thoughts, and memories, regardless of everything that defines life to us — amalgams of matter who can reflect upon it — the universe itself shall dissipate, and as it does, so shall WE. In a million cycles, in a billion cycles, in a doudecillion cycles, in the dying throes of the galaxy, what will you find?!
The Star Child: What? You haven't planned that far ahead yet?
The Star Child: What? You haven't planned that far ahead yet?
Western Animation
"Life is a bitch and then you die."
— BoJack, BoJack Horseman
Real Life
"Nothing is tragic. Everything is unreal."
— Emile Cioran
"No one gives a shit."
— Anonymous
"Now all my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large. [...] To achieve the essence of real externality, whether of time or space or dimension, one must forget that such things as organic life, good and evil, love and hate, and all such local attributes of a negligible and temporary race called mankind, have any existence at all."
"Because, of course, everything is pointless, according to nihilists. Why get the CPU to calculate a Fourier transform, when it could just chill out while you have a cup of tea?"
