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Film — Live-Action
"...I should've seen this comin'. Can't be top dog forever."
— Buster Scruggs, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Literature
"...it must be hard, being the best. You're not allowed to stop. You can only be beaten, and you're too proud ever to lose."
— Tiffany Aching on Granny Weatherwax, A Hat Full of Sky
When I was a fighting-man, the kettle-drums they beat,
The people scattered gold-dust before my horse's feet;
But now I am a great king, the people hound my track
With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back.
The people scattered gold-dust before my horse's feet;
But now I am a great king, the people hound my track
With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back.
— The Road of Kings, the opening epigraph to Chapter II of Robert E. Howard's The Phoenix on the Sword, the first Conan the Barbarian story
Live-Action TV
Dark Archer: Thank you for coming. After the warehouse, I knew I'd have to do something dramatic to get your attention.
Oliver Queen: What do you want with me?
Dark Archer: What any archer wants. To see who's better.
Oliver Queen: What do you want with me?
Dark Archer: What any archer wants. To see who's better.
— Arrow, "Year's End"
Oliver Queen: Guillermo Barrera. You have failed this city.
Barrera: You've built quite a reputation.
Oliver Queen: And you should have stayed overseas.
Barrera: I thought about it, but then I remembered...I've got a reputation, too.
Barrera: You've built quite a reputation.
Oliver Queen: And you should have stayed overseas.
Barrera: I thought about it, but then I remembered...I've got a reputation, too.
— Arrow, "Dead to Rights"
"Mr. Jesse Cardiff who became a legend by beating one, but who has found out after his funeral that being the best at anything carries with it a special obligation to keep on proving it. Mr. Fats Brown on the other hand having relinquished the champion's mantle, has gone fishing. These are the ground rules in the Twilight Zone."
Video Games
I don't wanna be invincible anymore if it means I have to fight guys like you!
— Tubba Blubba to Mario, Paper Mario 64
Web Video
Sometimes it's tough being the best.
Real Life
"I understand [Magnus' decision to not defend his title] fully. In a way, I was also getting tired of playing matches every year or two years several times in a row. In a sense, because I lost, this problem solved itself. Magnus' problem is a little bit that he isn't losing."
