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Literature
Lu-Tze: It was... a long time ago. Exactly when doesn't matter, 'cos of what happened. In fact, asking exactly "when" doesn't many any sense anymore. It depends where you are. In some places it was hundreds of years ago. Some other places... well, maybe it hasn't happened yet. [...] History shattered. It was the only thing that could give. Very strange event. There were cracks left all over the place. The... oh, I can't remember the words - the fastenings, which tell bits of the past which bits of the present they belong to, they were flapping all over the place. Some got lost forever. We stitched it up as best we could. Up and down history. Filling up holes with bits of time taken from somewhere else. It's a patchwork, really.
Lobsang: Didn't people notice?
Lu-Tze: Why should they? Once we'd done it, it had always been like that. You'd be amazed with what we got away with.
Lobsang: Didn't people notice?
Lu-Tze: Why should they? Once we'd done it, it had always been like that. You'd be amazed with what we got away with.
[Susan] turned a page.
Seen through her business eye, history was very strange indeed. The scars stood out. The history of the country of Ephebe was puzzling, for example. Either its famous philosophers lived for a very long time, or inherited their names, or extra bits had been stitched into history there. The history of Omnia was a mess. Two centuries had been folded into one, by the look of it, and it was only because of the mind-set of the Omnians, whose religion mixed the past and future with the present in any case, that it could possibly have passed unnoticed.
And what about Koom Valley? Everyone knew that there had been a famous battle there, between dwarfs and trolls and mercenaries on both sides, but how many battles had there actually been? Historians talked about the valley being in just the right place in disputed territory to become more or less the preferred local pitch for all confrontations, but you could just as easily believe - at least you could if you had a grandfather called Death - that a patch that just happened to fit had been welded into history several times, so that different generations went round through the whole stupid disaster again and again, shouting "Remember Koom Valley!" as they did so.
Seen through her business eye, history was very strange indeed. The scars stood out. The history of the country of Ephebe was puzzling, for example. Either its famous philosophers lived for a very long time, or inherited their names, or extra bits had been stitched into history there. The history of Omnia was a mess. Two centuries had been folded into one, by the look of it, and it was only because of the mind-set of the Omnians, whose religion mixed the past and future with the present in any case, that it could possibly have passed unnoticed.
And what about Koom Valley? Everyone knew that there had been a famous battle there, between dwarfs and trolls and mercenaries on both sides, but how many battles had there actually been? Historians talked about the valley being in just the right place in disputed territory to become more or less the preferred local pitch for all confrontations, but you could just as easily believe - at least you could if you had a grandfather called Death - that a patch that just happened to fit had been welded into history several times, so that different generations went round through the whole stupid disaster again and again, shouting "Remember Koom Valley!" as they did so.
It's like, take a piece of paper and draw a line on it. Then from the end of that line draw a bunch of branches. Then from the end of each of those branches, draw a bunch more. That's time.
Now take that tree you've just drawn. Put it on a desk. And empty your inkwell onto it. That's what happens when a time machine blows up.
Now take that tree you've just drawn. Put it on a desk. And empty your inkwell onto it. That's what happens when a time machine blows up.
— Tycho Green, Shrapnel
Live-Action TV
Illyria: Odd. It doesn't exist until it cracks apart.
Wesley: What?
Illyria: Time.
Wesley: What?
Illyria: Time.
Tom Servo: (holding a chicken puppet) Yeah, Mike, I was just wondering that myself. Weird, isn't it?
Mike Nelson: (arriving) Oh hey, Tom... how'd you get here so fast?
Servo: Oh, he'll be along, I have his chicken puppet.
Mike: Hey, where's Crow?
Servo: Talking like what?
Mike: Why you talking like that?
Servo: No I'm not, I'm just way ahead of you, Mike.
Mike: Well like that, you're answering my questions before I ask them. (aside) I dunno, I'm just asking him the same thing.
Servo: No, you dope, I mean I'm moving faster than you temporally speaking.
Mike: Hey, whaddya mean you're way ahead of me?
Servo: Well I asked you for it, Crow, you were right here.
Crow: (arriving) Hi, guys! Hey, how'd you get here so fast?
Servo: That's what I've been trying to tell you, Mike, I'm ahead of you by about three seconds.
Mike: You know what, guys? I think there might be something wrong with the space-time continuum...
Crow: Servo, how'd you get my chicken puppet?
Gypsy: (arriving) Nope, sorry, everything's on the fritz. My burrito was done before I put it in the oven. (leaves)
Servo: Alright, alright, take your damn chicken puppet! I'll have it back before you even know it anyway, heehee.
Mike: (giving Crow the chicken puppet) Hey Tom, why don't you just give him back his chicken puppet, alright?
Servo: Say, why don't we ask Gypsy to mess with the warp engine?
Crow: Well all I know is I want my chicken puppet back! (looks at it in his hand) Hey, how'd that happen?
Mike: (to Servo) That's a good idea. (aside) Gypsy, there's something wrong with the spacetime thingy, isn't there anything we can do?
Servo: Okay, Gypsy, I guess all we can do is ride it out. I'm out of here. (leaves)
Mike: Okay, Gypsy, I guess all we can do is ride it out. I'm... wow, some weird déjà vu.
Servo: (walks past the foreground, giggling, Crow's chicken puppet in hand)
Mike: Yeah, that's a good idea, Crow, you do that. (to camera) We'll be right back. (leaves)
Crow: Well, I'm just gonna play with my chicken puppet 'til this blows over. I'll see you Mike, Tom. (leaves with his puppet, whistling)
(beat)
Crow: (arriving) Hey. Anybody seen my chicken puppet?
Mike Nelson: (arriving) Oh hey, Tom... how'd you get here so fast?
Servo: Oh, he'll be along, I have his chicken puppet.
Mike: Hey, where's Crow?
Servo: Talking like what?
Mike: Why you talking like that?
Servo: No I'm not, I'm just way ahead of you, Mike.
Mike: Well like that, you're answering my questions before I ask them. (aside) I dunno, I'm just asking him the same thing.
Servo: No, you dope, I mean I'm moving faster than you temporally speaking.
Mike: Hey, whaddya mean you're way ahead of me?
Servo: Well I asked you for it, Crow, you were right here.
Crow: (arriving) Hi, guys! Hey, how'd you get here so fast?
Servo: That's what I've been trying to tell you, Mike, I'm ahead of you by about three seconds.
Mike: You know what, guys? I think there might be something wrong with the space-time continuum...
Crow: Servo, how'd you get my chicken puppet?
Gypsy: (arriving) Nope, sorry, everything's on the fritz. My burrito was done before I put it in the oven. (leaves)
Servo: Alright, alright, take your damn chicken puppet! I'll have it back before you even know it anyway, heehee.
Mike: (giving Crow the chicken puppet) Hey Tom, why don't you just give him back his chicken puppet, alright?
Servo: Say, why don't we ask Gypsy to mess with the warp engine?
Crow: Well all I know is I want my chicken puppet back! (looks at it in his hand) Hey, how'd that happen?
Mike: (to Servo) That's a good idea. (aside) Gypsy, there's something wrong with the spacetime thingy, isn't there anything we can do?
Servo: Okay, Gypsy, I guess all we can do is ride it out. I'm out of here. (leaves)
Mike: Okay, Gypsy, I guess all we can do is ride it out. I'm... wow, some weird déjà vu.
Servo: (walks past the foreground, giggling, Crow's chicken puppet in hand)
Mike: Yeah, that's a good idea, Crow, you do that. (to camera) We'll be right back. (leaves)
Crow: Well, I'm just gonna play with my chicken puppet 'til this blows over. I'll see you Mike, Tom. (leaves with his puppet, whistling)
(beat)
Crow: (arriving) Hey. Anybody seen my chicken puppet?
Toys
All your plans and schemes would come to an end, because no matter what you attempted, I could walk into the past and undo it. Kill me today, and I will be waiting for you in some tomorrow to avenge my death. Think of it - can you rule a future that is in the past? Or a present that is still a century away? Could you ever be sure what you have done and what you haven't, when months and years have merged together?
— Toa Vakama, BIONICLE
Video Games
A future denied of all existence because of a change in the past... A future that was destroyed even before it was born rests here... condensed into the Dead Sea.
— Miguel, Chrono Cross
Time shatters, a shot echoes into eternityOrginal Finnish
— Control, "Sankarian Tango" referencing Quantum Break
We have lost all sense of time. Past and future are like up and down, and we would walk them if we could, back to a place before Nessus, but we will always be on Nessus, too. I don't know. I don't know. They are trying to understand us. They must think like rivers. We are now receiving our own distress calls. I sound calmer than I feel.
Accounts of the Middle Dawn are the province of the Empire of Men, and proof of the deceit that call themselves the Aedra. Eight stars fell on Tamriel, one for each iniquity that Lorkhan made clear to the world. Veloth read these signs, and he told Boethiah, who confirmed them, and he told Mephala, who made wards against them, and he told Azura, who sent ALMSIVI to steer the True Folk clear of harm. Even the Four Corners of the House of Troubles rose to protect the periphery of your madness. We watched our borders and saw them shift like snakes, and saw you run around in it like the spirits of old, devoid of math, without your if-thens, succumbing to the Ever Now like slaves of the slim folly, stasis. Do not ask us where we were when the Dragon Broke, for, of all the world, only we truly know, and we might just show you how to break it again.
— Mehra Nabisi, Triune Mistress of the New Temple, Where Were You When the Dragon Broke?
Tiid krent. Time was... shattered here because of what the ancient Nords did to Alduin. If you brought that kel, that Elder Scroll back here... to the Tiid-Ahraan, the Time-Wound... With the Elder Scroll that was used to break Time, you may be able to... cast yourself back. To the other end of the break.
— Paarthrunax, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Explosion make time go bad. If time is an egg, then that egg is fucking broken. The time egg is fucked!
— William Joyce, Quantum Break
Alright, this next test may involve trace amounts of Time Travel. So, word of advice: if you meet yourself on the testing track, don't make eye contact. Lab boys tell me that'll wipe out time. Entirely. Forward and backward. So do both of yourselves a favor and just let that handsome devil go about his business.
— Cave Johnson, Portal 2
