Quotes / Yank the Dog's Chain

Little boy at peace,
What is this place, beyond the stars?
Open up your eyes.
What are these things...you're moving toward?
Head so full of wonder,
Worries in the past,
Could it be that you are free at last?

NO!!!!

— "Hell Isn't Good," South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

That is Absolute Despair . . . When hope appears to be at hand, but then you find it beyond your reach, that is when your despair becomes deepest.

—Anti-spiral Nia, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Vir: Well, let's see: The war is over, the Shadows are gone forever, the Vorlons are gone forever, Cartagia's dead and we saved Centauri Prime. Now, I'm not expert but I think you should feel happy.
Londo: Perhaps, but every time I have been happy the universe has conspired to do something nasty to me.

—Babylon 5 ("Into the Fire")

Narrator: Then Kanji got a Persona!
Kanji: Hell yeah!
Narrator: Too bad you'll never use him in battle.
Kanji: Aw, man...

—Hiimdaisy's Big Long Persona 4 Webcomic

There's a reason why this prison is the worst hell on earth... Hope. Every man who has ventured here over the centuries has looked up to the light and imagined climbing to freedom. So easy... So simple... And like shipwrecked men turning to sea water from uncontrollable thirst, many have died trying. I learned here that there can be no true despair without hope.

—Bane, The Dark Knight Rises

Narrator: And now... for a new character introduction!
Kyoko: Oh shit! Is it me- Is it me?! Oh, dear God, please say it's m-
Narrator: HITOMI!
Kyoko: What the fuck?! She isn't even a new character! Whyyyyyy? Why would you even SAY THAT?

—The Narrator, Meduka Meguca, Episode 2

Sokka: Well, Aang, because when I'm being pursued by people who want to kill me, I'd rather throw them off by walking through a dense forest than fly through an empty sky on a giant freaking bison!
Katara: That may make sense, but since you're trying to be The Leader, I'm guessing this is gonna fail horribly.
Sokka: Oh c'mon, the writers don't hate me that muuuu....

— Avatar: The Abridged Series

"You can't understand how this feels. Knowing that one day, without any warning, it's all going to be reset. Look, I gave up trying to go back a long time ago. And going to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore either. 'Cause even if we do, we'll just end up back here without any memory of it, right? To be blunt... it makes it kind of hard to give it my all."

— Sans in the Genocide route, Undertale

"I was the happiest guy in the world. But fate likes to play a little game called 'Up Yours, Moe'."

— Moe Szylak, The Simpsons, "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story"

"You gave me hope and then you took it all away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it'll do to me. Basically... RUN!"

—The Doctor, Doctor Who, "The Doctor's Wife"

I think I'm afraid to be happy, because whenever I get too happy, something bad always happens.

— Charlie Brown, Peanuts

Melbourne fans, take it from a Saints supporter: Just because it’s been decades since your last premiership, just because you finished top of the ladder, just because you’ve been the best team all season, just because everyone wants you to win, just because you deserve it, doesn’t mean you’ll win!

— Simon Whelan, The Coodabeen Champions, on the day of the 2021 Australian Football League Grand Final (This exact scenario had happened to the Saints multiple times. Melbourne won.)

"Nooo, I was finally valued! Nooooo!"

— Green Lantern during Armamageddon, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

Why does nothing ever go right for me? Every time I get so much as a snifter of a break, a glimpse of a shadow of happiness, something inexplicably cruel happens and it all blows up in my face!

—Arnold Rimmer, Red Dwarf, "Timeslides"

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