Your favorite Hope/courage/defiance quotes

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I just finished reading the Villainous Monologues and Ominous Quotes thread, and I’d be interested in hearing quotes that would work as a snappy comeback to those.

Like:

"[…]We are only men, master, have you heard of men?

“O, they live on earth like fishes, and a gasp is all their
breath.
God for empty honours only gave them death and scorn of
death,
And you walk the worms for carpet and you tread a stone
that squeals
Only, God that made them worms did not make them wheels.
Man shall shut his heart against you and you shall not find
the spring.
Man who wills the thing he wants not, the intolerable thing—
Once he likes his empty belly better than your empty head
Earth and heaven are dumb before him: he is stronger than
the dead.” – from “The Song of the Wheels”

“What [Hamlet] said with irony, I say with conviction: What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty. In form, in moving, how express and admirable. In action, how like an angel, in apprehension, how like a god!”
– Picard (duh :stuck_out_tongue: )

“I will take the Ring, but I do not know the way.”

“And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” – the book of Job

“There is some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for!” – Sam in “The Return of the King”

Take it away, y’all!

2

“Sanity may be madness but the maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be.” ~Don Quixote

3

Excerpted from Horatius at the Gates by Lord Macaulay –

"But the Consul’s brow was sad, and the Consul’s speech was low,
And darkly looked he at the wall, and darkly at the foe.
“Their van will be upon us before the bridge goes down;
And if they once might win the bridge, what hope to save the town?”

Then out spoke brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate:
“To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?”

4

“But I will say this: the rule of no realm is mine, neither Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task, though Gondor should perish, if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in the days to come. For I also am a steward. Did you not know?”

– Gandalf the White

5

“Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends, and break all bonds of fellowship; but it is not this day! An hour of wolves, and shattered shields, when the Age of Men comes crashing down; but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!” - Aragorn

Never read the Star Wars book it’s from, but I like this exchange I’ve heard quoted:

Anor: “There are thousands of warriors out here. You are only one man!”
**Rhysode: **“I am only one Jedi.”
**Anor: **“You’re insane!”
**Rhysode: **“No. I am Ganner. This threshold is mine. I claim it for my own. Bring on your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush. I don’t give a damn. None shall pass.”
And of course, Gandalf:

“You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udun! Go back to the shadows!”

“Come Anubis! You, your staff and all your power against the left hand of Set!” - Creatures of Light and Darkness; Set, who has just freed his left hand.

From In the Heart of Darkness

6

"Arise, my children.
Only the honor of a paladin is unbreakable–
–even by death itself.

Ghost-martyrs of the Sapphire Guard–ATTACK!"

–Soon Kim

7

“You’ve got to shake your fists at lightning now
You’ve got to roar like forest fire
You’ve got to spread your light like blazes all across the sky
They’re going to aim the hoses on you
Show 'em you won’t expire
Not till you burn up every passion, not even when you die
Come on now, you’ve got to try
If you’re feeling contempt, well then you tell it
If you’re tired of the silent night, Jesus, well then you yell it
Condemned to wires and hammers, strike every chord that you feel
That broken trees and elephant ivories conceal”

Excerpt from Joni Mitchell’s pep talk to Beethoven in the last verse of Judgement of the Moon and Stars (Ludwig’s Tune).

8

“Then we’ll fight in the shade.”
“Come and get them.”

9

I don’t remember which Alan Drury novel this exchange was in, (nor do I remember the quote precisely :slight_smile: ) but the story is set during the middle of the Cold War about the outbreak of WW3 between the Soviet Union and Communist China with the US in the middle. The Soviets send a telex to the Chinese saying “We will fight to the last Russian!”, and the Chinese respond, “After we kill the last Russian there will still be ten Chinese!”

10

“Stand firm, ye boys of Maine, for not once in a century are men permitted to bear such responsibilities!” --Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, just before ordering the Union bayonet charge that successfully defended Little Round Top on the second day of the battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.

“Anybody who doesn’t appreciate what America has done, and President Bush, let them go to hell!” - Betty Dawisha, Iraqi voter, 12/14/05

11

“If I fall, another will take my place, and another, and another.”
“But your great cause!”
“This is my cause–Life! One life or a billion, it’s all the same!”
“Then you make the sacrifice willingly. No fame. No armies or banners or cities to celebrate your name. You will die alone and unremarked and forgotten.”
“This body is only a shell. You cannot touch me, you cannot harm me. I’m not afraid.”
Delenn & Sebastian, “Comes the Inquisitor”, Babylon 5

12

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart. His passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse.
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, “These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the King, Bedford, and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered,
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
-Henry V Act IV scene iii

13

“Because we’re here, lad. No one else. Just us.”

–Colour Sergeant Bourne, Zulu

“They kneel for mercy!” – Eward II at Bannockburn

“For mercy, Sire, but from their God, not you. These men will conquer or die.”” – a subordinate whose name I have forgotten

“Am missing a cheek and one ear but able to whip all Hell yet!” – excited subordinate signaling to Sherman, US Civil War

“They damn near missed you.” – Sherman, upon meeting the man afterward and seeing the wound was not as bad as described.

"General, we have more men and more resources than these traitors and five times as much money. We must beat them in the end, but we must do it by poking them, buttiong them wherever we see them. By God, shall a United States ship of war hesitate to go in and destroy a dozen of these wretched Mississippi steamers? I am sick of hearing my officers talk of cotton-clad boats and impregnable rams. They should pitch in and destroy them.

What matters it, General, whether you and I are killed or not? We came here to die. It is our business and must happen sooner or later. We must fight this thing out until there is no more than one man left and that man must be a Union man. Here’s to his health."

–Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, US Civil War (Yes, “Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead!” Farragut)

"God…has been very kind to us this day.

– Stonewall Jackson, surveying the cornfield at Antietam/Sharpsburg, US Civil War

14

“Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”

From one of my favorite poems, Claude McKay’sIf We Must Die.

15

‘Since I gave up hope, I feel much better.’

16
  • Est-ce une revolte ?
  • Non, sire, c’est une révolution.
    – Louis XVI and Mirabeau

If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door in the country.
– Harvey Milk

Vous n’êtes pas tannés de mourir, bande de caves ? C’est assez!
– Claude Péloquin

17

"They are on our left; they are on our right. They are in front of us and behind us. The bastards won’t get away this time!

General Lewis “Chesty” Puller addressing his First Marine Division at the Chosin Reservoir, Winter 1950. There are several variations on this quote, but all have the same flavor

18

“Aw nuts!” - Gen. Anthony McAuliffe

19

“There. Are. Four. Lights!” - Captain Picard, ST:TNG.

“Arhys rides out now. Pity his enemies, for death on a demon horse descends upon them out of the darkness, bringing sword and fire. Many will bear him company on his journey to his Father’s Keep tonight, their souls like ragged banners borne before his echoing feet.” : The Paladin of Souls

“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” - Éowyn’s famous reply to the Witch King’s “No living man may hinder me” boast.

*I am N’Chaka, and I do not die.

I kill.* - Skaith novels

“I don’t duel, boy. I kill as a soldier kills, which is as a butcher kills, as quickly, efficiently, and with as least risk to myself as I can arrange. If I decide you die, you will die when I choose, where I choose, by what means I choose, and you will never see the blow coming.” - Cazaril’s reply to a challenge to a duel in The Curse of Chalion.

20

"Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world - “No, you move.”
- Captain America in Amazing Spider-Man #537