Earn Your Happy Ending/Quotes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


We're neither pure nor wise nor good.
We'll do the best we know.
We'll build our house, and chop our wood,
And make our garden grow.

Candide, "Make Our Garden Grow"

"Sometimes it is hell trying to get to heaven."

The Undertaker

When the veil of dreams has lifted,
And the fairy tales have all been told,
There's a kiss at the end of the rainbow
More precious than a pot of gold.

Mitch and Mickey, from A Mighty Wind

Annie: One of the things about finding out what the world's really like is, you start to realise things. Connect things. You're harder to fool, because you don't want to fool yourself anymore.
Wee Hughie: An' what's the world really like, then?
Annie: It's... harder than I thought. Colder. [moves to hold his hand] But there's good stuff if you know where to look for it.

The Boys #26

I've fought reptilian monsters;
I've crossed a bloody sea
Just to -- Meet you here --
And now I'm coming home, my dear.
...
The light is warm,
Outside at dawn.
The garden has no weeds,
No grave beneath the tree.
Through the silent house
My love, after all,
Curled up in a ball,
There you are...

The Broken Bride, Part 3: The Lamb and the Dragon, by Ludo

I remember Daddy told me
Fairy tales can come true,
But you gotta make them happen,
It all depends on you!

Almost There, The Princess and the Frog

"There is no point to lessons that don't bring with them pain. People can't gain anything without sacrificing something after all. A lesson without pain is meaningless. But once you overcome that pain and make it your own, you will gain an irreplaceable Fullmetal heart".

Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist

"Equivalent Exchange doesn't encompass everything that goes on here, but I still choose to believe in its principle, that all things do come at a price, that there's an ebb and a flow, a cycle, that the pain we went through, did have a reward, and that anyone who's determined and perseveres, will get something of value in return, even if it's not what they expected."

Alphonse Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 anime

Happily ever after just takes time
Once upon this broken heart of mine.

The Beu Sisters, Once Upon a Broken Heart

Wonka: Charlie?!? My boy, YOU'VE WON! YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT, CHARLIE! I KNEW YOU WOULD! I JUST KNEW YOU WOULD! Oh Charlie, Forgive me for putting you through it! Please forgive me! (To Wilkinson) Come here, Mr. Wilkinson! (To Charlie) Charlie, Meet Mr. Wilkinson!
Mr. Wilkinson: It's a pleasure!
Charlie: IT'S SLUGWORTH!!!
Wonka: (Chuckles) No! No! No! That's not Slugworth, He works for me!
Charlie: For you?
Wonks: I had to test you, Charlie! And you passed the test! You've won!
Grandpa Joe: WON WHAT?!?
Wonka: The Jackpot my dear sir! The grand and glory, Jackpot!
Charlie: You mean the chocolate?
Wonka: The chocolate? Oh, Yes! The chocolate! But that's just the beginning! We have so much time and so little to do! Uh, Wait a minute! Strike that, Reverse it! Thank you! This way, Please! We will take the Wonkavator! Step in, Charlie! Grandpa Joe, Sir! (As the enter the Wonkavator) This is the great glass, Wonkavator!
Grandpa Joe: It's an elevator!
Wonka: It's a Wonkavator! Elevators can only go up and down. But a Wonkavator sideways, frontways, backways, squareways,
Charlie: And frontways?
Wonka: And anyway you go. Just press the key and ZING! You are off! By now, I pressed all the keys in to the entire factory. Except one! (Points the key to Charlie) Go ahead, Charlie! Press it!
Charlie: Me? (Presses the key Wonka never pressed)
Wonka: Here we go! Not sure what's gonna happen next! Faster, Faster, If we don't get enough speed, we'll never get all the way through!
Charlie: But where are going to?
Wonka: Up and Out!
Grandpa Joe: You mean it?
Wonka: I certainly do!
Grandpa Joe: (Horrified) But this roof is made out of glass! It's gonna smash into bits and pieces. And we will all be cut to ribbons.
Wonka: We probably will! (In Caution) HOLD ON TIGHT, EVERYBODY! HERE IT COMES!
(The Wonkavator crashes through roof of the Wonkafactory, Nobody was cut to ribbons)
Grandpa Joe: WOW! YOU DID IT, MR. WONKA! CONGRATULATIONS!
Wonka: Get up, Charlie! Take a look!
Charlie: WOW! The city looks nice from up here!
Grandpa Joe: And we can see our house from up here!
Charlie: And there's my school!
Wonka: How did you like my chocolate factory, Charlie?
Charlie: It's the best place in the world!
Wonka: I am glad you can say that! Because I am giving it to you! You wouldn't mind that!
Grandpa Joe: WHAT?!? YOU'RE GIVING THE FACTORY TO CHARLIE?!?
Wonka: I can't go on forever! And I don't want to try! So, Who I can trust someone to run my chocolate factory when I leave? Not a grown up!

Child: Does it come with a happy ending?
Percy: I'm afraid we can't guarantee that.

It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end... because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.

Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

G. K. Chesterton

Suddenly he was afraid... The woman in front of him was an almost complete stranger. Though he had never stopped thinking about her and how much he wanted to be with her in the prison camps, it struck him so forcibly that in their nine years of marriage, this was just their fifth day together as man and wife.

—Closing Line - Enemy at the Gates (The Book).

"Stepsisters slicing off toes to fit into glass slippers, little girls cutting their way out of wolves' bellies...Happily ever after doesn't come cheap, that's for sure."

—"For Lizzy", a short story by Anton Strout.

Eddy: We did it, Double D! Everyone loves us! We're finally in, baby!
Edd/Double D: And it only took 130 episodes, 4 specials, and a movie, Eddy!
Ed: Let's sing a song!

Would you like to see again the writing of this world?
Take the colours that He has chosen for you to paint with.
Take the good, the bad, and without sorting them out, accept them.
Don't cover your eyes, look at them all.

I'll trust my heart. What else can I do?
I can't live in dreams if my dreams are to come true.
There's a better life that's waiting! Past the mountains I must climb.
I will take a chance on love to get my once upon a time!
Oh, I want so much more, so much more than a dream!

More Than a Dream, Cinderella III: A Twist in Time

Do not check up on me if you think she's asleep. You need to make her your world tonight. You both need to trust I'm as cool with this as I say I am. I know that's tough for you, but happy endings ain't for wimps.

—Ally to Rikk concerning Rumy, Fans

If you would ever see peace again, make war now with all your heart!

—Farseer Taldeer, Dawn of War

"Seven long years I served for thee,
The glassy hill I clomb for thee,
Thy bloody clothes I wrang for thee;
And wilt thou not waken and turn to me?"
He heard, and turned to her."

The Black Bull of Norroway

"James...earn this. Earn it."

Captain Miller, Saving Private Ryan

"People who want happy endings have to write their own."

Only the strong ones
Can stand the test of time
Caught in between these two worlds
Finding our way
The sun will rise
To pierce the skies
When this wonderful world
Starts to shine

Refrain of the Dark Cloud 2 Theme Song Time is Changing

"If we were ever to do another Portal, I would like for Chell to kind of... she's been through a lot. Let her have her day."

Erik Wolpaw, Portal 2 writer

In a fairy-tale our heroes have to walk through the dark forest, kill the monsters, evade the giant spiders but the important thing, without which the story could never be written, is that they emerge from the other side, into the light. [...] You need tragic relief. You need darkness for the light to show up. A truly dark novel would be a forest with no way out.

Terry Pratchett

Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones.

Fix You, Coldplay

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

Conan O'Brien, in his last Tonight Show episode