Good Is Not Nice/Quotes

Do not put your faith
In a cape and a hood,
They will not protect you
The way that they should.
And take extra care of strangers,
Even flowers have their dangers,
And though scary is exciting,
Nice is different than good.

—Little Red Riding Hood, Into the Woods

You're all so nice. You're not good, you're not bad, you're just nice. Well I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right!

—The Witch, Into the Woods

Good is not nice, polite, well-mannered, self-righteous, or naive, though good characters may be some of these things.

—The Book of Exalted Deeds, Dungeons & Dragons

Mercy is the mark of a great man. (stab) Guess I'm just a good man. (stab) Well, I'm alright.

—Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly

"Sweet," maybe. "Passionate," I suppose. But don't ever mistake that for "nice."

—The Doctor, Doctor Who

"Is he -- quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you."

—The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

—The Bible (New International Version), Proverbs 27:5-6

Speak when spoken to, Uvenk. I'll drag your clan to glory whether you like it or not.

—Urdnot Wrex, Krogan Overlord of Tuchanka, Mass Effect 2

Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.

—Death, The Book Thief

I don't have time to justify myself to your viewers. I have a galaxy to save.

—Commander Shepard, Mass Effect 1

I sacrificed thousands of lives to save the Destiny Ascension! I unleashed the rachni on the galaxy! So for your sake, hope your escape plan doesn't hinge on me hesitating to shoot a damn hostage!

—Paragon Shepard, Mass Effect 2

If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat. They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar. So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.

—Men at Arms, on Carrot Ironfoundersson

You may be a hero, Jack Knight, but that still doesn't make you a nice person.

—Lucy, Starman #17

We're the Emperor's Angels of Death, Thaddeus, not His Angels of Mercy.

—Sgt. Avitus, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2

People like you always mistake compassion for weakness. Michael and Sanya aren't weak. Fortunately for you, they are good men. Unfortunately for you, I'm not.

—Harry Dresden, Death Masks

Get lost. I'm not a babysitter.

—Sol Badguy's win quote against Bridget, Guilty Gear

You're really not my type, man. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to pass.

—Ragna the Bloodedge's win quote against Iron Tager, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

It's alright, I can handle this myself. You're just gonna take pictures again, aren't you...

—Reimu Hakurei to Aya Shameimaru, Touhou Musoukakyou: A Summer Day's Dream

Freudia, do not stand in my way.

—Grolla Seyfarth to Freudia Neuwahl, Rosenkreuzstilette

Kagome! Inuyasha hit me!

—Shippo, Inuyasha

Waaaaah! Kyo hit me!

—Momiji Sohma, Fruits Basket

We're the Light Ones, not the Saint ones.

—Anton (considering burning down a cafe where the owner tried to poison him), Night Watch

Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness, but it is righteousness and not peace which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience to another's keeping.

—Theodore Roosevelt

I may be on the side of the angels... But don't think for one second that I am one of them.

—Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock, The Reichenbach Fall

The terrible thing is that a perfectly good God is in this matter hardly less formidable than a Cosmic Sadist. The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed — might grow tired of his vile sport — might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But, suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good.; The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless. But is it credible that such extremities of torture would be necessary for us? Well, take your choice. The tortures occur. If they are unnecessary, then there is no God or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary. For no even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren’t.
Either way, we’re for it.
What do people mean when they say, “I am not afraid of God because I know He is good”? Have they never been to a dentist?

—C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

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