Nietzsche Wannabe/Quotes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


"Now all my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large.... To achieve the essence of real externality, whether of time or space or dimension, one must forget that such things as organic life, good and evil, love and hate, and all such local attributes of a negligible and temporary race called mankind, have any existence at all."

"There's a hole in the world like a great black pit,
And it's filled with people who are filled with shit,
And the vermin of the world inhabit it...but not for long!
They all deserve to die.
Tell you why, Mrs. Lovett, tell you why.
Because in all of the whole human race, Mrs. Lovett,
There are two kinds of men, and only two:
There's the one staying put in his proper place,

And the one with his foot in the other one's face!

Look at me, Mrs. Lovett -- look at you!

We all deserve to die!

Even you, Mrs. Lovett, even I!

Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief!

For the rest of us death will be a relief!

We all deserve to die!"
"What we can do is limited. For precisely that reason, we need a world that is fitting for us. And we are the only ones who can accomplish that. Dreams, future, possibilities. She was born to put an end to these fleeting illusions. Everything follows the destined flow."
Wilhelm, Xenosaga
"That is one of the phrases that defines me. However, words give people many forms. Vector's CEO, head of Hyams, Ormus Patriarch, the Federation Executive Committee Director... All of those are nothing more than phrases that define me.They each define me, yet none of them are me. So far, the only one who can define me is you, Yeshua. I expected you to say that. You foolishly chose your death over restoring your time with Kevin. The preciousness of limited life, the beauty of death. You're intoxicated by that narcissism. It's such an incredibly human choice. But unfortunately, your life doesn't matter to me at this point. All I need is your power as the Maiden, the Key, and Mary. Are you perhaps bewildered? Zarathustra is one of the systems created by people in ancient times. It was used to ascend to the realm of God. It was orchestrated by Mary and its power source was you, right, Yeshua? But it didn't turn out the way they expected. God did not permit mankind's actions. So, in order to prevent the destruction of the universe, I bestowed upon it a certain role. That's right, Yeshua, the destruction you will bring. Everything that makes up this universe is connected by the collective subconscious. "Redoing" everything from nothing by acting upon that collective subconscious, and sending everything into the flow of imaginary time. This is the role I gave to the eternal circle, Zarathustra. U-DO is God himself. The "two Abels" exist as U-DO's observational terminals for this lower domain. In order to assure the continuation of our world, we must seal them away. We will cover the eyes of God, remove His influence from this world, and affect the recurrence of wills through Zarathustra. And that is precisely the reason why I exist. Shion, you are the Maiden. When you use your Key, Mary can lead the wills from throughout the entire universe to Zarathustra. Yes. Gnosis are the form of people who have rejected others and the world. They seek salvation. Faced with being overcome with loneliness and fading away, they choose instead to return everything to the beginning. Mary and I shall give them what they seek, the eternal recurrence! Are you ready to help, now?"
Wilhelm, Xenosaga
"Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something, for more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace, could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose! And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself -- although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love! You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson! You must know it by now! You can't win! It's pointless to keep fighting! Why, Mr. Anderson?! Why?! WHY DO YOU PERSIST?!"
Agent Smith, The Matrix Revolutions
"Life is meaningless! Chaos! The universe has no center! Its creator is a drooling idiot!"
Carnage, Spider Man
"There's only one thing that ever changes anything. And that's death. Everything else is just a lie. You can't be saved by a lie...you can't be saved at all."
Connor, Angel

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene V
"There's nothing in this world to believe in."
Vicious, Cowboy Bebop
"In my opinion, the existence of life is a highly overrated phenomenon."
Dr. Manhattan, Watchmen

Haer'Dalis: Ah, great and future plans, but is not tomorrow uncertain? Could not the end of all just as likely occur today as in a millennia?
Edwin: You assume my death to be inevitable, but perhaps I think beyond those terms. Mortality seems escapable by others, so why not me?

Haer'Dalis: Edwin, do you remember the name of the ancient Netheril god of the sea?

Edwin: Eh... no.

Haer'Dalis: Everything ends, Edwin. Everything dies. The dust of a god looks much the same as yours and mine will.
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

Kefka: Why create, when it will only be destroyed? Why cling to life, knowing you have to die? None of it will have meant anything once you do.

Terra: We live to protect the things we hold dear. When you have that, you can find the meaning on your own.

Kefka: Meaning, schmeaning. The whole world's going bye-bye, you included! Life, dreams, hope... Where do they come from, and where do they go? None of that JUNK is enough to fill your hearts! DESTRUCTION! DESTRUCTION IS WHAT MAKES LIFE WORTH LIVING! Destroy... destroy... destroy! LET'S DESTROY EVERYTHING!

[Kefka then explodes into sparks of magic, that fade while his sorrowful laugh echoes]

Owlman: Every decision we make is meaningless because somewhere, on a parallel Earth, we have already made the opposite choice. We're nothing. Less than nothing.
Superwoman: How can you say that? We're rich. We're conquerors.

Owlman: [pointing at alternate Earths] And here we're poor. We're slaves. And here, our parents never met, so we were never born. Here, the world ended in nuclear war. Here, no fish was brave enough to crawl up on land and humans never evolved. And so on, ad infinitum.
"What if I don't want the Pattern to continue? We live the same lives! Over and over and over. We make the same mistakes. Kingdoms do the same stupid things. Rulers fail their people time and time again. Men continue to hurt and hate and die and kill. What if I think it's all meaningless? What if I don't want it to keep turning? We live our lives by the blood of others! And those others become forgotten. What good is it if everything we know will fade? Great deeds or great tragedies, neither means anything! They will become legends, and then those legends will be forgotten, then it will start all over again! What if he is right? What if it's better for this all to end? What if the Light was a lie all along, and this is all just a punishment? We live again and again. Growing feeble, dying, trapped forever. We are to be tortured for all time! NONE OF THIS MATTERS! Why do we have to do this again?"
"It's like we're walking through a maze of sorts. There are always so many paths to choose from. We pick a path, and we follow it. You people walk your path believing that something you desire is waiting for you. I walk it to confirm that there is nothing there."
Rau Le Creuset, Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, speaking to Chairman Durandal in Episode 29 of Gundam Seed Destiny.
"In the end, we humans aren't so special. Just the components you need [to] make a common bomb. You, me, we're all hollow. Worthless."
Zolf J Kimblee, Fullmetal Alchemist.
"The truth is unattainable... It will always be shrouded in fog. Though you reach through the murk and the gloom to grasp something, you have no means to know it is the truth. In which case, why? What sense is there in yearning for truth?"
Shadow Teddie, Persona 4
"Nothing survives. Not your parents. Not your children. Not. Even. Stars."
Pinbacker, Sunshine

Galatea: Oh no! Enough!! I'll grudgingly tolerate meaningless talk of 'abstract morality' from my miseducated sibling, but not from you chimps! Even my talk of 'destiny' is an illusion! I know that! For all of life is a meaningless farce, and I will wrest from it all the pleasure and power I can while I live! Molly was born in a freak accident! And I'm a redundant copy of that! My very existence proves the randomness of everything!!

Bob: Wha... how can you say that? I mean, look at you! You're... so smart! And weird! And amazing! How can you say you're not here for a reason? And that reason... can't be to hurt people!... It just can't!
"Dying. Everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart and I thought there's no point. No point to anything. Not ever."
Lucy Saxon, Doctor Who
"Looked at sky through smoke heavy with human fat and God was not there. The cold, suffocating dark goes on forever and we are alone. Live our lives, lacking anything better to do. Devise reason later. Born from oblivion; bear children, hell-bound as ourselves, go into oblivion. There is nothing else. Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us. Streets stank of fire. The void breathed hard on my heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world. Was Rorschach. Does that answer your questions, Doctor?"
Rorschach, Watchmen

"Faithful… enlightened… ambitious… brethren. In but a single decade, a few mere swipes of the pendulum, we have gathered a sacrifice to Khorne that will be made legend. Though it was a simpler, weaker voice that illuminated me during my centuries upon the Judgment of Carrion.

It was Khorne’s messenger, who showed me the true path of freedom from our pathetic corpse-Emperor.

And what is this path, this meaning, this purpose, to which we gather the skulls of our foes?

It is nothing. There is no meaning, no purpose. We murder. We kill. It is mindless savagery, this UNIVERSE is mindless.

In mere hours, billion will die, innocent, guilty, strong and weak, honest and deceitful, ALL of them!

They will scream, they will burn, and for no purpose but that mighty Khorne may revel in their bloodshed.

And united in this void of purpose, fear, or duty… we, shall at long last, be FREE!

Blood! for the Blood God! Skulls! for the Skull Throne!

Let! the galaxy! BURRRRRN!!!

-- Chapter Master Azariah Kyras, Dawn of War Retribution

Sword and crown are worthless here; I invite everybody to dance
Laborers, lawyers, church and gown, all make their little prance
This life is full of random deaths, and heaps of grief and shame
So few are soothed by “accident,” you want someone to blame
Fire, plague and strange disease,
Drowned, murdered, or -if you please-
A long fall down the basement stairs
None are expected, no-one cares
I often must work very hard, sweat running down my skin
After the dance, I then must rest, and the eating can begin...

Time to eat! Death is the ultimate equalizer! All have the right to be eaten...
The Walrus, Alice: Madness Returns
"If we affirm one moment, we thus affirm not only ourselves but all existence. For nothing is self-sufficient, neither in us ourselves nor in things; and if our soul has trembled with happiness and sounded like a harp string just once, all eternity was needed to produce this one event - and in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed."
  1. Nietzche would call Kefka an active nihilist - one who responds to life's meaningless with rage and destruction. Because of that, he would hold Kefka in contempt.