Quotes you can build a character off of III: It's a crowd

[Cluedrew]

To Michael7123: You are very welcome. It is good that people are actually building a characters off of these.

When you mentioned 'some' it made me think: There are a lot of quotes that word well with groups, because they don't really define something 'core' but at the same time they are still an interesting twist you can mix into a character.

Also I have a few quotes from another thread.

[...]I strongly urge you to watch both The Seven Samurai and its remake The Magnificent Seven (the old one, from the 1960s*) to see it done well, set in two very different cultures.[...]

O'Reilly: You think I am brave because I carry a gun; well, your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility, for you, your brothers, your sisters, and your mothers. And this responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton. It bends and it twists them until finally it buries them under the ground. And there's nobody says they have to do this. They do it because they love you, and because they want to. I have never had this kind of courage. Running a farm, working like a mule every day with no guarantee anything will ever come of it. This is bravery. That's why I never even started anything like that... that's why I never will.


Chico: Villages like this they make up a song about every big thing that happens. Sing them for years.
Chris Adams: You think it's worth it?
Chico: Don't you?
Chris Adams: It's only a matter of knowing how to shoot a gun. Nothing big about that.
Chico: Hey. How can you talk like this? Your gun has got you everything you have. Isn't that true? Hmm? Well, isn't that true?
Vin: Yeah, sure. Everything. After awhile you can call bartenders and faro dealers by their first name - maybe two hundred of 'em! Rented rooms you live in - five hundred! Meals you eat in hash houses - a thousand! Home - none! Wife - none! Kids... none! Prospects - zero. Suppose I left anything out?
Chris Adams: Yeah. Places you're tied down to - none. People with a hold on you - none. Men you step aside for - none.
Lee: Insults swallowed - none. Enemies - none.
Chris Adams: No enemies?
Lee: Alive.
Chico: Well. This is the kind of arithmetic I like.
Chris Adams: Yeah. So did I at your age.


Kambei Shimada: So. Again we are defeated.... The farmers have won. Not us.

Spoiler: My thoughts

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I feel these are quite indicative of the "out of place adventurer" (which considering the thread the quotes came from...). Who are even starting to doubt themselves, wondering what there place in the world and what are they really accomplishing.

Of course if you want to play this character long term, you also have this aspect of being too stuck in their ways to change. It is almost tragic, the hero time left behind.

[8BitNinja]

To Michael7123: You are very welcome. It is good that people are actually building a characters off of these.

When you mentioned 'some' it made me think: There are a lot of quotes that word well with groups, because they don't really define something 'core' but at the same time they are still an interesting twist you can mix into a character.

Also I have a few quotes from another thread.

Spoiler: My thoughts

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I feel these are quite indicative of the "out of place adventurer" (which considering the thread the quotes came from...). Who are even starting to doubt themselves, wondering what there place in the world and what are they really accomplishing.

Of course if you want to play this character long term, you also have this aspect of being too stuck in their ways to change. It is almost tragic, the hero time left behind.

I don't think that the hero not changing his old ways after the new comes in is tragic. The hero is now fighting not my for justice but now also for tradition and makes the hero have more depth. He's not a tragedy, he just has more to his story.

[Lord Raziere]

"Other people look out at the stars and see how insignificant they are in the grand scheme of the cosmos. I disagree with this. Out there are millions of stars- giant balls of plasma, spherical rocks and empty space, common as dirt, nothing special! However there is only one of me, my mind, my memories, my choices, my destiny. From that, I realized the truth: Because I am who I am, a unique individual who will be seen only once then never again- that I am more significant than all the stars in the sky."- a quote for any character in a space opera who sees things from a different perspective than the usual person.

[8BitNinja]

"Anyone can be heroic from time to time, but a gentleman is something you have to be all the time." -Luigi Pirandello

I think this perfectly describes a paladin who acts the way a paladin should act.

[goto124]

Could also describe someone who refuses to be a gentleman, after having a good part of life get consumed by 'having' to 'be' a gentleman. Maybe a social rebel of sorts?

[Cluedrew]

I don't think that the hero not changing his old ways after the new comes in is tragic. The hero is now fighting not my for justice but now also for tradition and makes the hero have more depth. He's not a tragedy, he just has more to his story.

That is another reading of it, but that isn't the one I got. It is the difference between choosing not to change and being unable to. The hero themselves is starting to wonder what this is all for and not turning up a very good answer. Even then it isn't really a tragedy, but it is a little bit sad.

Reminds me of another quote, actually I quoted a couple of other lines about this character but not this one: "Its been eight years, where have you been? What have you been doing for eight years!?" "Nothing." Which didn't mean that he had actually done nothing for eight years, but that it amounted to nothing.

Spoiler: "Trust him to not violate national security? Definitely. Trust him to not [abuse it for pranks]? Hell no!"

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-El Goonish Shive

Because good does not always mean on the straight and narrow.

Spoiler: "You're annoyingly curious."

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-Winter Melody

In an RPG you don't want to annoy everyone else too much, but still someone who is driven by their desire to find things out. And not just the ancient arcane secrets (to defence the classic D&D wizard) but just about everything. At any moment they could suddenly change course in pursuit of an answer to a probably trivial question. At least that is how I read the annoyingly part of the line.

Spoiler: "The weak? Let me tell you something about the weak. The strong push down and trod on the weak, the strong eat the weak is a basic law of nature. And yet every time, eventually the weak decide that is enough, drag themselves out of the mud and devour the strong whole. Boggles the mind."

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I'm not quite sure about this one, but my guess is a character involved in a rebellion of the lower class (the so-called weak) against the upper class (the so-called strong). The thing is I'm not even sure which side they are on. They could be explaining why they feel they have a chance, or they could be issuing a warning.

Spoiler: "They are too stupid to know what death it, so they don't lie down when you kill them."

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A bruiser type, not much of a planner but can take a beating.

In particular it reminds me of a barbarian build that (I cannot recall how) allowed the character to remain up on their feet and fighting well after they had been reduced to negative hit-points.

Spoiler: "Like having Hitler remember your birthday."

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-Between Failures

I'd say this is just an act of unexpected kindness from a generally unsympathetic villain. A minder that even the despicable villains can have some redeeming features.

[8BitNinja]

“Prepare to face my Super-Ultra-Mambo-Tango-Foxtrot martial arts!” -Captain Strong, EarthBound

A good one for a monk

[CrazyPenguin]

"They always say that if you kill a killer, the number of killers in the world stays the same. But what if I don't stop at one?"

[8BitNinja]

"In exchange for power, maybe I've lost something that's essential for a human being?"
— Saitama, One Punch Man

A good one for a Lich or Death Knight

[Cluedrew]

Spoiler: "I'll tell them that their father was a bad man."

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You sort of have to reverse engineer the context for this one. What I got when I did was a violent executioner. Perhaps a lawful one or a vigilantly but someone with a sense of justice but not one of mercy.

I am curious if anyone gets the same context for this quote as I did... which is why I'm not saying what it is. Please let me know what you get.

Spoiler: "How do you get the car to do that?"

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A very good driver. It makes me think of some of the less plausible tricks I have seen in movies. Still the other explanation is instead of bad editing is they are just that good. Replace the car with other normally unwieldy tool/vehicle if you so choose.

Spoiler: "If you go deep enough there is no where deeper to go and then we are all shallow."

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OK, the character I got from this one wasn't even based off the quote in question so much as the idea that it was mildly philosophic. Someone who will through an old saying, or just a overly thoughtful comment, into random conversation.

Spoiler: "... You're happy?" "Yes! Can't you tell? I haven't threatened to hurt anyone in days!"

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-El Goonish Shive

Well someone acts up when they are cranky. And apparently a little cranky even when they are happy.

"YISUN was questioned once by their disciples at their speaking house. The questions were the following:
'What is the ultimate reason for existence?'
To which YISUN replied, 'Self-deception.'
'How can a man live in perfect harmony?'
To which YISUN replied, 'Non-existence.'
'What is the ultimate result of all action?’
To which YISUN replied, 'Futility.'
'How best can we serve your will?'
To which YISUN replied, 'Kindly ignore my first three answers.'

Spoiler: -Spasm 8

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-Kill Six Billion Demons (4-71)

All you do is useless, but do it anyways. Think of a hero who saves the world, but seems resigned to another problem cropping up in its place and having to do it all over again. And yet underneath that is a crazed spark that keeps them going.

Also, spoiler labels to not handle multiple lines very well.

Spoiler: "Need to talk to Tedd? Are you sure you don't just... want to talk to Tedd? [...] No good can come from needing to talk to Tedd..."

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-El Goonish Shive

I pretty sure the original character (Tedd) just thought they were in trouble. But I can't help but thinking of a trouble shooter. Someone who people turn to when they are in trouble and something needs to be fixed. And when they come for that, they kind of need to talk to Tedd and the situation is bad.

[8BitNinja]

"Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid." -Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

[CrazyPenguin]

"We're not gonna die. Y'know why? Because we're so pretty. We're just too d*** pretty for god to let us die."

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

"Looks like we got here just in the nick of time! What does that make us?"
"Big damn heroes, Sir."
"Ain't we just?"

"I can kill you with my brain."

"Preacher, don't the Bible have some very specific things to say about killing?
"Very specific. I find somewhat fuzzy on the matter of kneecaps, however."

[Guancyto]

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
-The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats.

Campaign intro; one of my favorites.

"They are seven in number, just seven
in the terrible depths they are seven
Bow down, in the sky they are seven

In the terrible depths, the dark houses
They swell, they grow tall
They are neither female nor male
They are a silence heavy with seastorms
They bear off no women their loins are empty of children
They are strangers to pity, compassion is far from them
They are deaf to men's prayers, entreaties can't reach them
They are horses that grow to great size that feed on mountains
They are the enemies of our friends
They feed on the gods
They tear up the highway they spread out over the roads
They are the faces of evil they are the faces of evil

They are seven they are seven they are seven times seven
In the name of Heaven let them be torn from our sight
In the name of the Earth let them be torn from our sight."
-The Seven, translated from Sumerian

Campaign intro for epic level.

"The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out."
-Thomas Babington Macaulay

Is it harder to be Good as a Rogue than as a Paladin?

"You must never imagine, that just because something is funny, it is not also dangerous."
-Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere

Baaaaards!

[Mister Tom]

It is morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money. (Canada Bill Jones)

[Cluedrew]

"Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid." -Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

My favourite quote from that movie. It sort of inverts the predictability=lawful/unpredictability=chaotic idea. A chaotic person, being unbound, will always act freely. A lawful person on the other hand will act according to their morals, honor, promises and plans. And you can't always be sure of where that will take them. I know it doesn't always work out that way, but when it does it can mess with expectations.

"You must never imagine, that just because something is funny, it is not also dangerous."
-Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere

Baaaaards!

That is quite possibly the best answer to why are bards a class in a combat game I have ever heard.

Spoiler: "I do not deny that reality is a harsh place full of evil. I deny that we should allow it to remain that way."

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Fixing the worlds problems is a common enough goal for a hero. So I am going to work of the fact they had to clarify that they understand that the world is not perfect. So they are someone who appears to be optimistic and naive, perhaps hopelessly so. But really that is a reflection of how they want the world to be, not how the see it now.

Spoiler: "This spot marks our grave. But you may rest here, too, if you [wish]."

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-Dark Souls 3

I can't quite put my finger on this one, but I like it anyways. It sort of sounds like a kindly and polite undead*. Which considering most depictions of undead has them as mindless, evil or both, it is a nice change.

*Which might be an inaccurate description of who originally said it.

Spoiler: "Excuse me, I need to go cough up some blood."

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More than the fact they are coughing up blood (disease, battle injury), is the level "oh by the way" that fills the comment. You should probably be worry about that just a bit. So maybe they don't panic when they should, or maybe everything is OK and they are just that good at taking things in stride.

Spoiler: "Fear not the tyranny of the developers, for we hackers are many and we’ve nothing to lose."

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-Aita (Commenter)

It was about games and mods, but I feel this would be a good quote for a hacker (digital or more DIY type) in a cyber-punk story.

[Belac93]

"I'm not a good man. I was just in the right place at the right time."
-I dunno.

“Don’t be careful. You could hurt yourself.”
-Byron Katie

"We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will."
-Chuck Palahniuk

[Jenerix525]

Spoiler: "This spot marks our grave. But you may rest here, too, if you [wish]."

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-Dark Souls 3

I can't quite put my finger on this one, but I like it anyways. It sort of sounds like a kindly and polite undead*. Which considering most depictions of undead has them as mindless, evil or both, it is a nice change.

*Which might be an inaccurate description of who originally said it.

That is very different from how I read it.

Spoiler: My Interpretation

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A determined warrior who has decided to lay down his life in this one last battle.
I initially read this as a threat to his opponent, offering to drag them with him to the grave.
My second reading is speaking to his allies, asking if anyone else will join his apparent suicide mission.

Sidenote: I thought it said 'my grave' at first.

[CrazyPenguin]

"You know what else is great? Me."

"Run and live! That is an idea I can get behind!"

"It's not like he's only a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone."

"My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."

"I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?"

"I don't care what you do to me... but you are not messing with my team."

"You are one of my best friends. These past few months, I feel like we really bonded... even though you don't say much. I mean, you're really quiet. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that much about you personally; but, darn it, I consider you to be the brother I never had!"

"You were the first person to ever believe in me, you know that? Even when I told my parents I was going to Beacon, they told me not to worry if I ended up having to move back home. How depressing is that?"

"The Pyrrha Nikos I know would never back down from a challenge. And if you really believe it's your destiny to save the world… you can't let anything stand in your way."

[goto124]

Spoiler: "Excuse me, I need to go cough up some blood."

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More than the fact they are coughing up blood (disease, battle injury), is the level "oh by the way" that fills the comment. You should probably be worry about that just a bit. So maybe they don't panic when they should, or maybe everything is OK and they are just that good at taking things in stride.

Spoiler: My interpretation

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It sounds like something one would say after hearing or seeing something really disgusting. Similar to "I need to throw up".

[8BitNinja]

"Preacher, don't the Bible have some very specific things to say about killing?
"Very specific. I find somewhat fuzzy on the matter of kneecaps, however."

This is every cleric ever

[Guancyto]

"She seems so cool, so focused, so quiet, yet her eyes remain fixed upon the horizon. You think you know all there is to know about her immediately upon meeting her, but everything you think you know is wrong. Passion flows through her like a river of blood.

She only looked away for a moment, and the mask slipped, and you fell. All your tomorrows start here."
-Neil Gaiman

"When we hold each other, in the darkness, it doesn't make the darkness go away. The bad things are still out there. The nightmares still walking. When we hold each other we feel not safe, but better. 'It's all right' we whisper, 'I'm here, I love you.' and we lie: 'I'll never leave you.' For just a moment or two the darkness doesn't seem so bad."
-Neil Gaiman

Baaaaaards!

"Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot."
-Dream, Neil Gaiman, The Sandman

"Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds... Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe."
-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman

"Each person who ever was or is or will be has a song. It isn't a song that anybody else wrote. It has its own melody, it has its own words. Very few people get to sing their song. Most of us fear that we cannot do it justice with our voices, or that our words are too foolish or too honest, or too odd. So people live their song instead."
-Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

[eru001]

I SEE NOTHING, I KNOW NOTHING, I DO NOTHING
-Sgt Shultz

I always say I'll think of something, when I can't think of anything, but don't worry, I'm sure i'll think of something.
-Colonel Hogan

Well sure, I'd be great if the war ended, but then we'd be out of a swell job.
-Colonel Hogan

[8BitNinja]

I always say I'll think of something, when I can't think of anything, but don't worry, I'm sure i'll think of something.
-Colonel Hogan

This is every character ever

[Belac93]

"We're bad guys! It's what we do."
-Harley Quinn, suicide squad.

[HalfTangible]

"Only in the Space Marines of the Legiones Astartes are courage and expertise perfectly blended. In other troops they are present in varying degrees and proportions, and many scholars have debated their relative merits.
For my own part, I come down on the side of courage. For courage can sometimes make a virtue of inexperience. I myself have commanded Imperial Guard troops whose probitor units have achieved great things, because they were too inexperienced to realise that their goal was impossible." -Leman Russ

"You may consider the following. One: I entirely withdraw my previous offer of solemn ceasefire. It is cancelled, and will not be made again, to you or to any other of your motherless bastards. Two: you are no longer any brother of mine. I will find you, I will kill you, and I will hurl your toxic corpse into hell’s mouth." -Roboute Guilliman

"Make war, and move on. And again, and again, until nothing stands against us. All else is sophistry and pretty lies." -Ferrus Manus

...

Pretty much anything any of the Primarchs have said, really.

[8BitNinja]

"Only in the Space Marines of the Legiones Astartes are courage and expertise perfectly blended. In other troops they are present in varying degrees and proportions, and many scholars have debated their relative merits.
For my own part, I come down on the side of courage. For courage can sometimes make a virtue of inexperience. I myself have commanded Imperial Guard troops whose probitor units have achieved great things, because they were too inexperienced to realise that their goal was impossible." -Leman Russ

This is obviously not talking about the Colonial Marines

[HalfTangible]

This is obviously not talking about the Colonial Marines

I haven't seen any of the Aliens films but 'do great things because you're too inexperienced to realize your actual goal is impossible' sounds like the CM to me.

[8BitNinja]

I haven't seen any of the Aliens films but 'do great things because you're too inexperienced to realize your actual goal is impossible' sounds like the CM to me.

Yes, but the problem is that in Aliens (this is not much of a spoiler) is that as soon as the poop hit the fan, the Marines had no idea what to do. They were like Arnold's squad from Predator put in space.

Wait a minute...













(AvP)

[HalfTangible]

Yes, but the problem is that in Aliens (this is not much of a spoiler) is that as soon as the poop hit the fan, the Marines had no idea what to do. They were like Arnold's squad from Predator put in space.

Wait a minute...

The impossible goal in this analogy would be 'stopping the xenomorphs'

[CrazyPenguin]

"Listen, you don’t know me, son, so I’m gonna say this once: if I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed."