From television to literature, from movies to comic books, we are looking at awesome pieces of advice given by our favorite fictional characters.
“Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
—Jake, Adventure Time
Adventure Time is filled with amazing quotes that resonate deep within adults, despite being, on the surface, a kid’s show. This particular quote is made even more powerful because of its informality, which sounds like something a real friend with no real eloquence would say. We are all bad at doing things at first - even the things we love. I certainly wasn’t born writing, and I wrote so many terrible short stories before I wrote a good one, and even then, it wasn’t all that great. But I persisted and today I’m writing what you read, right now. I still don’t think of myself as a great writer, but hey, I guess I’m sort of good at it.
“Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it’s a plan!”
—The Doctor, Doctor Who
The Doctor had many different faces throughout several decades: he was young, he was old, he was childish, he was stoic… but if there’s one thing we know for sure never changed, is that no matter what life threatening situation he was up against, he never had a plan. And that is such a human characteristic for an alien character to have - because he is undoubtedly intelligent, but in the end he just pushes through the craziest scenarios not because he knows what he’s doing, but precisely because he doesn’t. And for all of us who go through life for years without any clue of what to do, this is very encouraging. Whatever mistakes and obstacles happen on the way, you pretend like it’s part of the plan, and keep going.
“I am no man!”
—Éowyn, The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
It’s well known that J.R.R Tolkien, writer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, never had many interesting characters in his literature. Perhaps this was only because of the times. Regardless, the author redeemed himself when, on the final chapter of the original trilogy (Return of the King), it was a woman, not a man, who defeated the lord of darkness Sauron. The tale of Éowyn is also well depicted in the movie adaptation by Peter Jackson, of a woman who has to fake being a man to enter the battlefield along with her uncle Theoden to take her part in the gigantic battle for the kingdom. Even more dramatic in the movie, since most important roles are played by men, Éowyn gets her own crowd-pleasing moment when Sauron taunts her by saying “No man can kill me.” To which she gives the powerful reply: I am no man!
“Some people can’t believe in themselves until someone else believes in them first.”
—Sean Maguire, Good Will Hunting
Oh, how true this is. We all want to believe in ourselves, but how could we? Since every little scrap of information is in our hands a second after they happen, we constantly feel outdated and terrified that the world won’t care about anything we have to say - and it often doesn’t. This sentiment was also explained on the famous Fight Club quote “We are not rock stars”, but I feel that phrase comes from a dark place, from someone who has lost hope and chose self-destruction, which is not the case here. All we really need is an encouragement. I don’t know anyone who had enough confidence in themselves to pull through everything without any support. I don’t even believe that’s possible. That’s why it’s so important to believe in people, give them your two cents, listen to what they have to say, leave a like for a drawing they just posted, tell them they look great - you may be that one person who believed in them first.
“I like the cover," he said. "Don't Panic. It's the first helpful or intelligible thing anybody's said to me all day.”
—Arthur Dent, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
A lot of people I talked to about this book seemed to think it’s was all too silly. I can’t argue with that. However, the magic of this book is how Douglas Adams makes this British silliness represent real problems from the modern world. There’s too much to talk about here, believe me, but this silliness is also present on the famous “Don’t Panic”, as stated by Adams, the only two words present on the back cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide. I can’t really explain how this works, but if there was a guide to life, the universe and everything else, the back cover should say “Don’t Panic” - because that’s mostly what we do. There’s too much information, too much drama, tragedy and mischief everywhere for us not to. And that’s precisely why I think “Don’t Panic” is the most sensible thing I can hear at any time in my life. So I got it tattooed on my left arm.
“Let me give you some advice, bastard: Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”
—Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones
Tyrion Lannister is by far the most interesting character on the TV Show, and it came as no surprise when I heard from many fans that he was exactly like that on the books as well. He is a bastard dwarf in a world where white men rule everything and women are traded as trophies, and yet, he walks and talks like the tallest man alive. The secret to that confidence was revealed with this simple quote when he’s talking to Jon Snow. He doesn’t try to hide who he is - he is proud of it. His strength comes from accepting his disadvantages and overcoming them by being superior in intelligence, rather than brute force.
“People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
―V, V for Vendetta
It’s quite simple when you think about it: governments are made of a handful of people, compared to the size of their country. The people are greater in numbers and arguably in intelligence - at least, individually. Governments are there to make a country a better place to live in, to invite friendly guests, to be home. And yet, governments often act against the cries of the population to attend their own individual needs and leave the people roaring displeased, making little to no effort to amend the situation. It’s usually when the people rise that change happens.
“Just because you are a character doesn’t mean that you have character.”
―The Wolf, Pulp Fiction
This cryptic line from Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece is some interesting food for thought, that applies both to our lives as it does to the actual movie - especially to Vincent Vega, played by John Travolta: a criminal who acts like a bad boy more than he is one. This idea is subtly painted across the entire Tarantino filmography, as he is a filmmaker who has always shown interest in messing with the ways of storytelling, and how the impact it has will change depending on the way it is told. Pulp Fiction would probably be an interesting movie if it was told linearly, but it became a classic because it wasn’t. And being the clever little minx that he is, Tarantino wrote this line to subtly break the fourth wall - a movie slang to determine those moments where the movie brakes illusion, ergo, when the characters realize they are characters. This is often achieved by filmmakers when a character looks and talks directly to the camera - the camera being the fourth wall. But there are more subtle ways to do that, and Tarantino loves it. With this simple line, he basically wrote a character with character telling another character without character that he has no character, despite being a character. Now point this line at yourself. Do you have character?
“You want to know something funny? Even after everything you've done, I would have saved you.”
―Batman, Arkham City
Batman is known to have incorruptible ideologies, despite common sense constantly tempting him to do the opposite. This line comes from the great Batman video game subtitled Arkham City, when after another set of terrible circumstances caused by Batman’s most resilient nemesis, the Joker, Batman STILL remains true to his nature when he vowed to not kill. This way of thinking has changed over time for the character, most notably on the excellent graphic novel The Killing Joke (by Alan Moore), when the Joker went too far, leaving Batman no other choice. Either the Joker would keep killing people and eventually kill him, or he would kill the Joker and end it all. It was a matter of common sense. But even then, just how long it took to bring the character to a breaking point is proof of how incorruptible he really is, so much that I don’t believe Batman would keep on killing after that - The Joker would be an exception. Some people think of Batman as some sort of prude for not killing, by saying “he could kill easily!” Well, yeah, that’s precisely the point of the character. Killing is the single easiest thing someone like the Batman could do. NOT killing, however, is the hardest thing for a man in his position. And I believe that’s the most honorable thing a hero could live by.
Did we miss any of your favorite quotes? How about you tell us all about them in the comments? And don’t forget to follow Datahand on Facebook for more awesome articles every week!
