Favorite Comic Book Quotes

Inspired by the favorites lyrics thread in the Music forum, post your favorite quotes from comics.

I'll start with an easy one: "With great power must also come great responsibility" originally from Amazing Spider-Man #15 (1962). Of course, it was quoted over the years in Spidey stories with some variations (usually without the "must also" part).*

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The fourth volume of Preacher, Proud Americans, collects various stories featuring the supporting cast (mainly villains) of the series. One of them is mini-series telling the origin story of the mysterious Saint of Killers from the days after the Civil War to him becoming the new Angel of Death. Coming back from the war, the unnamed man just tried to live his life, but somehow got involved with a religious girl. Eventually they were married and had a daughter. At some point the woman tries to encourage him to read from the bible to their kid, so she'll know how great the Lord is, claiming God was the one to make her husband a good person. The husband refuses and says he never was and never will be a man of God, then sums it all with: "Why can a man not turn to doing good, without the Lord getting all mixed up in it?"

"We plan for days and days and when the time comes, we proceed to improvise."
Quicksilver from Amazing X-men (AoA). I used to and sometimes still do, find myself muttering myself when something goes awry and I have to improvise or plan off the cuff.

Speaking of Amazing X-Men, I meant to post another quote from there: In the beginning of he third issue Magneto visits Charles Xavier's grave and on the tomb written: "Any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for."

The Question (Charles Victor Szasz/Vic Sage)

"The plastic tips on shoelaces are called 'aglets.' Their true purpose is sinister." - JLU

"What is character? Is it in your blood or can it be learned? Is it obvious or is it
impossible to define? Will you recognize it if you see it? Not if you have to ask."



Vic: " Black Adam! Shazam! Isis! "
Renee: "What the hell are you doing? "
Vic: "I was seeing if it was contagious"
- 52

"What makes a hero? Is he a man with super powers, who, when in costume, fearlessly seeks out dangers, daringly confronts all obstacles and performs great feats of bravery but then returns to his everyday life, living in helplessness and fear?...Afraid of what he says and how he acts for fear of revealing his secret identity, thus forcing himself to live unnaturally, stripped of the ability to face up to and act upon the everyday problems of life? His response to them may not be one of fearlessness, daring or bravery but one of a constant brooding about his inability to cope with them successfully! Is it a power or disguise that makes a hero or is a hero a man who faces up to the challenges and obstacles of life and acts on them in a manner that does credit to himself and the proper principles that have been proven to be true!? What makes a hero?"

"...for certain questions, the best answer...is no answer at all."

I can think of two off the top of my head.

"Why does everyone say my name like it means shut up?" -Jubilee X-Men#10

From Secret Warriors#4:

Jones: Tell me the truth… what are you going to feel when you put a bullet in one of those men, Nick?

Fury: Recoil.

Tomer Soiker wrote:Speaking of Amazing X-Men, I meant to post another quote from there: In the beginning of he third issue Magneto visits Charles Xavier's grave and on the tomb written: "Any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for."

That's a good one.

Batman25JM wrote:I can think of two off the top of my head.

"Why does everyone say my name like it means shut up?" -Jubilee X-Men#10

From Secret Warriors#4:

Jones: Tell me the truth… what are you going to feel when you put a bullet in one of those men, Nick?

Fury: Recoil.

I love those, especially the second one.

One of my favs:

From Seven Soildiers of Vitory: Zatanna (forgot which issue, may have been the second one), Phantom Stranger comes through carrying groceries, and yet he still sounds badass. This is how all his appearances should start off as.

"Storm clouds of doom gather overhead, as if a parliament of dour executioners were called to judgement on frail humanity in these final, ember hours of all we hold dear. Good evening, ladies. Good evening, all gathered here."

See below.

Not exactly a quote, but the opening of Alan Moore's Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow is one of my all time favorite comic lines:

"This is an imaginary story (which may never happen, but then again may) about a perfect man who came from the sky and did only good. It tells of his twilight, when the great battles were over and the great miracles long since performed; of how his enemies conspired against him and of that final war in the snowblind wastes beneath the Northern Lights; of the two women he loved and of the choice he made between them; of how he broke his most sacred oath; and how finally all the things he had were taken from him save one. It ends with a wink. It begins in a quiet midwestern town, one summer afternoon in the quiet midwestern future. Away in the big city, people still sometimes glance up hopefully from the sidewalks, glimpsing a distant speck in the sky... but no: it's only a bird, only a plane. Superman died ten years ago. This is an imaginary story...

Aren't they all?"

i like that old school batman quote:

"quiet or pappa spank"

Batman25JM wrote:
From Secret Warriors#4:

Jones: Tell me the truth… what are you going to feel when you put a bullet in one of those men, Nick?

Fury: Recoil.

I liked this one, too.

"That's how it ends, Doc. Not with a bang, or a whimper, but with a thwack." - Mr. Gone

"At least in his dreams he's some kind of superhero. Boy this city's full of people who are experts at avoiding reality, and with good reason. I'm not sure any of us wants to know what goes on at 3am in some stink ridden ally. God know who doing god know what. Best not to think about it, just push it down and go on." - Julie Winters

"Pain lasts, kid. It's how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management." - The Maxx (Br'er Lappin)

"They're all necro-nerds and Sand freaks. They think death is romantic. Death is hard and cold and ugly, not some cute chick." - In jest, Sam Kieth, through his character Sara, talking about Gaiman's Death of the Endless.

Batman25JM wrote:I can think of two off the top of my head.

"Why does everyone say my name like it means shut up?" -Jubilee X-Men#10

From Secret Warriors#4:

Jones: Tell me the truth… what are you going to feel when you put a bullet in one of those men, Nick?

Fury: Recoil.

This just reminded me of this:

BlueMaxx wrote:
"They're all necro-nerds and Sand freaks. They think death is romantic. Death is hard and cold and ugly, not some cute chick." - In jest, Sam Kieth, through his character Sara, talking about Gaiman's Death of the Endless.

I'm not sure it was a criticism or a gesture, but Gaiman's point was that Death is represented by this cute, nice, Gothic young woman - while her acts are tragic and not make her "happy" doing them. It's a necessity and the way the world works. Her looks and personality are meant to be unparalleled to her "occupation".

kidspider2099 wrote:i like that old school batman quote:

"quiet or pappa spank"

HAH!

Tomer Soiker wrote:

BlueMaxx wrote:
"They're all necro-nerds and Sand freaks. They think death is romantic. Death is hard and cold and ugly, not some cute chick." - In jest, Sam Kieth, through his character Sara, talking about Gaiman's Death of the Endless.

I'm not sure it was a criticism or a gesture, but Gaiman's point was that Death is represented by this cute, nice, Gothic young woman - while her acts are tragic and not make her "happy" doing them. It's a necessity and the way the world works. Her looks and personality are meant to be unparalleled to her "occupation".

Well, Sam Kieth drew Gaiman's Sandman's first story-arc, so it was poking fun at a friend's story, which, like The Maxx, was an underground success at the time.

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Rorschach

"Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon."

"You guys seem to forget--I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me!"

One in particular has always stuck with me.

Grifter from WildCATS, one of the early issues from the '90's

"If I were a normal man, I'd be dead. But I'm neither."

rwe1138 wrote:Not exactly a quote, but the opening of Alan Moore's Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow is one of my all time favorite comic lines:

"This is an imaginary story (which may never happen, but then again may) about a perfect man who came from the sky and did only good. It tells of his twilight, when the great battles were over and the great miracles long since performed; of how his enemies conspired against him and of that final war in the snowblind wastes beneath the Northern Lights; of the two women he loved and of the choice he made between them; of how he broke his most sacred oath; and how finally all the things he had were taken from him save one. It ends with a wink. It begins in a quiet midwestern town, one summer afternoon in the quiet midwestern future. Away in the big city, people still sometimes glance up hopefully from the sidewalks, glimpsing a distant speck in the sky... but no: it's only a bird, only a plane. Superman died ten years ago. This is an imaginary story...

Aren't they all?"

Hands down my fave quote too. You beat me to it.

I couldn't think of one clever way to stop this guy, so I just trusted to mindless violence. - Robot Man

Its more a visual quote than anything else



Post war Nikolai dante sees a poster of his pre war self in the bedroom of a young girl who became a suicide bomber and is sickened by what he's become

A great quote from a comic from the last decade or so
that was awesome or just gave you goosebumps
One I remember, was like oh shit
was "well, my god has a hammer"

From Blackest Night #7:

Scarecrow: "Not as much as me. FLY MY MONKEYS!"

"What did you say about Hank"--Wolverine, Wolverine Weapon X #11, in refference to Hank Williams.

"It's on bitch" -- Hank Pym to Reed Richards in Mighty Avengers.

"It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then... he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him."

-Batman

Black Cat to Spidey: "Calm down. You get so uptight about your bodily fluids..."

Superman: Believe me when I say I wish that violence wasn't necessary. But violence is the price we pay to accomplish a greater good. As heroes, we choose to protect that good with our lives.