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Fire Emblem

Fire Emblem is a strategy and role-playing video game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu)

 * "Hey, you're draggin'! Now pick up the pace!!" - Gandolf (to Aideen)
 * "She's my booty! I'm takin' her back to be my wife. She's a keeper, wouldn't ya say?" - Gandolf (to Gerard, referring to Aideen)
 * "You're strong, reliable, ... and slow! You're the one, hands down! Hahahaa!" - Alec (to Arden)
 * "Hrmph. I can live with the strong and reliable part, but leave the slow bit out of it, ok?" - Arden (back to Alec)
 * "Hey, isn't that Midale!? Come on, Midale... pull it together!" - Sigurd
 * "Sigurd, I'm leaving him with you in good faith. Show him the ropes, OK?" - Alvis (referring to Azel)
 * "We'll find a cozy little spot, have a little wine ... just like old times." - Sigurd (to Eltosian)
 * "You pull any stunts and that lit'le brat's history." - Kinbois (to Ayra, referring to Shanan)
 * "Don't let them push you around." - Shanan (to Ayra)
 * "You better not double-cross me Kinbois, because I'll hunt you down and put your head to a stick! Even if it takes me to the ends of hell! Got it!?" - Ayra (to Kinbois)
 * "Whoa-whoa!! Fer such a pretty face, you sure can spew some filth!" - Kinbois (back to Ayra)
 * "Alright, let's do this. Anyone that gets near me is going down!" - Ayra (when a member of Sigurd's army gets near Genoa Castle) (Ayra then starts to chase members of Sigurd's army until Sigurd recruits her.)
 * In Japanese: "Watashi ni chikazuku-sha ha awareta na."
 * "For Shanan's sake, you must die. Now feel my Meteor Sword." - Ayra (attack quote when she first attacks a member of Sigurd's army)
 * "They're makin' my auntie fight against her will! Please, you gotta help her!!" - Shanan (to Sigurd, referring to Ayra)
 * "Then put down your sword. As a descendant of Baldo, the crusader of light, I will not betray you." - Sigurd (recruiting Ayra)
 * "Shanan ... I'm sorry." - Ayra (death quote, if Ayra dies as an enemy)
 * "Shanan be strong." - Ayra (death quote, if Ayra dies as a playable character and she is single)
 * "Shanan be strong. , I want to see you again ..." - Ayra (death quote, if she dies as a playable character and she is married)
 * "Wow... Sir Sigurd sure is a kindhearted man." - Oifey
 * "As a knight, I can't have you sneaking around like some petty thief." - Eltosian (to Eliot)
 * "That sounds like superstitious nonsense to me. No one should be forced to live like that. Diadora... we must meet again." - Sigurd
 * "You're going to pay fully for making me the fool. Throw this trash in the dungeon!" - Chagall (first to Eltosian and then to the Agusty castle guards)
 * "You're putting your life in peril!" - Lachesis (to Eltosian)
 * "God, I can't stand conceited men like him." - Lachesis
 * "It'd be nice to fight for something real for a change." - Holyn (to whoever recruited him)
 * "Why do things always go Eltosian's way..." Eliot (death quote)\
 * "Alvis... YOU BASTARD!!!" Sigurd ''(for Alvis sentencing to kill him and marrying his brainwashed, amnesiac wife)
 * Levin "You talk for hours with Sigurd, but you won't even spare a moment with your son!" Rahna (Levin's mother) "My son left me two years ago to run off to some faraway place. I don't see him anywhere."

Fire Emblem (Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken)

 * "I'm done for... is this really the best I could aspire to?" - Raven (death quote)
 * "So this is the Mani Katti. A blade with no equal." - Sain
 * "Then choose! My sword will never lose to yours!" - Guy (to Matthew)
 * "Great. Now you owe me four favors." - Matthew (to Guy)
 * "I am NOT you!!!" - Kent (to Sain)
 * "I am Glass! The gods fear my name!" - Glass
 * "That annoying little girl...Nothing but a savage from Sacae... The Caelin throne...should be... mine..." - Lundgren (death quote)
 * "But you should really fear the enemy's archers, not your own." - Wil (to Florina)
 * "Eeek! Stay back! Don't get so close." - Florina (to Sain) (Florina is androphobic, and Sain is a womanizer).
 * "It's time to get to work." - Matthew (to Lyn)
 * "Hey, you! Yes, you, the grim-faced one!" - Farina (to Hector)
 * "I am here for you. Even were I not a knight, even if you not my lady, my heart would not change."- Kent (to Lyn)
 * "Craven cur!" - Eliwood
 * "Big words make my head hurt!" - Bartre
 * "You... must understand. I am... a man. As a child, I was often teased for my appearance, and I have never once profited from it." - Lucius (to Priscilla)
 * "Not... bloody... likely..." - Matthew (to Serra)
 * "Not that I'm correcting you, but I am only in my thirties. I would think "ill-hearted gentleman" more appropriate... Now, I must be off." - Oswin (to Hector)
 * "Gahaa...Urrg....gaa...Is this...death? Is this..what I have...wrought so oft before?..." - Pascal (death quote)
 * "Beware the Black Fang!"- a dying Marquess Santaruz, stabbed by Ephidel.
 * "Yes. It's strange, isn't it? I feel as if we have known each other from birth." Fiora (In the A support conversation with Kent)
 * "You kicked me... in the stomach." - Wil (B support conversation with Rebecca)
 * "Ah. Of course. The first opportunity to get involved in trouble, and she jumps right in. No amount of money is worth this. Hoo..." - Erk (talking about Serra)
 * "Tell me...are you afraid to die?" - Ursula
 * "Oho!! I...I've been saved!" - Merlinus
 * "But be of good cheer! In dying here, you will be spared the cataclysm to come!  I am Uhai!  The Soaring Hawk!  Come!" - Uhai
 * "The punishment for traitors is death." - Jaffar, then he kills Leila by Ephidel's orders.
 * "You're inhuman. Your soul is black and devoid of warmth." - Jaffar (to Sonia)
 * "For those who's reasoning is bent, I shall straighten it with my bow" - Rath

 * "OK, let's see... Saint Elmine, praise be your graces. Please ensure that no one dies in this battle. Please grant me speed to heal my allies' wounds. And, um, what else... I want Hector to give me a lot of gold, and I want to get all the good food and only ever have to do the fun jobs, and I want a servant who does whatever I say, and everyone should worship me and give me things, and...uhh..." - Serra (praying in her support conversation with Oswin)
 * "Frail? You? Serra, you have no need of any escort to protect you. Even the most hardened criminal would flee in terror after five minutes in your company. I'll return your money. Gladly. Now, will you please go on to Ostia alone?" - Erk
 * "If I teach you any more than this... Then I will have to cut you down where you stand. I would cleave you in two before you could take a single breath." - Karel (to Guy)
 * "In the name of the Fang, I sentence you to death. Do not blame fate, for it is your own doing..." - Lloyd
 * "We do not question our orders. We are the jaw that bites." - Lloyd
 * "Pray. I'll give you that much time.  All the evil that you've done up to now... Repent it, and sleep." - Linus
 * "This body and this heart are constructs. Yes, as is this sorrow." - Limstella (death quote)
 * "Then I'll have to break down this door and go through you." - Raven
 * "Behold! A giant walks among you! My defense is impenetrable! Come! Break your weapons against me!" - Wallace
 * "Hm... What a delightful expression!  That settles it - I'll kill you first" - Vaida
 * "Blood? Is this... my blood?  Ephidel!  Come to me!  Your master... calls you...  I am the ruler... of the... world..." - Marquess Laus (death quote)
 * "Nothing is more beautiful than the suffering of men... When I'm watching, I'm afloat in a ocean of pure bliss...  I will watch you for a long, long time" Kenneth
 * "My lord Nergal brings me people whenever I want to kill... which is all the time, really..." Jerme
 * "You're about to die. Scream if you must." Damian
 * "Hm? Must be this thing called 'love', you know?" Legault (In the infamous A support conversation with Heath)
 * "I will claim the mighty quintessence of the dragons. I will become stronger, and move ever closer to perfection!" Nergal
 * "I am who I am. The pain of others, I do not feel.  The sorrow of other does not touch me.  Death feeds me.  Death pleases me." Nergal
 * "Ga... Not like this...  I will not die... like this.  With my last breath...  Tremble and despair!  Ha ha ha...  Ha ha!" Nergal (death quote)
 * "I will end you with my hands, in the name of my lost friend!" Renault (to Nergal)
 * "If you covet the dark, you must enter it of your own free will. You must erase yourself and become an empty vessel. Only then will you be able to receive the dark and master it. If your disposition is weak the dark will overwhelm you. You will be… lost… oft times you will forget why you seek the power to begin with. Only a few people gain true power. To win such a prize, one’s self is a small and insignificant sacrifice. I’ve heard rumors… Bramimond, one of the eight legends, devoted himself entirely to the dark. All emotion, all memory… dissolved in a river of dark. That is how he received the power to best dragons…" Teodor ''To Eliwood and Hector
 * "You know nothing, little lord. Nothing of Nergal's might. Nothing of his terrible power. You are ignorant, and so you hope to oppose him. You are insects railing against the heavens" Uhai ''To Eliwood and Hector after taking Lyn hostage
 * "This is a message from Lord Nergal. 'I await you on the Dread Isle.'" -Denning
 * "Take me into your bosoms and keep me safe forever!" -Merlinus (to Eliwood and Hector)
 * "Now you watch that pretty mouth of yours, lass, before I turn it sideways!" -Dart (to Farina)
 * "Why can't I talk to girls?" -Erk (in his support conversation with Nino)
 * "You don't smile. You don't speak. And you're still creepy." -Legault (to Jaffar)
 * "Thunder! Thunder, hear my cry!" -Aion
 * "That little bird has escaped this island cage twice." -Ephidel to Eliwood (referring to Ninian)
 * "And you call yourself the toughest axeman alive?!"-Bartre (to Dorcas)
 * "... I never said that..."-Dorcas (to Batre)
 * "Cut me down, Brother. I simply wanted to hear your voice before I died. Now I have. I am satisfied."-Karla (to Karel)
 * "...do not grieve for me, soon, I will be with long absent friends..."-Athos (Excerpt from dying speech)
 * "Leila..."-Matthew(death quote)
 * "Matthew..."-Leila(death quote)
 * "I am Sain, of the Caelin knights! That's S-A-I-N. Do not forget, my lovely!"- Sain (Support conversation with Fiora)
 * "I see... fields of flowers..."- Sain (Support with Fiora)
 * "Humans... they are so very fragile."- Ephidel
 * "Aaahhh!!! You're no perfect being! You're a Monster in human form! No mercy! No forgiveness!!!"- Nino (Excert from Battle Dialog between Nino and Sonia)

Conversation
 * Nergal: Ah, Athos, see my power. I am already beyond you.
 * Athos: Have you already become so blind, old friend? Then I will do my duty as a friend.
 * Conversation when Athos and Nergal enter battle for the first time.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Fire Emblem: Seima no Kouseki)

 * "May the blessed light drive you from this land!" - Artur [Proceeds to attack a monster]
 * "Hmm... You waste your last breath on insults, and feeble ones at that. Die then, fool of Frelia." - Caellach
 * "Man, you can't even do anything without me! And stop crying!" - Colm [to Neimi]
 * "Neimi, I'm the only one who can make you cry. For now and ever, got that?" - Colm [to Neimi in their last support conversation]
 * Hey, you! Have you seen a scary-looking woman?" - Colm [to Marisa, when in fact she is the scary-looking woman]
 * "...Yes, I have broken my vows, Valter. And yes, it may be I who falls when we tilt lances... But a dog like you will never see me crawl." - Cormag [to Valter]
 * "I don't pick fights I can't win." - Ephraim [to Valter]
 * "You mean Prince Innes? He's probably 100 percent stress. But I'm sure he's quite the ladies' man. I bet you have a crush on him, too. You're blushing, so I must have hit a nerve! A romance between a prince and his knight? What scandal! What intrigue!" - Forde [to Vanessa]
 * "Yes, I think I'm about the same age you are. You know what that means? That means, from now on, you're my rival." - Franz [to Amelia]
 * "Trapping me was a mistake. Failing, an expensive one. I think it's time for you to learn how expensive"." - Innes [to Pablo]
 * "It seems that I've fallen in love with you." - Innes [to Eirika]
 * "Bah... I am in NO way inferior to this so-called Demon King." - Innes [final battle quote]
 * "I won’t give up... Not here... Not in this place... I’ll keep going, even if I have to crawl..." - Innes [death quote]
 * "Say... you want to make a bet? [I bet] that you're gonna fall for me, sooner or later. I'm betting yes, personally." - Joshua [to Natasha]
 * "Yeah, well... I just happened to be in the neighborhood is all." - Joshua [to Natasha]
 * "What's that saying? The cooler the head, the hotter he bets?" - Joshua [in his support conversation with Innes]
 * "Er, excuse me... if at all possible, uh, would you mind not stalking me like that?" - Knoll [to Lute]
 * "In this darkness... I will find... peace..." - Knoll [death quote]
 * "Cad! Beast! Pervert! Devil! How dare you try to take advantage of me in my confused state!" - L'Arachel [to Ephraim]
 * "I see. So you're 'Son-of-the-warrior-garcia-ross.'" - Lute  [to Ross]
 * "There are many books in this world, and I have read most of them." - Lute
 * "Well, there's my monk-watching habit." - Lute [support with Ross]
 * "I lost.." - Marisa [Death Quote]
 * "You don't look particularly sorry. You look rather pleased with yourself." - Moulder [to Colm who has set his package on fire]
 * "...Princess Eirika. If anyone could understand my feelings it might be you. For the one I love... I betrayed everything. My country, my lord and master... Everything..." - Orson [to Eirika]
 * "You haven't changed, Dozla. Your ability to misread people still ruins all conversation. I am lamenting, old man! I am raging against my horrible misfortune!" - Rennac [to Dozla]
 * "Ah, Valter... You're a beast. You're bound to no country, you care nothing for friend or foe. Kill a man, claim a woman... You live for nothing more, you wretched beast. That's your strength, that's what makes you stronger than any man alive. A beast acts without remorse. Man's morality cannot win. That is nature's way..." - Riev
 * "Heh heh heh. The young lady of Rausten... The more cruel and gruesome your death, the more that cur Mansel would weep, am I right? And that would make me so very, very happy." - Riev
 * "Grr... Your eyes annoy me... Why do you not despair? Why do you not surrender?" - Riev
 * "Me? Die? Prince Ephraim, you misunderstand me. I have no intention of dying. Madness though it may be, I will be the one doing the killing today." - Selena [to Ephraim]
 * " Why should i bother to care about you, if YOU can't be bothered to care about ME?!"- Tana [to Ephriam]
 * "I've no use for these bloodless minnows... Give me prey that will sate my bloodlust... I Hunger!" - Valter
 * "I am Valter! The Moonstone! And you are a corpse who does not yet know he is dead!" - Valter

Dialogue

 * Innes: It must be tough for a pampered castle brat like you to interact with soldiers.
 * Tana:If you can say something like that to your own sister, I'm more worried about you.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Fire Emblem: Sōen no Kiseki)

 * "Well, for all those born with nothing, there are those born with everything. Perhaps those who never notice the difference are the ones we should envy." - Ranulf
 * "No...it means much more than that...To my last breath, I will do all that I can to ensure your dream...Elincia." -Ike (in a support conversation with Elincia)
 * "Hey, I was joking! J-O-K-ing." - Shinon
 * "You there, in the bushes. You have until the count of five to show yourself before I start throwing sharp objects. One... two... four..." - Volke (C Level support with Bastian)
 * "Damn... I... After all this... Forgive me, Elincia..." Ike (death in final chapter)
 * "This can't happen...Ike! I won't accept this... No... I-I won't! Don't do this, Ike. Don't leave me..." Elincia (if Ike dies in final chapter)
 * "Dang. Should've brought more priests... or... babies..." Schaeffer (death quote)
 * "Rhys? I'm a Crimean Knight! We fear neither blood, nor pain, nor terribly sharp implements being inserted into our..." - Kieran (to Rhys)
 * "I figured that egg thing was a joke, but I had no idea it ever really happened... Bird tribes... Go figure." - Ike (to Janaff)
 * "Now we've got you! Eat rock! Heh... eat rock... I'm pretty clever..." - Soldier (to Ike's army)
 * "Mmm... I think I'll just stretch out here... Yeah... that's it. This moss is nice and squishy. Leave me alone. It's nap time." - Haar (to Jill)
 * "Sure, no problem! Hmmm... I guess I'll just... sit down here and... knit... something... Ooo, look! A bear!"-Kieran (in his support conversation with Rhys)
 * "You've grown quite good at hiding it. But, it's merely a matter of time before your heritage becomes... evident."-Stefan (to Soren)
 * "Please, Ashnard. I can hardly wait to rake my talons across your face." - Tibarn
 * "That was my name... once. But I... threw it away. The only weapon I need... is right here!" - Greil (to the Black Knight, referring to his former position as one of the Four Riders)
 * "I see. Well, in that case, may your blades run red with glory." - Black Knight (to Mackoya)
 * "When the time comes-- and you will know when-- ride to Grann Desert. You have friends there."-Stefan (to soren)
 * "Devdan thinks that you look angry. Why are you always scowling? Small children will start to cry!"-Devdan (to Nephenee)
 * "You can learn the dance of blades from me without knowing my history, can you not? What say you? Let your heart decide."-Stefan (to Ike)
 * "You've grown stronger... I... commend you..."-Black Knight (death quote)
 * "Make the ground... sssssoft with blood. Turn thissss plassse... into a graveyard..." - Bertram (to a soldier)
 * "What!? You're not!? Phew! Hah... you had me there. I mean... just one nasty look from that face of yours could scare a man to death!"-Makalov (to Haar)
 * "So you're saying I'm ugly, is that it? I look like some kind of thug to you?"-Haar (to Makalov)
 * "Is that...all there is? No challenge? No... resistance?" Black Knight after he kills Greil by impaling him through the chest
 * "Humans are shameless creatures that carelessly ignore any misfortune which does not befall them directly. They can--and often do--turn a blind eye to all manner of wickedness so long as it does not touch them or their kin."-Soren
 * "Wh-what? WHAT?! And watch how you say my name, boy! Boy, boy, boy... Wittle boy Ike... Wittle Ikey..."-Shinon (to Ike)
 * "Screw you!"-Shinon (to Ike)
 * "The Dark Angel... She's found me at last... At least I can sleep now..."-Haar (Death Quote)
 * "Ike? Ike! This can't... It can't... What am I... If you're not here, what am I to do?"-Soren (If Ike dies chapters 18-25 or 28)
 * "Ah... This stinks. If I can't fight, what good am I? Sorry, Ike, but I'm too pretty to die... I'm backing off. Take care of things, will you? And be safe!"-Ranulf (Death Quote-Final Chapter)
 * "Deceitful, lying, squinty coward!"-Kieran (to Oscar)
 * "Ho, I'm fine! Don't worry about old Kieran!  I just need to pull this axe out of my head here...  Whooo, that's sharp!"-Kieran
 * "O blessed goddess... protect these brave warriors..."-Rhys (if killed in-game)
 * "The world... it grows so dark."-Nephenee (if killed in-game)
 * "When our dad died, I was the one who had to care for baby Rolf... I had no clue what I was supposed to do. Oscar received a discharge from his military service and came home, but life was hard"-Boyd (Ch. 8: Despair and Hope)
 * "Listen, the difference between you and me is that I'm a professional."-Boyd (Referring to Ike, Prologue: Mercenaries)
 * "So your nervous little staff officer told you that did he? Has he snapped yet? He seems high-strung." -Ranulf (Referring to Soren)
 * "Oof...that was...poorly done."-Soren (If killed/injured in game)
 * "You can be a general, or you can be dinner. I don't really care which... But do try to show a little initiative, would you?" - King Ashnard (to General Petrine)

 * Ike: Hey, Soren.
 * Soren: ...
 * Ike: I've been thinking a lot about what you said the other day, and there's something I still don't understand. You survived. You're strong. Why would you feel insecure about who you are? Tell me. Tell me everything.
 * Soren: Curse you! Why can't you leave me be?! I don't have any friends, Ike! I don't have anyone else! If I tell you and you turn on me... I... I... I don't think I can survive it.
 * Ike: That's why you have to tell me, Soren. You'll never tell anyone else. And if you don't tell anyone, you're just going to keep suffering. Look at you! You're a mess! Come on. Talk to me.
 * Soren: Ike... I... I...
 * Ike: Soren, it's me! Trust me. I don't give two figs who your parents are! I'll stand by you.
 * Soren: Ike, I...sniff... No, I won't... ...sniff...Ah, Ike... ...I'm... Branded. I'm one of the Branded.
 * Ike: A Branded? What's that?
 * Soren: It's a cross between a beorc and a laguz. Such a taboo union violates every teaching of the goddess. And of society. We are untouchables. Abominations. Condemned to a life of hatred and shunning from both races.
 * Ike: Wait, wait. Hold it a second. Let me make sure that I follow you... You're part laguz?
 * Soren: Yeah. This mark on my forehead is the proof. I learned about it while researching ancient books at the Mainal Cathedral. I always thought it was a birthmark. Others thought that it was the mark of a Spirit Charmer.
 * Ike: What's a Spirit Charmer?
 * Soren: Magic comes from interaction with spirits. If you let one into your body, it will give you tremendous power...for a price. That's why the old sage was so interested in me. He thought I had struck a deal. But instead, I was just a filthy Branded.
 * Ike: All right. I understand. So?
 * Soren: ...What do you mean, "So?"
 * Ike: So, you have laguz blood in your veins. So, you have a mark to prove it. So... What's the problem?
 * Soren: What's the problem...? Don't you find me repugnant!? I work beside you, eat beside you. I'm nothing! I don't belong anywhere! Doesn't that sicken you?
 * Ike: No. It doesn't change anything. You're still you, Soren! You're a capable officer of our army. And my friend. We can't keep going unless you are with us.
 * Soren: ...Ike... I thought... I thought you...
 * Ike: What?
 * Soren: It was Gallia. The sage lived in Gallia. A few beorcs had settled there and...
 * Ike: Gallia? Are you saying...
 * Soren: When the sage died, no one would help me. I couldn't speak. Couldn't find food. I was dying. You were the only one who helped. You and your father. That's why you're my friend. My...only friend.
 * Ike/Soren A Support Conversation

 * Ike: You've grown strong, Princess.
 * Elincia: That's only because I had such a great role model.
 * Ike: Hah! I think you meant to say bad role model, right? By the way, do you remember what you said to me on the southern sea?
 * Elincia: W-what did I say? Hopefully, it was nothing too embarrassing.
 * Ike: You said, "Give them a sound thrashing!"
 * Elincia: Oh...er...that? That was...um... I was trying to fit in, my lord Ike. To be rough and capable like the rest of you.
 * Ike: You caught me off guard with that one.
 * Elincia: Hee hee! It brings back memories. When I fled the capital and was told about Crimea's defeat in Gallia... I prepared myself to live in crushing, colorless despair for the rest of my days. But when I look back, I can see there were some warm rays of hope...poking through.
 * Ike: You're right...
 * Elincia: Tomorrow, I will face King Daein and reclaim Crimea...or die in the attempt. It is the only thing on my mind.
 * Ike: You employed me as a mercenary. I'll give you your money's worth!...No. It means more than that... To my last breath, I will do all that I can to ensure your dream...Elincia.
 * Elincia: Oh, Ike...
 * Ike/Elincia A Support Conversation

 * Ranulf: Hey, Ike. Isn't it a little too late to be training?
 * Ike: I haven't had a chance to train today. I try to swing a sword everyday, even if it's just for a little while. It helps me focus and keeps me calm. Plus, it's good practice. Haaaa! Kyaaaaa!
 * Ranulf: I see. So your strength doesn't just come from your bloodline. It's also a result of your persistence. No wonder you grow more powerful every time I see you... Nice. Very nice...
 * Ike: Haaaaa! And one and... Hiyaaaa!
 * Ranulf: Oh, sorry. I'm interrupting you. I'll see you la--
 * Ike: Wait. What do you want? I assume you came out here to tell me something.
 * Ranulf: Not really. I'm just being a mother cat... No matter how many times we tell you to take it easy, you're always working. I thought you might take a break if I came over and talked to you. But... I can see that you're still crazy. I'll go now.
 * Ike: You think I'm crazy? How so?
 * Ranulf: Well...a little crazy, yeah! I've never worked for a leader who's as blunt and straightforward as you. It's pretty shocking to have a commander who doesn't care what anyone thinks, no matter how powerful they are.
 * Ike: Well, that's just my style. I don't have to be like someone else, do I?
 * Ranulf: Why are you so confident? I don't get it. Normal beorc just do what people tell them and try not to make a fuss. But not you! I heard you even yelled at the apostle!
 * Ike: Yeah, that wasn't my brightest moment.
 * Ranulf: Then again, worrying about a beorc like this is definitely not normal laguz behavior. I guess I'm a fish out of water myself... Wait, did I just call myself a fish?
 * Ike: Wha--? Ha ha! You're a cat, remember!? I thought you ate fish! Ha ha ha!
 * Ranulf: Hey! I made you laugh! That's good. That's a good first step.
 * Ike: Fine, fine! I'll take a break. Um... so what do I do now? Am I supposed to drink tea or something?
 * Ranulf: Tea is good. And eat something. Oh, and maybe you should take a... catnap! Wha ha ha ha!
 * Ike/Ranulf C Support Conversation

 * Shinon: Why are you standing out here like a scarecrow?
 * Gatrie: Hey, Shinon. I'm just waiting for my girlfriend.
 * Shinon: Oh. Her. Right. You're still dating?
 * Gatrie: Yep! And when I gave her gift that you picked out for me... boy, was she happy! In fact, I'll tell you a secret... we're getting married!
 * Shinon: Aren't you rushing it a little?
 * Gatrie: Oh, no! You see, she's terminally ill. She has Brain Stones. It's really bad. She only had a few days left to live.  And since she didn't have enough money to pay for the treatment...I thought it was time to spend my gold!
 * Shinon: You paid for it?
 * Gatrie: Yep! Every last gold piece! And guess what? The treatment cost exactly as much as I had! It's fate, isn't it Oh, with a coincidence like this, I know that we're meant for each other!
 * Shinon: ...You've got to be kidding me.
 * Gatrie: Between the war and her illness, times are pretty rough, so we decided to have the wedding right away. I was supposed to meet her here and then introduce her to the company. I wanted to do it in style, you know? But she's not here yet...  Oh, wait is that... No, that's a horse. Hmm... I'm a little worried. I went to her house this morning, but I think I got the address wrong. All I found was an abandoned shack. But it'll be all right!  She knows I'm with this army, and... And...
 * Shinon: Gatrie? She's not coming. You've been conned.
 * Gatrie: Whaaat!? No, I don't believe it! She's such a fine girl! So pure and kind! She'd never hornswoggle ol' Gatrie!
 * Shinon: How can someone with only days left to live manage to walk the streets looking for a knight with lots of money?
 * Gatrie: Because...  Because she needed to meet me! It's fate! Remember?
 * Shinon: Then why isn't she here?
 * Gatrie: B-because... Um... Wolves?
 * Shinon: No, Gatrie. It's not wolves.
 * Gatrie/Shinon A Support Conversation

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Fire emblem: Akatsuki no Megami)
"Hey, Begnion dracoknights! Are you lost, or have you just been letting those scaly fleabags do your navigating? What're you doing in Crimea's sky?" - Marcia (To the dracoknights trying to capture Leanne in the Part 2 Prologue)
 * "Did you practice being this stupid?" - Boyd (To Rolf)
 * "Curse you Soren!" - Titania (To Soren)
 * "Right. Lord Ike, "hero" of the Crimean Liberation, leader of the Greil Mercenaries, and father of Sothe's children..." - Micaiah ''(After Sothe praises Ike)
 * "Of course... General Ike... again." - Micaiah (Later chapter, to Tormod after mentioning Ike)
 * "My...What a stupid speech" - Soren (about Skrimir)
 * "...This is ridiculous. I'm amazed that someone was desperate enough to make that fool a general." - Soren (To Ranulf, about Skrimir)
 * "Ah! Don't cry! I hate it when girls cry!" - Tormod (To Micaiah)
 * "Whoa! You're thanking me? Better get ahold of yourself, Sothe. You're gonna make ME get all weepy." - Tormod (To Sothe)
 * "Ridiculous... As if you didn't already have that annoying bird... Ouch! Ow! Ow ow ow! I take it back!" - Sothe (To Micaiah about Nailah sending Volug to protect her)

 * Aimee: Oh... It's like a dream come true. My hero, standing right in front of me. Somebody pinch me.
 * Ike: Hey, if you don't let go of my hand, I can't pay you for anything.
 * Aimee: No! My darling... Let us not spoil our time together with talk of money! Speak sweetly to me, handsome.
 * Ike: Listen, lady. This is a shop, and I'm a customer. What's so sweet about that?
 * Aimee: Oh, such cold words... My hero plays hard to get! You're only making me more interested.
 * Ike: Will you let go of my hand? Please?
 * Aimee: Then tell me I'm beautiful! Tell me I'm more beautiful than any woman in this camp!
 * Ike: ...And then you'll let go of my hand?
 * Aimee: Of course. I'll even give you everything you want for free.
 * Ike: Oh! All right, then...
 * ???: No, Ike! Don't say another word!
 * Aimee: That voice! It's--
 * Ike: C'mon, Soren. She's going to give us everything! For free!
 * Soren: Nothing in life is free, Ike. Suppose you said what she asked you to say, hmm? What then? You'd hear it all over the camp. In nearby villages. Eventually, the entire country would be saying it! "Ike, hero of the Mad King's War, is in love with Aimee the shopgirl." Rumors can quickly spin out of control.
 * Ike: Come off it. You're exaggerating.
 * Aimee: Ooh, don't be so sure. With my network of merchants, I'll spread the word to the four corners of Tellius! Within half a year, everyone will know! Then you will be mine forever, Ike! You'll have no choice at all!
 * Ike: Man, you go right for the neck, don't you? All right, Soren. She's all yours.
 * Base conversation, "Item Shop"

 * Astrid: Look at how calm Sir Makalov is. He never gets irritated or upset. It's the mark of a true knight. A good knight must know how to keep his cool on the battlefield.
 * Marcia: Um. But... we're in a bar.
 * Base conversation, "Calill's Shop"

 * Soren: I'm late. My apologies.
 * Skrimir: Ah, here comes the great strategist! Don't be so shy. Come sit next to me.
 * Soren: Not if you begged me, Skrimir. (goes to stand between Ike and Titania)
 * Titania: Soren! I'm so sorry. He's rude to everyone, but strangers especially.
 * Skrimir: You still don't trust me? Then I will take the first step. I admit that we won the last battle thanks to your cleverness. I underestimated the wisdom of the beorc. As a general of Gallia, you have my thanks.
 * Soren: ...You're welcome.
 * Before the battle of Part 3, Chapter 4

 * Ilyana: Ah...
 * Zihark: Ilyana! It's been a while.
 * Ilyana: Too long, Zihark...
 * Zihark: So you remember my name!
 * Ilyana: How could I forget you, Zihark? Why, I think of you often! You treated me to food...glorious food... On 23 separate occasions! But who's counting?
 * Zihark: Apparently, you are. And now, might I request something in return?
 * Ilyana: Well, um, yes. What exactly did you have in mind?
 * Zihark: For you, something sweet! You join our merry band, and together, we fight for Daein's freedom. I'm counting on you, my dear. You wouldn't want to disappoint me, would you?
 * Ilyana: ...Ah...er... What?
 * During the battle of Part 1, Chapter 5

 * Jill: Tormod!
 * Tormod: If it isn't Jill!
 * Jill: Thanks for fighting beside us. It's a big help.
 * Tormod: Ah, it's nothing!
 * Jill: How did you happen to...
 * Tormod: An enemy! Excellent! Leave him to me!
 * Jill: There he goes... At least some things never change.
 * During the battle of Part 1, Chapter 7

 * Sothe: Ah hello. It's been a while.
 * Muarim: Little Sothe... You've grown up.
 * Sothe: Why does everyone keep saying that?
 * Muarim: Hmm?
 * Sothe: You know, little?
 * Muarim: Oh sorry. I guess I have to respect your manly pride now.
 * Sothe: Yes, please. Or something like that.
 * Muarim: Sir Sothe. Will that do?
 * Sothe: Sothe will do. Just Sothe.
 * Muarim: I'm afraid I could never speak so familiarly with my little one's good friend. So, with your permission... Sir Sothe.
 * Sothe: No! That doesn't... Ohhh, never mind!
 * During the battle of Part 1, Chapter 7

 * Sothe: Hey Tormod!
 * Tormod: You! What in blazes did you do? You scurvy traitor!
 * Sothe: What are you talking about?
 * Tormod: You grew! Too tall!
 * Sothe: And to think, I expected you to make sense. I have more important things to tend to.
 * Tormod: Hey, it's important to me!
 * Sothe: What I'd really like to hear about is that issue I asked you to look into... How did it go?
 * Tormod: I have news to report. But! There's no time to chat in the thick of a fight. I'll tell you later!
 * Sothe: Hey! Drat!
 * During the battle of Part 1, Chapter 7

 * Zihark: Muarim!
 * Muarim: Zihark, has it been three years?
 * Zihark: First Crimea, now Daein. Never a dull day! Still, it's good to fight with you again.
 * Muarim: You can say that again.
 * Zihark: OK. It's good to fight with you again.
 * Muarim: Beorc humor is so...odd. But you know I feel the same.
 * During the battle of Part 1, Chapter 7

 * Zihark: Hey there, Tormod. You're looking well.
 * Tormod: So you're here too, eh, Zihark?
 * Zihark: Polished your mage skills over the past few years, I see.
 * Tormod: But of course! I'll toast anyone who dares oppose me!
 * Zihark: Really? Well then, why don't you take on the rest of the guards while I sit back and take a break?
 * Tormod: You know what I mean! Get back here and fight like you mean it! Zihark!
 * During the battle of Part 1, Chapter 7

 * Marcia: Hey... Look who's here! It's Haar!
 * Haar: ...Hello, Marcia. I see you're still flying about on that apple-eating hairbag.
 * Marcia: And you're still asleep at the reins of that foul-smelling... Oh, crackers! I don't have time for your nonsense! Open that one good eye of yours and take a look around, will you? Those Begnion dracoknights have invaded Crimean skies! You've got to help us save the laguz they're trying to kidnap. Well, c'mon, Haar!
 * Haar: Me? Why? I owe the queen a flavor or two, but I'm not one of her soldiers.
 * Marcia: You... You cad! Does having fought together in the Mad King's War mean nothing to you?
 * Haar: Well, no, but... Look, I've got a delivery to make, and this cargo's really heavy. Sorry, Marcia. Maybe next time.
 * Marcia: NEXT TIME? You lizard-loving jerk! Would you really abandon us? What kind of man are you?
 * Haar: The kind who lives to sleep another day. Well, good luck to you. See you around.
 * Marcia: Stop! You have to stay and help! Uhm... OK, Haar, hear me out. You were an imperial dracoknight once, right? It's your job to fix this! They're your old comrades--you have to keep them in line!
 * Haar: Huh? You're not making a lick of sense, girl.
 * Marcia: Why do I have to make sense? If Jill were in trouble, I bet you'd help her! Please, please, please! C'mon, Haar! You have to help us. You have to!
 * Haar: ...Is it really all that bad?
 * Marcia: Yes! They're a tough bunch! And I'm all alone... I don't think I can manage to protect Queen Elincia. Please say you'll help... If only for the safety of the queen...
 * Haar: ...Oh, fine. I really don't have time for this... But I guess I can lend a hand.
 * Marcia: Thank you so much! I take back all the mean things I was thinking about you earlier.
 * Haar: That girl's nothing but trouble. Well, if we're going to do this, let's get it over with. Up and at 'em, partner!
 * During the battle of Part 2 Prologue

 * ???: Queen Elincia!
 * Elincia: Marcia! How are you doing today? And what are you doing here?
 * Marcia: Lucia told me about those no-goodnik nobles and their chest-beating contest, so I thought you could use some cheering up. You weren't in your chambers or the garden, so I guessed you would be out her
 * Elincia: Forgive me. I needed some...time to think. I'm sorry to trouble you.
 * Marcia: Not at all! After everything you've done for me, it's the least I could do. It was nice of you to hire me as a Royal Knight, but hiring my sponge-brained, spine-deprived brother might qualify you for sainthood!
 * Elincia: Even so, I'm afraid I may also have caused you a great number of hardships
 * Marcia: Huh? Oh! The grief I'm getting from the nobles? It's nothing I can't handle. If you think your country has stuffed-shirt windbags for aristocracy, you should see Begnion's! When I was a pegasus knight there, they had a new shenanigan every week! After that, the Crimean crybabies are no big deal.
 * Elincia: No, it's my fault, and I'm sorry. I'm so new at all this, even you are affected by my blunders. Sometimes, I think... Maybe I just don't have what it takes to be a queen.
 * Marcia: That's so not true! Queen Elincia, anyone can strut around in a queen hat and say she's a ruler, but you always put your people first! Look, it's not that you're doing a bad job, it's just everyone's on edge lately, with Daein getting a new king and all. People are worried that Daein'll start another war like the one three years ago, and they're taking it out on you. Just don't let those peacock-wearing nobles bug you, and remember that you don't have to go it alone. You've got friends everywhere.
 * Elincia: Thank you, Marcia. Your kind words have lifted my spirits.
 * Before the battle of Part 2 Prologue

Premonition: Invisible Ties

 * Chrom: [to the Avatar, who has just impaled him with magic] This is not your… Your fault. Promise me…you'll escape from this place. Please…go… [falls over, seemingly dead]

Prologue: The Verge of History

 * Chrom: [to the Avatar] You all right?
 * Avatar: Y-yes… Thank you, Chrom.
 * Chrom: Ah, then you know who I am?
 * Avatar: No, actually. I... It's strange... Your name, it just...came to me...
 * Chrom: ...Hmm, how curious. Tell me, what's your name? What brings you here?
 * Avatar: My name is... It's... Hmm?
 * Chrom: ...You don't remember your own name?
 * Avatar: I'm not sure if... I'm sorry, but where am I, exactly?
 * Lissa: Hey, I've heard of this! It's called amnesia!
 * Frederick: [unconvinced] It's called a load of pegasus dung. [to the Avatar] We're to believe you remember milord's name, but not your own?
 * Avatar: B-but it's the truth!
 * Chrom: …What if it is true, Frederick? We can't just leave her/him, alone and confused. What sort of Shepherds would we be then?
 * Frederick: Just the same, milord. I must emphasize caution. 'Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock.
 * Chrom: Right then - we'll take him/her back to town and sort this out there.
 * Avatar: Wait just one moment. Do I have a say in this?
 * Chrom: Peace, friend—I promise we'll hear all you have to say back in town. Now come.

 * Frederick: [to the Avatar] Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you, stranger, but my station mandates otherwise.

 * Lissa: [seeing something ahead; interrupts] Chrom, look! The town!

''[Everyone turns to face what she's pointing at. The screen briefly shifts to Southtown - the settlement is literally on fire.]''
 * Chrom: [when the scene shifts back to his group] Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt… Frederick, Lissa! Quickly!
 * Frederick: [gesturing to the Avatar] What about (him/her)?
 * Chrom: Unless (s)he's on fire as well, it can wait!
 * Frederick: Aptly put, milord.
 * Lissa: Let's go already!

[The three Shepherds run ahead, leaving the Avatar standing there.]
 * Avatar: But what about - Hmm…

[After a brief moment of indecision, the Avatar runs after them.]

Chapter 1: Unwelcome Change

 * Frederick: [after defeating the Risen] It seems all the creatures are vanquished. This young man took care of the others.
 * ??? ("Marth"): ……
 * Lissa: Um, I never got to thank you…for before. So…thank you. You were very brave.
 * Chrom: [to ???] You saved my sister's life. My name is Chrom. Might I ask yours?
 * "Marth": You may call me Marth.
 * Chrom: Marth? After the heroic king of old? You certainly fight like a hero. Where did you learn you way with a sword?
 * "Marth": I'm not here to talk about me. This world teeters at the brink of a horrible calamity. What you saw tonight was but a prelude. You have been warned. [leaves]
 * Lissa: Huh? What's teetering where now? Hey, wait!
 * Avatar: Not much for conversation, is he?
 * Frederick: It appears his skills lie elsewhere. I wager we'll hear his name again…

 * Old Villager: Look! The exalt has come to see us!

[Cut to image of Emmeryn]
 * Avatar: The exalt is your ruler, yes?
 * Frederick: Yes. Her name is Lady Emmeryn.
 * Avatar: Is it safe for her to walk among commoners like this?
 * Frederick: The exalt is a symbol of peace—Ylisse's most prized quality. Long ago, at the dawn of our age, the fell dragon tried to destroy the world. But the first exalt joined forces with the divine dragon and laid the beast low. Exalt Emmeryn reminds us all of the peace we fought for then.
 * Chrom: With Plegia poking at our borders, the people need her. She's a calming presence, when some might otherwise call for war.
 * Avatar: Then the Ylissean people are lucky to have her.
 * Lissa: She's also the best big sister anyone could ask for!
 * Avatar: Yes, I imagine she… Wait, what? She's your… But wouldn't that make you and Chrom…
 * Frederick: [chuckles] The prince and princess of the realm, yes. You remember Chrom's name and not this?
 * Avatar: You said you were "shepherds"!
 * Chrom: And so we are…in a manner of speaking. We just have a LOT of sheep.
 * Avatar: C-Chrom… I mean, Prince Chrom! Sire! Forgive my dreadful manners!
 * Chrom: Just Chrom is fine. I've never been much for formalities.
 * Avatar: The prince and princess… That explains why Frederick tolerates all the teasing, eh?
 * Frederick: Indeed. Oh, the sacrifices I make for the good of the realm…
 * Chrom: [to the Avatar] It looks like Emm is returning to the palace. Would you like to meet her?

Chapter 9: Emmeryn

 * Emmeryn: [as she falls] Chrom... Lissa... And all my people... Know that I loved you.

[...]
 * Chrom: Emm...

Chapter 13: Of Sacred Blood

 * Avatar: [Lucina explains her future to Chrom, the Avatar, and Lissa] But why? What happens in the future?!
 * Lucina: The fell dragon, Grima, is resurrected. His roar is a death knell for man, a scream that silences all hope… Death everywhere…
 * Avatar: Chrom? …Our whole company? All of us? Dead?!
 * Lucina: …Yes.
 * Avatar: [stunned] …I…I don't know what to say.
 * Chrom: A tale that beggars belief, and yet the truth of it stands before us. She carries Falchion, my same sword. And the same sword the first exalt used to defeat Grima long ago.
 * Lucina: Your blade and mine are one, Father. It was… It was all I had left of you.
 * Chrom: [to the Avatar] There is only one Falchion, Avatar. I believe her.

[…]
 * Lucina: Naga, the divine dragon, feared mankind would face Grima again. In preparation for that day, she devised a ritual. It allows one to return to the past and alter events already written. I made the journey with others, but…we became separated.
 * Lissa: Don't worry, Lucina. If they're out there, we'll find 'em!

Chapter 14: Flames on the Blue

 * Lissa: Whoa! Good thing you changed things, huh?
 * Lucina: If indeed they have changed... The river of time always favors its original course. Take the exalt's death... I stalled it, yes, but in the end I was not able to prevent it.

Chapter 23: Invisible Ties

 * Validar: The Awakening rite is not only for exalts and Naga, you know. With it, I'll arouse Grima! The fell dragon needs only a mortal vessel, which you so kindly brought along…
 * Avatar: [realizing] …Oh, gods. He means me.

Xenologue 15: Infinite Regalia

 * Gangrel: "Deadlords," was it? You lost me at "dead." Bwah ha ha ha! Where do you get off feigning power when you all met with some miserable defeat? To me, you're only good at one thing—and you're about to do it again!

Fire Emblem Engage

 * Alear: Hello, Sir Vander.
 * Framme: See! I told you the Divie.

title: Fire Emblem


text:
Talk:William M. Tweed

what is the deffintchion for boss Tweed?

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:William M. Tweed


text:
User talk:151.203.116.50

MST3K quote correction
Just wanted to let you know that I reverted your correction to the "Touch of Satan" quote on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 page. I'm sure you meant well, but the actual text is "straitened", not "straightened". It's an archaic term that means "restricted in freedom or scope", according to Merriam-Webster Online. The actual passage Strickland is reading is from the Bible (source of many an archaic term), specifically Job 18:7.

I made the same mistake myself initially, until I checked the Bible (King James Version) to be able to cite the specific passage for my own MST3K quote project. I've been waiting from someone else to try to correct it ever since. ☺

Anyway, thanks for your participation, and please don't hesitate to amend or add to the quote list in the future, if you find something you think needs modification. I've got all 195 extant episodes on DVD or tape, so I periodically check the list against the episodes to ensure accuracy. — Jeff Q (talk) 20:11, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:151.203.116.50


text:
Queen of Wands

Queen of Wands is a webcomic written and drawn by Aeire, that ended in 2005.

2002

 * Kestrel: Nothing says love like a monkey. It's a fuzzy screeching bundle of tenderness.
 * 08/19/2002, Kinky Anniversary Pt. 1

 * Kestrel: I need you to remove my uterus, and thus guarantee that I do not produce any hellspawn.
 * 12/19/2002, Emergency Contraception

2003

 * Felix: Honey! Honey! We've got cable in the bathroom now!
 * 01/03/2003, Boys and their Toys

 * Seamus: Do you go out of your way to make people feel inadequate, or am I just special that way?
 * 03/20/2003, Not A D-word Pt. 2

 * Kestrel: Hang on a second, I need to make my eyes revert to normal. Also to do the happy squirmy puppy dance.
 * 04/02/2003, It's Sorta Like the Booty Dance

 * Shannon: It's like I'm in a Greenpeace sponsored bukkake tree porn flick, and I'm the chick tied helplessly to the chair in the center of the room being hosed down with tree semen.
 * 05/28/2003, Tissue Sample?

 * Kestrel: I firmly believe all animals should be named after sound effects.
 * 10/06/2003, Zot

2004

 * Davan: I'm just wondering how I got pegged as the insane one.
 * 05/12/2004

 * Davan: ...do you have any moods other than 'whiny' or 'bitch'?
 * Kestrel: Sometimes I get crazy and combine them.
 * 07/07/2004

 * Shannon: Near-death experiences leave one with little patience for the petty day-to-day bullshit that people feed each other.
 * 09/01/2004

 * Kestrel: ...soooo the contents of my uterus are inversely proportional to my sanity. Good to know.
 * 10/22/2004

2005

 * Kestrel: I'm glad the lessons at Lady Weatherby's Charm School of Shut the Fuck Up are paying off.
 * 01/26/2005

 * Apple Store Employee: Everyone comes to the Apple side eventually.
 * 02/18/2005

 * Kestrel: Try not to take the world too seriously, because sooner or later you're going to end up its punchline.
 * 02/23/2005

title: Queen of Wands


text:
Vannevar Bush

Vannevar Bush (11 March 1890 – 30 June 1974) was an American engineer and science administrator known for his work on analog computing, his political role in the development of the atomic bomb as a primary organizer of the Manhattan Project, the founding of Raytheon, and the idea of the memex which later inspired the creation of hypertext and the World Wide Web.

Quotes

 * The pioneer spirit is still vigorous within this nation. Science offers a largely unexplored hinterland for the pioneer who has the tools for his task. The rewards of such exploration both for the Nation and the individual are great. Scientific progress is one essential key to our security as a nation, to our better health, to more jobs, to higher standard of living, and to our cultural progress.
 * Letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt while director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. (5 July 1945)

 * As long as scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems.
 * As quoted by George H. W. Bush in remarks while presenting National Medals of Science and Technology (13 November 1990). This might be a paraphrase of statements from his introduction to "Science The Endless Frontier" (1945), rather than a direct quote. (see below)

As We May Think (1945)

 * Essay on potential developments of information storage technology that first appeared in the The Atlantic Monthly (July 1945)

 * This has not been a scientist's war; it has been a war in which all have had a part. The scientists, burying their old professional competition in the demand of a common cause, have shared greatly and learned much. It has been exhilarating to work in effective partnership. Now, for many, this appears to be approaching an end. What are the scientists to do next?

 * There is a growing mountain of research. But there is increased evidence that we are being bogged down today as specialization extends. The investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers — conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear. Yet specialization becomes increasingly necessary for progress, and the effort to bridge between disciplines is correspondingly superficial.

 * Professionally our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their purpose. If the aggregate time spent in writing scholarly works and in reading them could be evaluated, the ratio between these amounts of time might well be startling. Those who conscientiously attempt to keep abreast of current thought, even in restricted fields, by close and continuous reading might well shy away from an examination calculated to show how much of the previous month's efforts could be produced on call. Mendel's concept of the laws of genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it; and this sort of catastrophe is undoubtedly being repeated all about us, as truly significant attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential.

 * The difficulty seems to be, not so much that we publish unduly in view of the extent and variety of present-day interests, but rather that publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record. The summation of human experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate, and the means we use for threading through the consequent maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used in the days of square-rigged ships.

 * Two centuries ago Leibnitz invented a calculating machine which embodied most of the essential features of recent keyboard devices, but it could not then come into use. The economics of the situation were against it: the labor involved in constructing it, before the days of mass production, exceeded the labor to be saved by its use, since all it could accomplish could be duplicated by sufficient use of pencil and paper. Moreover, it would have been subject to frequent breakdown, so that it could not have been depended upon; for at that time and long after, complexity and unreliability were synonymous.

 * Babbage, even with remarkably generous support for his time, could not produce his great arithmetical machine. His idea was sound enough, but construction and maintenance costs were then too heavy. Had a Pharaoh been given detailed and explicit designs of an automobile, and had he understood them completely, it would have taxed the resources of his kingdom to have fashioned the thousands of parts for a single car, and that car would have broken down on the first trip to Giza.

 * Machines with interchangeable parts can now be constructed with great economy of effort. In spite of much complexity, they perform reliably. Witness the humble typewriter, or the movie camera, or the automobile.

 * A spider web of metal, sealed in a thin glass container, a wire heated to brilliant glow, in short, the thermionic tube of radio sets, is made by the hundred million, tossed about in packages, plugged into sockets — and it works! Its gossamer parts, the precise location and alignment involved in its construction, would have occupied a master craftsman of the guild for months; now it is built for thirty cents. The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.

 * A record, if it is to be useful to science, must be continuously extended, it must be stored, and above all it must be consulted.

 * The camera hound of the future wears on his forehead a lump a little larger than a walnut. It takes pictures 3 millimeters square, later to be projected or enlarged, which after all involves only a factor of 10 beyond present practice.

 * The Encyclopoedia Britannica could be reduced to the volume of a matchbox. A library of a million volumes could be compressed into one end of a desk. If the human race has produced since the invention of movable type a total record, in the form of magazines, newspapers, books, tracts, advertising blurbs, correspondence, having a volume corresponding to a billion books, the whole affair, assembled and compressed, could be lugged off in a moving van. Mere compression, of course, is not enough; one needs not only to make and store a record but also to be able to consult it, and this aspect of the matter comes later. Even the modern great library is not generally consulted; it is nibbled by a few.

 * To make the record, we now push a pencil or tap a typewriter. Then comes the process of digestion and correction, followed by an intricate process of typesetting, printing, and distribution. To consider the first stage of the procedure, will the author of the future cease writing by hand or typewriter and talk directly to the record?

 * Much needs to occur, however, between the collection of data and observations, the extraction of parallel material from the existing record, and the final insertion of new material into the general body of the common record. For mature thought there is no mechanical substitute. But creative thought and essentially repetitive thought are very different things. For the latter there are, and may be, powerful mechanical aids.

 * Adding a column of figures is a repetitive thought process, and it was long ago properly relegated to the machine. True, the machine is sometimes controlled by the keyboard, and thought of a sort enters in reading the figures and poking the corresponding keys, but even this is avoidable.

 * The advanced arithmetical machines of the future will be electrical in nature, and they will perform at 100 times present speeds, or more. Moreover, they will be far more versatile than present commercial machines, so that they may readily be adapted for a wide variety of operations. They will be controlled by a control card or film, they will select their own data and manipulate it in accordance with the instructions thus inserted, they will perform complex arithmetical computations at exceedingly high speeds, and they will record results in such form as to be readily available for distribution or for later further manipulation.

 * There will always be plenty of things to compute in the detailed affairs of millions of people doing complicated things.

 * Every time one combines and records facts in accordance with established logical processes, the creative aspect of thinking is concerned only with the selection of the data and the process to be employed, and the manipulation thereafter is repetitive in nature and hence a fit matter to be relegated to the machines.

 * The needs of business, and the extensive market obviously waiting, assured the advent of mass-produced arithmetical machines just as soon as production methods were sufficiently advanced. With machines for advanced analysis no such situation existed; for there was and is no extensive market; the users of advanced methods of manipulating data are a very small part of the population.

 * If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability. The abacus, with its beads strung on parallel wires, led the Arabs to positional numeration and the concept of zero many centuries before the rest of the world; and it was a useful tool — so useful that it still exists.

 * It is a far cry from the abacus to the modern keyboard accounting machine. It will be an equal step to the arithmetical machine of the future. But even this new machine will not take the scientist where he needs to go. Relief must be secured from laborious detailed manipulation of higher mathematics as well, if the users of it are to free their brains for something more than repetitive detailed transformations in accordance with established rules.

 * A mathematician is not a man who can readily manipulate figures; often he cannot. He is not even a man who can readily perform the transformation of equations by the use of calculus. He is primarily an individual who is skilled in the use of symbolic logic on a high plane, and especially he is a man of intuitive judgment in the choice of the manipulative processes he employs.

 * Whenever logical processes of thought are employed — that is, whenever thought for a time runs along an accepted groove — there is an opportunity for the machine. Formal logic used to be a keen instrument in the hands of the teacher in his trying of students' souls. It is readily possible to construct a machine which will manipulate premises in accordance with formal logic, simply by the clever use of relay circuits. Put a set of premises into such a device and turn the crank, and it will readily pass out conclusion after conclusion, all in accordance with logical law, and with no more slips than would be expected of a keyboard adding machine.

 * There may be millions of fine thoughts, and the account of the experience on which they are based, all encased within stone walls of acceptable architectural form; but if the scholar can get at only one a week by diligent search, his syntheses are not likely to keep up with the current scene.

 * There is another form of selection best illustrated by the automatic telephone exchange. You dial a number and the machine selects and connects just one of a million possible stations. It does not run over them all. It pays attention only to a class given by a first digit, and so on; and thus proceeds rapidly and almost unerringly to the selected station.

 * To be able to key one sheet of a million before an operator in a second or two, with the possibility of then adding notes thereto, is suggestive in many ways. It might even be of use in libraries, but that is another story. At any rate, there are now some interesting combinations possible. One might, for example, speak to a microphone, in the manner described in connection with the speech-controlled typewriter, and thus make his selections. It would certainly beat the usual file clerk.

 * Our ineptitude in getting at the record is largely caused by the artificiality of systems of indexing. When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found (when it is) by tracing it down from subclass to subclass. It can be in only one place, unless duplicates are used; one has to have rules as to which path will locate it, and the rules are cumbersome. Having found one item, moreover, one has to emerge from the system and re-enter on a new path. The human mind does not work that way. It operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It has other characteristics, of course; trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not fully permanent, memory is transitory. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature.

 * Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and to coin one at random, memex will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory. It consists of a desk, and while it can presumably be operated from a distance, it is primarily the piece of furniture at which he works. On the top are slanting translucent screens, on which material can be projected for convenient reading. There is a keyboard, and sets of buttons and levers. Otherwise it looks like an ordinary desk.

 * Only a small part of the interior of the memex is devoted to storage, the rest to mechanism. Yet if the user inserted 5000 pages of material a day it would take him hundreds of years to fill the repository, so he can be profligate and enter material freely.

 * Most of the memex contents are purchased on microfilm ready for insertion. Books of all sorts, pictures, current periodicals, newspapers, are thus obtained and dropped into place. Business correspondence takes the same path. And there is provision for direct entry.

 * There is, of course, provision for consultation of the record by the usual scheme of indexing. If the user wishes to consult a certain book, he taps its code on the keyboard, and the title page of the book promptly appears before him, projected onto one of his viewing positions.

 * A special button transfers him immediately to the first page of the index. Any given book of his library can thus be called up and consulted with far greater facility than if it were taken from a shelf. As he has several projection positions, he can leave one item in position while he calls up another.

 * All this is conventional, except for the projection forward of present-day mechanisms and gadgetry. It affords an immediate step, however, to associative indexing, the basic idea of which is a provision whereby any item may be caused at will to select immediately and automatically another. This is the essential feature of the memex. The process of tying two items together is the important thing.

 * Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified. The lawyer has at his touch the associated opinions and decisions of his whole experience, and of the experience of friends and authorities. The patent attorney has on call the millions of issued patents, with familiar trails to every point of his client's interest. The physician, puzzled by its patient's reactions, strikes the trail established in studying an earlier similar case, and runs rapidly through analogous case histories, with side references to the classics for the pertinent anatomy and histology. The chemist, struggling with the synthesis of an organic compound, has all the chemical literature before him in his laboratory, with trails following the analogies of compounds, and side trails to their physical and chemical behavior.

 * The historian, with a vast chronological account of a people, parallels it with a skip trail which stops only at the salient items, and can follow at any time contemporary trails which lead him all over civilization at a particular epoch. There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record. The inheritance from the master becomes, not only his additions to the world's record, but for his disciples the entire scaffolding by which they were erected.

 * Thus science may implement the ways in which man produces, stores, and consults the record of the race. It might be striking to outline the instrumentalities of the future more spectacularly, rather than to stick closely to the methods and elements now known and undergoing rapid development, as has been done here. Technical difficulties of all sorts have been ignored, certainly, but also ignored are means as yet unknown which may come any day to accelerate technical progress as violently as did the advent of the thermionic tube.

 * All our steps in creating or absorbing material of the record proceed through one of the senses — the tactile when we touch keys, the oral when we speak or listen, the visual when we read. Is it not possible that some day the path may be established more directly?

 * The impulses which flow in the arm nerves of a typist convey to her fingers the translated information which reaches her eye or ear, in order that the fingers may be caused to strike the proper keys. Might not these currents be intercepted, either in the original form in which information is conveyed to the brain, or in the marvelously metamorphosed form in which they then proceed to the hand?

 * In the outside world, all forms of intelligence, whether of sound or sight, have been reduced to the form of varying currents in an electric circuit in order that they may be transmitted. Inside the human frame exactly the same sort of process occurs. Must we always transform to mechanical movements in order to proceed from one electrical phenomenon to another? It is a suggestive thought, but it hardly warrants prediction without losing touch with reality and immediateness.

 * Presumably man's spirit should be elevated if he can better review his shady past and analyze more completely and objectively his present problems. He has built a civilization so complex that he needs to mechanize his record more fully if he is to push his experiment to its logical conclusion and not merely become bogged down part way there by overtaxing his limited memory. His excursion may be more enjoyable if he can reacquire the privilege of forgetting the manifold things he does not need to have immediately at hand, with some assurance that he can find them again if they prove important.

 * The applications of science have built man a well-supplied house, and are teaching him to live healthily therein. They have enabled him to throw masses of people against another with cruel weapons. They may yet allow him truly to encompass the great record and to grow in the wisdom of race experience. He may perish in conflict before he learns to wield that record for his true good. Yet, in the application of science to the needs and desires of man, it would seem to be a singularly unfortunate stage at which to terminate the process, or to lose hope as to the outcome.

Science - The Endless Frontier (1945)

 * A report prepared for President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (July 1945)

 * Science can be effective in the national welfare only as a member of a team, whether the conditions be peace or war. But without scientific progress no amount of achievement in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and security as a nation in the modern world.
 * Summary

 * The responsibility for the creation of new scientific knowledge — and for most of its application — rests on that small body of men and women who understand the fundamental laws of nature and are skilled in the techniques of scientific research. We shall have rapid or slow advance on any scientific frontier depending on the number of highly qualified and trained scientists exploring it.
 * Summary

 * On the wisdom with which we bring science to bear in the war against disease, in the creation of new industries, and in the strengthening of our Armed Forces depends in large measure our future as a nation.
 * Summary

 * Advances in science when put to practical use mean more jobs, higher wages, shorter hours, more abundant crops, more leisure for recreation, for study, for learning how to live without the deadening drudgery which has been the burden of the common man for ages past. Advances in science will also bring higher standards of living, will lead to the prevention or cure of diseases, will promote conservation of our limited national resources, and will assure means of defense against aggression. But to achieve these objectives — to secure a high level of employment, to maintain a position of world leadership — the flow of new scientific knowledge must be both continuous and substantial.
 * Ch. 1 "Introduction"

 * Science, by itself, provides no panacea for individual, social, and economic ills. It can be effective in the national welfare only as a member of a team, whether the conditions be peace or war. But without scientific progress no amount of achievement in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and security as a nation in the modern world.

 * The publicly and privately supported colleges, universities, and research institutes are the centers of basic research. They are the wellsprings of knowledge and understanding. As long as they are vigorous and healthy and their scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems in Government, in industry, or elsewhere.

 * Scientific progress on a broad front results from the free play of free intellects, working on subjects of their own choice, in the manner dictated by their curiosity for exploration of the unknown. Freedom of inquiry must be preserved under any plan for Government support of science...

Science is Not Enough (1967)

 * We puzzle as to whether the universe is bounded or extends forever; whether, indeed, it may only be one universe among many. We speculate as to whether our universe began in a vast explosion, whether it pulsates between utter compression and wide diffusion, whether it is self-renewing and thus unchanged forever. And we are humble. But science teaches more than this. It continually reminds us that we are still ignorant and there is much to learn. Time and space are interconnected in strange ways; there is no absolute simultaneity. Within the atom occur phenomena concerning which visualization is futile, to which common sense, the guidance from our everyday experience, has no application, which yield to studies by equations that have no meaning except that they work. Mass and energy transform one into another, Gravitation, the solid rock on which Newton built, may be merely a property of the geometry of the cosmos. Life, as its details unfold before us, becomes ever more intricate, emphasizing more and more our wonder that its marvelous functioning could have been produced by chance and time. The human mind, merely in its chemical and physical aspects, takes on new inspiring attributes. And what is the conclusion? He who follows science blindly, and who follows it alone, comes to a barrier beyond which he cannot see. He who would tell us with the authority of scholarship a complete story of why we exist, of our mission here, has a duty to speak convincingly in a world where men increasingly think for themselves. Exhortation needs to be revised, not to weaken its power, but to increase it, for men who are no longer in the third century. As this occurs, and on the essential and central core of faith, science will of necessity be silent. But its silence will be the silence of humility, not the silence of disdain. A belief may be larger than a fact. A faith that is overdefined is the very faith most likely to prove inadequate to the great moments of life.
 * p. 28 - 29

 * It is Earlier Than We Think.
 * Title of Ch. IX, p. 160

 * Science has a simple faith, which transcends utility. Nearly all men of science, all men of learning for that matter, and men of simple ways too, have it in some form and in some degree. It is the faith that it is the privilege of man to learn to understand, and that this is his mission. If we abandon that mission under stress we shall abandon it forever, for stress will not cease. Knowledge for the sake of understanding, not merely to prevail, that is the essence of our being. None can define its limits, or set its ultimate boundaries.
 * Ch. X : The Search for Understanding, p. 191

 * That the threat is now intense is not a reason to abandon our quest for knowledge. It is a reason to hold it more tightly, in spite of the need for action to preserve our freedom, in spite of the distractions of living in turmoil, that it may not be lost or brushed aside by the demands of the hour. We would not neglect our duty to our country and our fellows to strive mightily to preserve our ways and our lives. There is an added duty, not inconsistent, not less. It is the duty to so live that there may be a reason for living, beyond the mere mechanisms of life. It is the duty to carry on, under stress, the search for understanding.
 * Ch. X : The Search for Understanding, p. 192

Quotes about Bush

 * Bush is responsible for the whole architecture of government support for science. Today, everyone thinks these terrific innovations came from the minds of bright kids, but they don't realize that these kids needed an environment to be in. It came from Bush. He said, "Give these people money, let them play, and they'll come up with something."
 * Paul Ceruzzi, Curator of Aerospace Electronics and Computing at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, as quoted in "The Godfather" by G. Pascal Zachary in WIRED 5.11 (November 1997)

 * Vannevar Bush is a great name for playing six degrees of separation. Turn back the clock on any aspect of information technology — from the birth of Silicon Valley and the marriage of science and the military to the advent of the World Wide Web — and you find his footprints. As historian Michael Sherry says, "To understand the world of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, start with understanding Vannevar Bush."
 * G. Pascal Zachary, in "The Godfather" in WIRED 5.11 (November 1997)

title: Vannevar Bush


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User:Tedius Zanarukando

See Tedius Zanarukando's Wikipedia user page.

Personal Quote: "Jessica Sanchez should have won instead of Phillip Phillips."

title: User:Tedius Zanarukando