Joss Whedon

“That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain. Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it. (to Inara) Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.”

“I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, than a show that 1000 people want to see.”

“Redemption is something you have to fight for in a very personal, down-dirty way. Some of our characters lose that, some stray from that, and some regain it.”

“The times are chaotic. For me, I would hope that people look at [Angel] and gain strength by it. With everything that I do, I hope that they see people struggling to live decent, moral lives in a completely chaotic world. They see how hard it is, how often they fail, and how they get up and keep trying. That, to me, is the most important message I'm ever going to tell.”

“I cannot abide useless people.”

“Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.”

“You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.”

“If I kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed.”

“Two things that matter to me. Emotional resonance and rocket launchers.”

“Come a day there won’t be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. This job goes south, there well may not be another. So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don’t push me, and I won’t push you. Dong le ma?”

“It's not enough to bash in heads. You've got to bash in minds.”

“The thing about a hero, is even when it doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, he's going to keep digging, he's going to keep trying to do right and make up for what's gone before, just because that's who he is.”

“All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause – there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once...Even just learning enough about a subject so you can speak against an opponent eloquently makes you an unusual personage. Start with that. Any one of you would have cried out, would have intervened, had you been in that crowd in Bashiqa. Well thanks to digital technology, you’re all in it now.”

“Humor keeps us alive. Humor and food. Don't forget food. You can go a week without laughing.”

“Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own.”

“Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping... waiting... and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir... open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us... guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead.”

“Very occasionally, if you pay really close attention, life doesn't suck.”

“I'll take crazy over stupid any day.”

“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. ”

“Uh, hey, I got a idea. Instead of us hanging around playing art critic 'til I get pinched by the man, how's about we move away from this eerie-ass piece of work, and get on with our increasingly eerie-ass day. How's that?”

“If you're going to make a science fiction movie, then have a hover craft chase, for God's sake.”

“You're going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.”

“Every day's a negotiation and sometimes it's done with guns.”

“There’s a fine line between support and stalking and let’s all stay on the right side of that.”

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn.”

“Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck.”

“People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy.”