TV shows are typically just entertainment. Occasionally, they can inspire us to be better people. Doctor Who is a BBC television show about a time-traveling alien named “The Doctor” that began in 1963. Despite the show’s wacky Sci-Fi premise, its central message is about the power of words and reason over violence. Or as others have aptly put it—Doctor Who is about the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism.
The writing in this show is superb, and I like to keep a collection of meaningful quotes. I have reproduced my favorites below:
On Virtue
“Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage. Good is good in the final hour, in the deepest pit, without hope, without witness, without reward. Virtue is only virtue in extremis.”
– 12th Doctor
On Winning
“Winning? Is that what you think it's about? I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun. God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works because it hardly ever does… I do what I do because it’s right! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind! It's just that.. Just kind.
If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, you know, maybe there's no point to any of this at all. But it's the best I can do. So I'm going to do it. And I will stand here doing it until it kills me.
And you're going to die too! Some day… And how will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand.. Where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?”
– 12th Doctor
On War
“When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know who's children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they're always going to have to do from the very beginning—sit down and talk!”
– 12th Doctor
On What to Do With Pain
“I did worse things than you could ever imagine, and when I close my eyes... I hear more screams than anyone could ever be able to count! And do you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight... Until it burns your hand. And you say this—no one else will ever have to live like this. No one else will ever have to feel this pain. Not on my watch.”
– 12th Doctor
On Troublemakers
“Ah. And when this war is over, when—when you have the homeland free from humans, what do you think it's going to be like? Do you know? Have you thought about it? Have you given it any consideration? Because you're very close to getting what you want. What's it going to be like? Paint me a picture. Are you going to live in houses? Do you want people to go to work? What'll be holidays? Oh! Will there be music? Do you think people will be allowed to play violins? Who will make the violins?
Well? Oh, You don't actually know, do you?
Because, just like every other tantruming child in history, Bonnie, you don't actually know what you want. So, let me ask you a question about this brave new world of yours. When you've killed all the bad guys, and it's all perfect and just and fair, when you have finally got it exactly the way you want it, what are you going to do with the people like you? The troublemakers. How are you going to protect your glorious revolution from the next one?”
– 12th Doctor
On Fear
“Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard I can feel it through your hands. There’s so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain it’s like rocket fuel. Right now you could run faster and you could fight harder, you could jump higher than ever in your life. And you are so alert it’s like you can slow down time. What’s wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower. It’s your superpower. There is danger in this room and guess what? It’s you.”
– 12th Doctor
On Love
“Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?”
– 12th Doctor
On Pain
“Pain is a gift. Without the capacity for pain, we can't feel the hurt we inflict.”
– 12th Doctor
On Being Unique in the Universe
“Hey. Do you mind if I tell you a story? One you might not have heard. All the elements in your body were forged many many millions of years ago in the heart of a faraway star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings. Until, eventually, they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe... And there will never be another.”
– 11th Doctor
On Optimism
“I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improbable dreams.”
– 11th Doctor
On Good and Bad Things in Life
“The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.”
– 11th Doctor
On Travel
“This is one corner… of one country, in one continent, on one planet that’s a corner of a galaxy that’s a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see.”
– 11th Doctor
On Miracles
“The universe is big. It’s vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles.”
– 11th Doctor
On Change
“We all change, when you think about it. We’re all different people all through our lives. And that’s okay, that’s good, you’ve got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.”
– 11th Doctor
On Ending
“Everything’s got to end sometime. Otherwise, nothing would ever get started.”
– 11th Doctor
On Growing Up
“There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. “ – 4th Doctor
On Facts
“The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.”
– 4th Doctor
On Asking the Right Questions
“Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard.”
– 4th Doctor
On Courage
“Courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.”
– 3rd Doctor
On Traveling
“A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.”
– 3rd Doctor
On the Doctor
“Heroes are important. Heroes tell us something about ourselves. History books tell us who we used to be, documentaries tell us who we are now, but heroes tell us who we want to be. A lot of our heroes depress me. But you know, when they made this particular hero, they didn't give him a gun, they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn't give him a tank or a warship or an X-wing fighter, they gave him a call box from which you can call for help. And they didn't give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat ray—they gave him two hearts. And that's an extraordinary thing. There will never come a time when we don't need a hero like the Doctor.”
– Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Writer