Heroes and superheroes - Quotes from Science Fiction

A lot of quotations carefully collected from a very big amount of books and divided by categories.

Have fun reading it, this is really interesting and breathtaking!

[Dejah Thoris to John Carter:] You are a queer mixture of child and man, of brute and noble. I only wish that I might read your heart.

- Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars (1917)

He was doomed, like millions, to flee from wisdom and be a hero.

- James Hilton, Lost Horizon (1933)

Just before the doomed planet, Krypton, exploded to fragments, a scientist placed his infant son within an experimental rocket-ship, launching it toward Earth! When the vessel reached our planet, the child was found by an elderly couple, the Kents. The infant was turned over to an orphan asylum, where it astounded the attendants with its feats of strength. The love and guidance of his kindly foster parents was to become an important factor in the shaping of the boy's future. As the lad grew older, he learned to his delight that he could hurdle skyscrapers . . . . . . Leap an eighth of a mile . . . . . . Raise tremendous weights . . . . . . Run faster than a streamline train - . . . And nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin! The passing away of his foster-parents greatly grieved Clark Kent. But it strengthened a determination that had been growing in his mind. Clark decided he must turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind. And so was created - superman champion of the oppressed. The physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!

- Jerry Siegel, untitled story, Superman #1 (comic book, 1939)

Bruce Wayne (thinking): Dad's estate left me wealthy. I am ready . . . But first I must have a disguise. Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. So my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible . . . a . . . a . . . Caption: As if in answer, a huge bat flies in the open window! Bruce Wayne: A bat! That's it. It's an omen . . . I shall become a bat!

- Bill Finger, ''The Legend of the Batman - Who He Is and How He Came to Be'' (comic book, 1940)

At last, in a world torn by the hatreds and wars of men, appears a woman to whom the problems and feats of men are mere child's play - a woman whose identity is known to none, but whose sensational feats are outstanding in a fast-moving world! With a hundred times the agility and strength of our best male athletes and strongest wrestlers, she appears as though from nowhere to avenge an injustice or right a wrong! As lovely as Aphrodite - as wise as Athena - with the speed of Mercury and the strength of Hercules - she is known only asWonderWoman, but who she is, or whence she came, nobody knows!

- William Moulton Marston, ''IntroducingWonderWoman'' (comic book, 1941)

''Up in the sky, look!'' ''It's a bird!'' ''It's a plane!'' ''It's Superman!''

- Jay Morton, Superman (cartoon, 1941)

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! This amazing stranger from the planet Krypton, the Man of Steel, Superman! Empowered with X-ray vision, possessing remarkable physical strength, Superman fights a never-ending battle for truth and justice, disguised as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter, Clark Kent.

- Jay Morton, The Mechanical Monsters (cartoon, 1941)

Supermen are superthinkers, anything else is a side issue.

- Robert A. Heinlein, ''Gulf '' (1949)

I might well retort that many men on Earth have had the presentiment of a superior being who may one day succeed them but that no scientist, philosopher, or poet has ever imagined this superhuman in the guise of an ape.

- Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes (1963), translated by Xan Fielding (1963)

That which makes a man superhuman is terrifying.

- Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)

[The Star Child] waited, marshaling his thoughts and brooding over his still untested powers. For though he was master of the world, he was not quite surewhat to do next. But he would think of something.

- Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

They say people don't believe in heroes anymore.Well, damn them. You and me, Max, we're gonna give them back their heroes.

- James McCausland and George Miller, Mad Max (film, 1979)

To what extent are our heroisms, sacrifices, and self-aggrandizements the acting out of personae that we maintain? Some thinkers have attempted to trace this element through every aspect of society.

- Poul Anderson, ''The Saturn Game'' (1981)

The backside of heroism is often rather sad; women and servants know that. They know also that the heroism may be no less real for that. But achievement is smaller than men think.What is large is the sky, the earth, the sea, the soul.

- Ursula K. Le Guin, ''Sur'' (1982)

What he didn't like about heroes was that they were usually suicidally gloomy when sober and homicidally insane when drunk.

- Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic (1983)

What heroes like best is themselves.

- Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic (1983)

Magneto (to Pyro): You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different.

- Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, and David Hayter, X2: X-Men United (film, 2003)