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Batman' is a superhero appearing in several comic books published by DC Comics. This article includes quotes from Batman as well as the supporting characters from Batman-related books.

[edit] Batman

• "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... A bat! That's it. It's an omen... I shall become a BAT!" - Batman #1

• "I made a promise to my parents that I would rid the city of the evil that took their lives." — The Long Halloween

• "I believe in Jim Gordon. I believe in Harvey Dent. I believe in Gotham City." — The Long Halloween

• "Nothing matters, except the mission." - All star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder

• "Grief is the enemy. There's no time for grief. There's no room for grief. Grief turns into acceptance. Forgiveness. Grief forgives what can never be forgiven. Never." - All star Batman and Robin

• "Sometimes it's only madness that makes us what we are." - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• "Criminals are a terror. Hearts of the night. I must disguise my terror. Criminals are cowardly. A superstitious terrible omen. A cowardly lot. My disguise must strike terror. I must be black. Terrible. Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. I must be a creature. I must be a creature of the night. Mommy's dead. Daddy's dead. Brucie's dead. I shall become a bat." - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• "That vase was from the Ming Dynasty. Alfred will forgive me... eventually." - As the Crow Flies

• (to the Joker) "Hello. I came to talk. I've been thinking lately. About you and me. About what's going to happen to us in the end. We're going to kill each other, aren't we? Perhaps you'll kill me. Perhaps I'll kill you. Perhaps sooner. Perhaps later." - Batman: The Killing Joke

• (to the Joker) "Don't you understand? I don't want to hurt you. I don't want either of us to end up killing the other. But we're both running out of alternatives, and we both know it. Maybe it all hinges on tonight. Maybe this is our last chance to sort this whole bloody mess out. If you don't take it, then we're both locked onto a suicide course. Both of us. To the death. It doesn't have to end like that. I don't know what it was that bent your life out of shape, but who knows? Maybe I've been there too. Maybe I can help. We could work together. I could rehabilitate you. You needn't be out there on the edge anymore. You needn't be alone. We don't have to kill each other. What do you say?" - Batman: The Killing Joke

• "Without warning, it comes. Crashing through the window of your study. I have seen it before... somewhere. It frightened me as a boy... frightened me. Yes, father. I shall become a bat." - Batman: Year One

• "Ladies. Gentlemen. You have eaten well. You've eaten Gotham's wealth. Its spirit. Your feast is nearly over. From this moment on -- none of you are safe." - Batman: Year One

• "I'm Batman. I don't enjoy anything." - Formerly Known as the Justice League

• "I made a promise on the grave of my parents that I would rid this city of the evil that took their lives. By day, I am Bruce Wayne, billionaire philanthropist. At night, criminals, a cowardly and superstitious lot, call me . . . Batman." — Hush

• "Deep down, Clark's essentially a good person...and deep down, I'm not" - Hush

• "They say that when you kill a man you not only take away what he was but all he will ever be." - Hush

• "People think it's an obsession. A compulsion. As if there were an irresistible impulse to act. It's never been like that. I chose this life. I know what I'm doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn't that day. And tomorrow won't be either." - Identity Crisis

• (to Superman) "Everyone looks up to you. They listen to you. If you tell them to fight, they'll fight. But they need to be inspired. And let's face it "Superman"...the last time you really inspired anyone -- was when you were dead." - Infinite Crisis

• (to the Joker) "And when you're sitting here alone in the middle of the night, unsleeping in the dark, remember -- every breath you take you owe to me." - The Joker: Devil's Advocate

• "That's why evil always fails. There's only one kind of good, and it's all evil ever gets to battle. Makes it weak and narrow-minded. There's an endless variety of evil. And good's got a lifetime of tricks up its sleeve. We learn from the best." - JLA: Welcome to the Working Week

• "10:00PM. And for no apparent reason I find myself missing Alfred. Damn you, Clark." - Superman: Critical Condition

• "And as the sun, that had been too afraid to show its face in this city, started to turn the black into grey, I smiled. Not out of happiness. But because I knew... that one day, I wouldn't have to do this anymore. One day, I could stop fighting. Because one day... I would win. One day, there will be no pain, no loss, no crime. Because of me, because I fight. For you. One day, I will win." - Batman #625

• "I really screwed up tonight... I let myself get off-balance, and it was used to my disadvantage... let my anger run away with me. I know enough to know better than that, and still I did it anyway. Took a bad situation and made it worse, probably made myself a dangerous enemy in the process, too. Why does it seem like some wounds just never go away? Do you ever think about that? I guess I just wanted to talk to someone, a friend about it... but, if you were here, you'd probably just give me a lecture anyway. So maybe I'll just sit here for a while, Jim." - Detective Comics #592

[edit] Allies

[edit] Barbara Gordon

[edit] Cassandra Cain

• "I don't kill. But I don't lose, either." - Batgirl #8

• "I'll never take another life. Not even hers. So I'll pretend to go all out... and then I'll die. I don't have to do this. I can still study Batman's method. I can be good enough for the costume. I can be... mediocre. For a lifetime. Or perfect. For a year." - Batgirl #9

[edit] Dick Grayson

Main article: Dick Grayson

[edit] Huntress

• "You want justice served? You want vengeance taken? You want honor restored? Then do it yourself. That's omertà. When blood cries for blood, you answer the call. And you answer it alone." - Batman: Huntress: Cry for Blood

• (to Nightwing) "I don't want your help. I don't need your help. Now, get out of my home." - Batman: Huntress: Cry for Blood

• "There were so many flowers. My mother had been shot in the chest. Her casket was open. But my father and my brother, they'd been shot in the face, and there was no way the mortician could repair that damage. I was eight years old and my family was dead and all I thought was that people loved us. It wasn't grief that brought the flowers. It was joy." - Batman: Huntress: Cry for Blood

[edit] Villains

[edit] Anarky

Main article: Anarky

[edit] Black Mask

• "I'm listening, and when I say I'm listening, I'm also thinking about killing you."

• [When asking by Li if Red Hood is crazy for selling back their kryptonite for $50,000,000] "No. The crazy ones would make a suit out of the rock and march into Metropolis and play 'king of the mountain'. This one knows what he's doing."

• "I'm not pleased, you know. Not pleased at all. And despite appearances, this isn't a damned smile on my face."

• I swear, it's like trying to run a crime organization with my mother.

• "And I'll just wait here... because I'm known for my patience."

[edit] Catwoman

• "Show a man what he expects to see, and he won't look beneath the surface." - Catwoman vol. 1 #1

• "It's such a waste when pretty things get broken." - Catwoman vol. 1 #2

• "Life would be so much easier if I didn't have this conscience!" - Catwoman vol. 1 #9

• "Live fast. Love hard. Die young. Leave a good-smelling corpse." - Catwoman vol. 1 #18

• "They may suspect me, but they'll never see me. They may chase me, but they'll never catch me. Never, never, ever catch me." - Catwoman vol. 1 #19

• "I'm a thief--and stealing is what I do. Not so much for the prize or the possession or even the profit...but for the art of doing it...because I can... and because I'm good." - Catwoman vol. 1 #38

• (to Batman) "You are part of the night, just like me. We're not afraid of the dark--we come alive in it...we're thrilled by it." - Catwoman vol. 1 #40

• "A long time ago, before I put on this mask, I was afraid of everything." - Catwoman vol. 1 #59

• "That's part of the rule. Never quit. Never let them see you're afraid. Above all -- never let them see you're hurt. Never let them see you cry. Never." - Catwoman vol. 1 #75

• "My world is all just shades of grey, Batman. That's why you'll never really understand me." - Catwoman vol. 2 #1

• "It's like Slam's bed, and lying in his arms, has become my center of gravity. And everywhere I go, everything I do, I can feel something drawing me back there. It's just so damn unfair that it breaks my heart. But I guess life is always hardest on the survivors." - Catwoman vol. 2 #17

• "The East End. My soul is tied to this place now. Becuase it's cost me so much in blood and tears. But this is where the Catwoman was born. And if it has to be, this is where she'll die." - Catwoman vol. 2 #25

[edit] Harley Quinn

• "Aw, c'mon, Puddin' -- don'tcha wanna rev up ya Harley? Vroom! Vroom!" - Batman: Mad Love

• "Face it, Harl. This stinks -- yer a certified nutso wanted by the law in two dozen states -- and hopelessly in love with a murderous, psychopathic clown." - Batman: Mad Love

• "I found the Joker's psyche disturbing, his dementia alarming, and his charm irresistible!" - Batman: Harley Quinn

• "My love for my Joker was stronger than their madhouse walls." - Batman: Harley Quinn

• "Face it, Harley-- you and your Puddin' are kaput! You're playin' solitaire now-- not hearts!" - Harley Quinn #2

• (about Bruce Wayne ) "Brucie's got a lot more on the ball than you'd think. He's got a presence. He hides it under that society suave, but there's a real intensity. Only others I ever met like that were Mistah J... and Batman!" - Harley Quinn #6

• "Get up, you deadbeat! That was the only place in town with a scintillatin' selection of polyester fashion! Where you think I'm gonna shop now? - Harley Quinn #9

• "There's no such thing as safe sex with some alien races. Think acid-for-blood. Think mate-then-kill." - Harley Quinn #15

• "Well, what d'ya know -- looks like we ran outta friends... for a while, at least. And me the social type! Or is that sociopathic?" - Harley Quinn #18

• "If you think Arkham's scary as a doctor, you should try it as a patient." - Detective Comics #831

• "I'm crazy about... Well, I'm just crazy." - Gotham Girls

[edit] Hush

• "What is a friend? A single soul residing in two bodies." - Batman: Hush

• "All men by nature seek knowledge." - Batman: Hush

[edit] Jason Todd

• "That looks like it's gotta hurt. Well, I say that like I'm speculating or something. I know it hurts." - Batman: Under the Hood

• "I seem to have made myself an enemy of all the bad guys." - Batman: Under the Hood

• "Life's just a game Batman...and this time, you lose." - Batman: Hush

• (to Batman) "How could you let me die?" - Batman: Hush

• (after beating The Joker to a pulp) "Now tell me... How does it feel?"

• (to Batman) "I don't know what clouds your judgement worse. Your guilt or your antiquated sense of morality. Bruce, I forgive you for not saving me." Batman: Under the Hood

• "Hey...It's going to be hard to learn a great many things about me, but one I'll give you for free... I am no one's son." Batman: Under the Hood

• (to Onyx)"What do you think this was all about? We were going to rough these guys up and teach them a lesson? Welcome to planet Earth, baby! These dead sacks of meat on the floor made their living by beating, raping and devouring! Fear isn't the answer!" Batman: Under the Hood

[edit] The Joker

• "If they're going to play with the Joker, they'd better be prepared to deal from the bottom of the deck!" - Batman #1

• (to Judge Drake) "You can't win anyway... You see, I hold the winning card" - Batman #1

• (to Superman)"More powerful than a locomotive, and just about as subtle." - Superman/Batman: World's Finest

• "In my dream, the world had suffered a terrible disaster. A black haze shut out the sun, and the darkness was alive with the moans and screams of wounded people. Suddenly, a small light glowed. A candle flickered into life, symbol of hope for millions. A single tiny candle, shining in the ugly dark. I laughed and blew it out."

• "Madness is the emergency exit. You can just step outside, and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened. You can lock them away... forever." - Batman: The Killing Joke

• "Ladies and Gentlemen! You've read about it in the papers! Now witness, before your very eyes, that most rare and tragic of natures mistakes! I give you: the average man. Physically unremarkable, it instead possesses a deformed set of values. Notice the hideously bloated sense of humanity's importance. Also note the club-footed social conscience and the withered optimism. It's certainly not for the squeamish, is it? Most repulsive of all, are its frail and useless notions of order and sanity. If too much weight is placed upon them... they snap. How does it live, I hear you ask? How does this poor pathetic specimen survive in todays harsh and irrational environment? I'm afraid the sad answer is, "Not very well". Faced with the inescapable fact that human existence is mad, random, and pointless, one in eight of them crack up and go stark slavering buggo! Who can blame them? In a world as psychotic as this... any other response would be crazy!" - Batman: The Killing Joke

• "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once. Am I right? You had a bad day and everything changed" - Batman: The Killing Joke

• "It's a clear choice -- me or Pettit. Vote or die. Cancer or tuberculosis." - Detective Comics #737

• "If I weren't crazy, I'd be insane!" - Batman: Dark detective

• "They could put me in a helicopter and fly me up into the air and line up the bodies head to toe on the ground in delightful geometric patterns like an endless June Taylor dancers routine—and it would never be enough. No, I don’t keep count. But you do. And I love you for it." - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

• "See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum...and one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight...stretching away to freedom. Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daredn't make the leap. Y'see...y'see, he's afraid of falling. So then, the first guy has an idea...He says 'Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!' B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says... he says 'What do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was half way across!'" - Batman: The Killing Joke

• "Aren't I just good enough to eat?" - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• "April sweet is coming in, let the feast of fools begin!" - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• "Parting is such sweet sorrow, dearest. Still, you can't say we didn't show you a good time. Enjoy yourself out there... in the asylum. Just don't forget -- if it ever gets too tough... there's always a place for you here." - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• (to Batman) "Loosen up, tight ass!" — Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• "Oh, yes! fill the churches with dirty thoughts! Introduce honesty to the white house! Write letters in dead languages to people you've never met! Paint filthy words on the foreheads of children! Burn your credit cards and wear high heels! Asylum doors stand open! Fill the suburbs with murder and rape! Divine madness! Let there be ecstacy, ecstacy in the streets! Laugh and the world laughs with you!" - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• "And he didn't die all at once. It was hours before the screaming stopped. I almost didn't get to sleep that night. That was the last time I'd used crushed glass..." - The Joker: Devil's Advocate

• "You dirty rat! You killed my brother! My sister! My daughter! She's my sister and my daughter!" - Batman: Dark Victory

• "It's all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for... it's all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing?" - Batman: The Killing Joke

• "Lady, you're harder to kill than a cockroach on steroids" - Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (comic adaptation)

• (to Batman) "Quick question. When the clock strikes twelve, do I get a little kiss?" - Batman: The Long Halloween

• "Every clown loves kids, captain. Just ask Sarah-Essen-Gordon. Oh, that's right, you can't!" - Gotham Central #15

• (As Nightwing pummels him) "Aw... Jeez... I hit Jason a lot harder than that. (Pause) His name was Jason, right?" - Joker: Last Laugh #6

• "Ladies and Gentlemen, Hobos and Tramps, Cross-eyed mosquitoes and bowlegged ants. I come before you, to stand before you, to tell you a story I know nothing about. One bright morning in the middle of the night two dead fellows stood up to fight. They stood back to back, facing each other, drew their swords and shot each other. If you don't believe my lie, it's true, ask the blind lady on the corner, she saw it too." -Emperor Joker

• (To Harley as he turns her into a Constellation) "You get the best seat in the house for Armageddon. Say goodnight, Harley. I always wanted to see my dame in lights. Heh. Even in a moment of abject saccharine, I still got it." -Emperor Joker

• "It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. Oh, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway!" - Return of the Joker

[edit] Lady Shiva

• "I believe in letting people do as they wish, as do I myself. Sometimes, of course, what I wish to do is kill them and they do not wish to die. This gives life interest." - The Question #29

• "Murder by disease. No art in it. No soul. Such a decadent way to kill." - Robin (limited series) #2

• "I cannot destroy you unless you permit me to." - The Question #36

• "I'm a warrior, not a murderer." - Batgirl #8

• "Karma. That I understand." - Batgirl #25

• "I am not allowing you to pass out. I want your men to see you beg. Then you will apologize with a pain you will remember always." - Birds of Prey #62

• "I answer this with blood and pain and cold, damp graves for my enemies." - Birds of Prey #62

• "That's the problem with the amateurs -- the histrionics. No sense of grace at all." - Birds of Prey #63

• "Perhaps death is just a little bit afraid of me." - Birds of Prey #63

• "All this ceremony, and the truth is: the body decays, the spirit is lost. It means nothing. Ashes or earth, I hardly see the significance of where they lay your corpse." - Birds of Prey #68

[edit] Mr. Freeze

• "Of course, I know about bad luck... that's one of the lessons that this city teaches us all, eventually." - Gotham Central #1

[edit] The Penguin

• "The Penguin flies ever alone!" - Detective Comics #611

• "A perfect crime is a work of art, a thing of beauty, and a joy forever, to paraphrase the Bard!" - Detective Comics #611

• "Where's the thrill in committing the perfect crime if nobody knows it was you?" - Detective Comics #611

• "Despite the monetary wherewithal to indulge one's palate, your epicurean tastes run to the mundane. While I, on the other hand, intend to fill my gullet -- until I have feted my ravenous appetite!" - Batman: Haunted Knight

• "Ahh... the Batman. While I have an affection for most flying creatures... the winged rat is not among them." - Batman: Haunted Knight

• (to Batman and Robin) "Why can't you two get a day job?" - Batman #572

• "Fortunately the Penguin is a wise old bird -- never one to put all his eggs into one basket." - Detective Comics #824

[edit] Poison Ivy

• "I hate this city. Nothing grows here." - Batman: Poison Ivy

• "Some things are worth dying for, Batman." - Detective Comics #752

• "I don't do that, Harley. I don't save people. I'm poison, remember?" - Harley Quinn #13

• "I have no interest in your deals. No interest in you, in any of you, on the outside. This park, this is Gotham now... its future. Reclaimed by nature, pure without mankind's assaults. It is a sanctuary now, and I am guardian. I will not let it be defiled. Not by anyone. Certainly not by you. Leave." - Shadow of the Bat #88

• "Suicidal men adore me." - Batman & Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows

• "I hate men. Because of what they do. They clip. They prune. They make us remake ourselves into what they want. A Madonna. A whore. A partner. A foe. And we do it. Because we need." - Solo #6

• (Batman about Poison Ivy) "There's a no man's land between love and hate. Between passion and obsession -- where it's easy to lose all sense of reality -- and in doing so, lose yourself. Somewhere in that emotional minefield... Pamela Isley wanders." - Legends of the Dark Knight #43

• "You're always responsible for the things you create." - Batman: Poison Ivy

• "Hello, lover. Long time, so see." - Batman: Haunted Knight

• "May your hell be a green one!" - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #56

[edit] Ra's al Ghul

• "Detective, as you know, I am cursed with a love for emptiness... desolation. It is a beauty to which my soul responds... as pure, as untainted as the deserts of my birth. I deem it my mission to purify this planet, to restore it to its former beauty... a mission I will brook no interference in." - Batman: Son of the Demon

• "The only thing that thrives outside these walls are the six billion shortsighted parasites who continue to ravage our planet’s natural resources. On its own, humanity is a destructive force. It needs a master." - JLA: Tower of Babel

• "Whoever said a picture was worth a thousand words... is about to see just how badly he miscounted." - JLA: Tower of Babel

• "Everything I have done, I do for the greater good." - Batman: Death and the Maidens

[edit] The Riddler

• "Life's full of questions, isn't it, Batman? Though, naturally, I prefer to think of them as riddles." - Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City, part 1

• "Now that is a riddle, isn't it?" - Batman: Hush

• "And now, the world is my oyster. Right, Bruce?" - Batman: Hush

• "The mastermind always wants more. It's criminal nature." - Detective Comics #828

• "It's a mystery. Broken into a jigsaw puzzle. Wrapped in a conundrum. Hidden in a Chinese box." - Batman: The Long Halloween

• ""You don't understand. .. I really didn't want to leave you any clues. I really planned never to go back to Arkham Asylum. But I left you a clue anyway. So I... I have to go back there. Because I might need help. I... I might actually be crazy." - Batman: Gotham Adventures

[edit] The Scarecrow

• "I know an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do. She gave them some broth but gave them no bread. And she beat them and whipped them and put them to bed." - Batman: Haunted Knight

• "Professor Crane isn't here right now. But, if you'd like an appointment?" - Batman: Haunted Knight (this line is said in Batman Begins as well)

• "Oh yes, Heaven, father. From where no amount of praying ever draws Him out. 'God in Heaven!' 'God in Heaven!' 'Thank God in Heaven I don't look like that!' - Batman/Scarecrow: Year One

• "I once knew a man whose dog told him to cut his entire family into pieces. Bark. Bark. Bark. BARK!" - Batman: Haunted Knight

• "Knick Knack, Paddy Whack, Give a dog a bone!"- Batman: Haunted Knight

• "Would you like to see my mask?"- Batman Begins

• "(to Carmine Falcone)"They scream and they cry. Much as you're doing now."-Batman Begins

[edit] Talia al Ghul

• (to Batman) "Beloved, you give too much thought to what is real and what is not, to what is true and what is false. I realize that is your way, but just this once, accept things as they are. Forego your control, your discipline. Just once, let yourself go... and take me with you." - Batman: Son of the Demon

• (to Batman) "What's wrong with you, Dark Knight? Why is facing psychopathic super-villians so much easier than facing your own emotions?" - Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul #1

[edit] Two-Face

• "Two shots to the head. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." - Batman: The Long Halloween

• "I did what needs to be done." - Batman: The Long Halloween

• "How much longer did you think I would let the Falcone family tear Gotham in half? Splitting this city between good and evil. My city." -Batman: The Long Halloween

• "Can a man live two lives?" - Batman: The Long Halloween

• "The moon is so beautiful. It's a big silver dollar, flipped by God. And it landed scarred side up, see? So He made the world." - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• "I am a lawyer. Yes. We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice. Insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure of the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. God bless America." - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

• "I am a liar. No. We the acid scarred bitches of history of evil and hypocrisy exalt criminals to office. Vietnam, El Salvador, Chile with lovely missiles, roaring bombs of the rich and the white and the pious and burn children and torture women. Forever and ever, amen. God bless America." - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

[edit] External Links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Batman

Wikimedia Commons has multimedia related to:

Batman

• Batman at the Comic Book Database
• Batman-on-film.com
• Aaron Severson's The Golden Age Batman Chronology