& .˚ the expanse prompts. ( this is an assortment from all seasons, including season six trailers, from many characters and is mostly focused on the themes of war, politics, morality, humanity & all that jazz. feel free to change pronouns if needed. )
“ a kid needs at least one person who never gives up on them, no matter what ”
“ everyone leaves unfinished business. that’s what dying is. ”
“ the sides change sometimes. what we think we’re fighting for. who we tell ourselves are the good people. but it just seems we can’t ever stop fighting war after war after war. it’s part of being human. an ugly part, but i don’t think it will ever change. ”
“ no weapon ever brings peace. ”
“ i’m never going to like what you did, but i can’t hate you for doing what you thought was right. ”
“ i think, ‘[her] father was a terrible person,’ but a lot of people have terrible parents. and then i think, ‘[she]’s clearly damaged person,’ but then, who isn’t? so i’m down to, ‘maybe [she] has a brain tumor.’ do you have a brain tumor? ”
“ hate is a burden. you don’t have to carry it with you ”
“ us and them. how many of us… how many of them ? ”
“ you’re either some kind of genius or you’re the luckiest dipshit in the solar system. ”
“ the war does not end when people put down their guns; it ends when they reconcile. until then, the war has only paused. ”
“ you just have to believe that what you’re doing really matters, and then the fear can’t control you. ”
“ don’t worry about what i want, worry about what i am due. ”
“ walking away is the only choice anyone ever has. ”
“ and he’s building it on a river of blood, with your help ! ”
“ the thing about civilization is, it keeps you civil. get rid of one; you can’t count on the other. ”
“ if we decided to include everyone in our tribe without demanding that they prove we need them, maybe people wouldn’t have thrown rocks at us in the first place. ”
“ as long as we’re living and breathing, there’s more we can do. we just have to be strong enough. ”
“ maybe this war was inevitable, maybe there was no way to avoid it. the best you can hope for is that it’s justified. ”
“ good and bad, don’t get distracted by that. it will just confuse you. good men do bad things and bad men do things believing it’s for the good of all mankind. ”
“ i didn’t kill [him] because he was crazy. i killed [him] because he was making sense. ”
“ you give a monkey a stick, inevitably he’ll beat another monkey to death with it. ”
“ the way i see it, there’s only three kinds of people in this world. bad ones, ones you follow, and ones you need to protect. ”
“ truth is truth. how you deal with it is up to you. ”
“ the hardest part of this game is figuring out who the enemy really is. ”
“ every shitty thing we do makes the next one that much easier, doesn’t it? ”
“ individuals can be divided and conquered, but symbols… symbols endure. ”
“ there are ways that you can live a good life, without being a good person. ”
“ stars are better off without us. ”
“ guilt is like salt. you put a little on, and it hides all the bitterness. ”
“ don’t decide for them. tell them the truth and let them decide for themselves. ”
“ i never loved you because you were fighters, i loved you because you were builders. ”
“ a child who won’t grow up turns into a fool. ”
“ you must always have a knife in the darkness. ”
“ violence is indiscriminate. if you use it as a tool, it will do more than just kill your enemies. sometimes it will kill the ones you love most. ”
“ no matter how traumatic the loss is, you only have so much emotional stamina. even grief can get used up. ”
“ everything you do is corrupt, and i can’t stand to be part of it. ”
“ if you want to die, i can’t stop you. but there is a path from where you are to where i am. all we did was buy you a little time. you decide what you want to do with it. ”
“ i need you to know, whatever happens, wherever you go, you’re not gonna do it alone. ”
“ we did not choose this, but this is our fight now. ”
“ see, here’s the thing. i was terrified for you, i didn’t know why. and now i do, you will do anything to win. i won’t play with you, ever again. ”
“ [she] trusted you, [she] put [her]self in your hands ‘cause [she] couldn’t see the blood on ‘em. ”
“ if we get out of this, we have to find a way to understand each other, to explain why we made the choices that we did. it is the only way that we can let go of the hate. ”
“ but there’s only one thing that i need to tell you and it’s the simplest thing. but it’s the hardest thing to remember. listen to your heart. no matter what. it’ll always be the right call. ”
“ war is an inherently unstable interaction of three things: intense emotion, politics and luck. ”
“ in the end, the only thing that matters is fighting for who’s covering your back. ”
“ many fought for us to get here. many died. we have lost people we loved, and have suffered. we would be justified to seek vengeance. but instead, we will choose peace. we must choose peace. ”
“ when people don’t tell the truth, it always ends badly. ”
“ how much shit do i have to eat before you treat me with some respect ? ”
“ what i want to know now is, are we - i mean humanity - are we part of that plan? ”
“ we’re on the brink right now because we keep reacting to things we don’t understand. we’re scared, we’re hurt, and we’re reaching for violence cause we can’t figure out what to do. just this once, can’t we try something else? ”
“ i know he wouldn’t die for you, but he would let you die for him. ”
“ a parent you never hear from exists in a quantum state, both dead and alive, until you check up on them and the act of observing makes one of the two states true. ”
“ we were already at war. you just couldn’t see it because they were killing us slow. ”
“ i have killed but I’m not a killer, because a killer is a monster and monsters aren’t afraid. ”
“ killing people doesn’t mean you’re strong. ”
“ now the only dream i have for you is that someday, you will regret all the things you’ve already done. ”
“ we’re wounded, broken, trying desperately to keep ourselves going by pretending we’re not. ”
“ people come into our lives and they go out. families change. it can be hard and sad, but we bear it, as long as we don’t shut ourselves off from the new, wonderful things that come—and i know there will be more wonderful things for you. ”
