Brian K. Vaughan Quotes & Sayings

Faith and science can be friends, but they make for a disastrous marriage. — Brian K. Vaughan

Some parents let their young kids win at games, but mine never did.
I don't think it was because they were particularly competitive, they just wanted to teach me a valuable lesson.
Life is mostly just learning how to lose. — Brian K. Vaughan

There's always money in conflict."
"Says the diehard peacenik?"
"Oh, I abhor real violence, but fake violence is fucking brilliant. — Brian K. Vaughan

Together, my parents had learned to be much more than "the sum of their parts", whatever that means.
Separately, they were kind of just a mess. — Brian K. Vaughan

They hurt you. You hurt 'em back. Or maybe it is the other way around. Whatever. Someday you might find a way to forgive each other. But it won't be like it used to 'cause that pain never really goes away. — Brian K. Vaughan

I like things that are weirdly imaginative and couldn't be real, but I also like stories that are recognizable and relatable. — Brian K. Vaughan

It doesn't matter who started it or what it's really about ... war usually ends up sucking most for women. Even when we're not fighting the battles ourselves, we somehow always end up with the lion's share of the suffering. — Brian K. Vaughan

Teachers always promise that students are in a "safe place," but most of us figure out that's a lie pretty fast. My very first fire drill was all the confirmation I needed that the worst can happen anywhere, anytime. — Brian K. Vaughan

From my very first day, I was pursued by men.
All of them tried to hurt me, but only one managed to break my heart. — Brian K. Vaughan

Sorry, kid. Whedon got it wrong. Stakes don't kill vampires, they just give us heartburn. — Brian K. Vaughan

I mean, do you know what you get when you call a suicide hotline in New York city? A busy signal. Literally. — Brian K. Vaughan

I'm really happiest living life 22 pages at a time and putting things in little boxes on pages. — Brian K. Vaughan

Anyone with an autobiography is almost definitely an evil piece of shit. — Brian K. Vaughan

Well, I've always wanted to call my son Barr."
"Like a tavern? Like a soap?"
"My father's name is Barr."
"Oh. And I love it! — Brian K. Vaughan

Futur is a threat, not a promise — Brian K. Vaughan

I start with something that makes me angry or confused, and then I write about it. It's a form of self-help. — Brian K. Vaughan

Fuck the Bureau! Their entire outfit is half the size of the NYPD. I've got more officers who speak Arabic in one precinct that you guys have in the entire D.O.D.! — Brian K. Vaughan

As much as I'm enjoying stuff out here in Hollywood, I will always think of myself as a comic-book writer who does film and television, not a film and TV writer who occasionally does comics. — Brian K. Vaughan

Have you ever been shot by one? Because I have and it hurt like the day my dog died ... — Brian K. Vaughan

Sorry, ladies. I guess that's our cue. We like to storm into town, inflict maximum damage, and then disappear ... like a KISS concert. — Brian K. Vaughan

In the Open Circuit, characters are supposed to have 'arcs,' where they grow and evolve over the course of the story.
But Mom always thought that was nonsense. — Brian K. Vaughan

You know, for a pacifist, you sure beg to get stabbed a lot — Brian K. Vaughan

There are two kinds of people left in the world, consumers and destroyers. We used to have creators, but they all ran away. — Brian K. Vaughan

The more you care about someone, the more likely it is that your eventual parting of ways will be as sudden as it is baffling. — Brian K. Vaughan

You're right that not everything we do has to have some kind of social agenda, but that doesn't mean it can only be anesthetizing crap. — Brian K. Vaughan

I've always thought of fantasy as a genre of best-case scenarios, and horror as a genre of worst-case scenarios. — Brian K. Vaughan

Once you get past the scales and the blindfold, Justice is a woman with a sword. — Brian K. Vaughan

I'm not buried in that plot, Karoline. Some woman claiming to be me from the future is."
"Why do they call it a plot, anyway?"
"Because this is how every story ends. — Brian K. Vaughan

I love doing research. I'm a film-school geek. — Brian K. Vaughan

How's a skeleton crew supposed to save Chase from the giants who annihilated our parents?"
"I believe your people call it "girl power. — Brian K. Vaughan

A lot of people who came into my family's life looking like heroes ended up acting more like villains. — Brian K. Vaughan

My parents told me to be careful of you. That's how I knew you were the onyly one of us we could trust with our lives. — Brian K. Vaughan

Having children changes you forever, as a writer and as a human being. I hope it's for the better on both counts, but I guess we'll see. — Brian K. Vaughan

Younger writers are always looking for "blurbs," one of the few words that sounds exactly as awful as the crime it's describing. — Brian K. Vaughan

People just want good stories. — Brian K. Vaughan

Each of us has been falling apart since day one, Chase. We just have to find a way to fall apart together. — Brian K. Vaughan

How is it possible that our parents lied to us?"
"Lets see: Santa, the Tooth Fairy,the Easter bunny,um, God. You're the prettiest kid in school. This wont hurt a bit. Your face will freeze like that ... "
"Everythings going to be alright. — Brian K. Vaughan

Cookie monster speaks better English than you. — Brian K. Vaughan

If a good editor will let me tell my story with the right artist, I'm happy. — Brian K. Vaughan

Because it's in and about New York City, I knew 'Ex Machina' was going to have to continually mix the mundane and the fantastic. — Brian K. Vaughan

After years of pitched battles, my father was ready for a significantly less stressful career. Unfortunately, he decided to try raising a girl. — Brian K. Vaughan

In the beginning, love is mostly about lying to each other. It's like that in the end, too. — Brian K. Vaughan

If you find someone who can forgive all your bullshit ... the least you can so is try to forgive them. — Brian K. Vaughan

It's the stories with no sides that worry them. — Brian K. Vaughan

Granny used to describing giving your life as "ultimate sacrifice", but I don't know about that. Dying is definitely the LAST sacrifice you can make, but sometimes, it's your first one that sets the tone for everything that follows. — Brian K. Vaughan

I grew up with a sister I was very close with and a mom who was a powerful influence on my life. I was always close with women. — Brian K. Vaughan

The Government's supposed to be there for people when nobody else is, right? But it never works like that. — Brian K. Vaughan

I always think fondly of my years inside Detention Center LC/766B.
The women and the children I met had all lost people they loved, but they never wallowed in despair.
Dying is one of the few experiences we'll eventually all enjoy firsthand, and like most shit that's commonplace, it's boring to dwell on.
My fellow inmates/classmates (and really, what's the difference?) showed me it was more interesting to concentrate on the living.
Because death is fucking predictable ...
... but life has science experiments and free time and surprise naps and who knows what comes next? — Brian K. Vaughan

Grown-Ups are usually guilty of something — Brian K. Vaughan

I just make crap up more than anything else. — Brian K. Vaughan

Every kid gets "programmed" by their 'rents, Chase. That doesn't mean they have to do as they're told. — Brian K. Vaughan

But I have no idea who I am."
"Yeah. Welcome to the club. — Brian K. Vaughan

Ray: What else did they get rid of, truth, justice and the American way?
Leto jr.: Nah, truth ended when they shot M.L.K.. The American way died over in Vietnam.
Mitch: And Justice?
Leto jr.: Shit, man, there's no justice ... There's just us. — Brian K. Vaughan

That was the appealing thing about comics: There literally is no budget in comics. You're only limited by your imagination. — Brian K. Vaughan

I love other movies that have been made since, but I think more than any comic book movie, 'Superman' just totally seemed to capture superheroes in ways that others have not. — Brian K. Vaughan

All writing is the same: It's just making up lies until it starts to sound like the truth. That's what I do. — Brian K. Vaughan

Gert: Wake me when the fight scene's over.
Kitty Pryde: Oy, tell me about it. Hey, I'm Kitty. You the token pacifist of your group?
Gert: Not exactly. Pacifists are like vegans, I'm more of a vegetarian. I enjoy fish and occasional maulings. — Brian K. Vaughan

There are a lot of differing opinions on that. Some people think you should change out more, but I think changing just 20 percent is less stressful on the aquarium and fish. Once you get used to the regimen, it's pretty easy. — Brian K. Vaughan

Sure, this will probably end up being another in a long line of emotionally crippling misadventures ... but let's try to have some fun along the way. — Brian K. Vaughan

Oh, fuck you, you self-righteous piece of...BALD — Brian K. Vaughan

How? How did you know ... ?
What, that my wife can do anything? Isn't it obvious? — Brian K. Vaughan

I wanted to write a story about a future where everyone has a secret identity, in part because the Internet no longer exists. — Brian K. Vaughan

I am a big theater fan. It's mostly just being pretentious, I think, and trying to look smart. — Brian K. Vaughan

Come back with a healthy monkey, or don't come back at all. — Brian K. Vaughan

Well, at first I was thinking we could challenge them to a few rounds of Scattergories, but then I realized fighting would be way more emotionally satisfying. -Buffy — Brian K. Vaughan

Over the years, we met every kind of person imaginable. But no one makes worse first impressions than writers. — Brian K. Vaughan

Rock beats scissors, bitch. — Brian K. Vaughan

Yeah, that's right. Flee in terror, bitches! — Brian K. Vaughan

It's interesting - I think superheroes get much more unfair derision. There are so many good superhero books being done. Science fiction is almost more reputable, I guess, at least a step up from poor superheroes. — Brian K. Vaughan

I write the book for one person - for Fiona [Staples, the artist]. I spend a lot of time just thinking how she'll react to things and manipulating her into drawing perverse, horrific things. It's a really weird job but I enjoy it. — Brian K. Vaughan

Suck my hemorrhoids! — Brian K. Vaughan

When a man carries an instrument of violence, he'll always find the justification to use it. If we really want to escape this war, we have to stop bringing it with us. — Brian K. Vaughan

I sort of jumped out of movies and into the lifeboat of comics. I loved it right away. It was the opposite of film school. Whatever was in my imagination could end up in the finished product. There were just no limitations. — Brian K. Vaughan

Readers love fantasy, but we need horror. Smart horror. Truthful horror. Horror that helps us make sense of a cruelly senseless world. — Brian K. Vaughan

Your own creations are your own children; you gave life to them, so you'll always have, if not more passion to them, more connections to them. — Brian K. Vaughan

Alana, we are soldiers, not fucking damsels in distress. — Brian K. Vaughan

Stupid old boys' network ... That's why we're not running the world, huh, girlie? 'Cause when women see a younger version of us, it just makes us angry. — Brian K. Vaughan

Here's the thing, everybody loves babies ... but only in very, VERY small doses. — Brian K. Vaughan

The next morning, they cremated my grandfather in the belly of our ship. I still have a scarp of the outfit he made for me. These days, I use it as a bookmark. — Brian K. Vaughan

Happy endings are bullshit. There are only happy pauses. — Brian K. Vaughan

My name is Hazel. I started out as an idea, but I ended up something more. Not much more, to be honest. It's not like I grow up to become some great war hero or any sort of all important savior... but thanks to these two, at least I get to grow old.

Not everybody does. — Brian K. Vaughan

Trust me, this whole freakout is probably just hormonal. You only gave birth, what, a week ago? Your body's still, like, a wasteland of chemical imbalance. — Brian K. Vaughan

You remind me of my late sister, little one. As I once told her, the headstrong may win many battles ... but only the strong of heart will survive the war. — Brian K. Vaughan

With little power comes little responsibility. — Brian K. Vaughan

... though queens are a particular obsession of mine. I'm not speaking of European sovereigns, mind you, but that most glorious force of the chessboard. Did you know her square was originally occupied by a male "vizier," able to advance only one meager diagonal step per move? But during the reign of the great female monarchs, this piece metamorphosed into a "queen," and her power grew commensurate with her title. Only then did the game become something more - A mental odyssey that helped reshape the world. — Brian K. Vaughan

Most of my childhood was spent clinging to the feathers of a dulled arrow blindly fired across a starless night. — Brian K. Vaughan

The only action that has vaster repercussions for the universe than making a life is TAKING one... which is why I'll never understand why most people put so little foresight into doing either. — Brian K. Vaughan

All you have to do is make a fist. The bullet does the hitting for you. — Brian K. Vaughan

Violence is stupid. Even as a last resort, it only ever begets more of the same. — Brian K. Vaughan

But nothing warps time quite like childhood — Brian K. Vaughan

Bro, all you've got is a book. How do you plan to fight our parents? With literacy? — Brian K. Vaughan

I'm the one who started spreading that particular factoid, about Bendis, Azz and me all being bald Brian's from Cleveland, just to get my name mentioned in the same sentence as two much-better writers, and it's worked like a goddamn charm. Next up, I'm going to grow a big, disgusting beard, just so people will start talking about Alan Moore and me in the same breath. — Brian K. Vaughan

Your writing blows, by the by. You split more infinitives than Gene Roddenberry. — Brian K. Vaughan

Capitalism may be the unequal distribution of wealth, socialism is the equal distribution of poverty. — Brian K. Vaughan

In film, you have the luxury of accomplishing what you need in 24 frames every second. Comics, you only have five or six panels a page to do that. — Brian K. Vaughan

There's always that relief you feel when you're working on your own series that you can actually make it to your planned ending and that your audience will still be there to support you - and that your publisher will still exist. — Brian K. Vaughan

I guess my journey with comics began with stuff like Spider-Man and Batman. I started off with mainstream superhero stuff, which I've never abandoned. — Brian K. Vaughan

Well, you know what they say, the reader is the final contributor. Cheers for doing the heavy lifting. — Brian K. Vaughan

No, only villains try to change the whole world. The rest of us take it one person at a time. — Brian K. Vaughan

I was only ever part of 'Lost' - a very small part of an extremely talented writers' room, where as a writer, it's sort of your job to sublimate your ego and work in the service of the show and the show's voice. — Brian K. Vaughan