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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47085
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47085
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

As you say, they are philosophical; and they seem powerful because they seem true and momentous.

> I ask you, to what end? Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same.

He is explaining the futility of fearing failure; at least from somebody that firmly believes in destiny. Do what you must, if you fail you fail.

> "Going to bed hungry? Scrounging for scraps? Your planet was on the brink of collapse."

Sounds like evidence (in the form of concrete examples) followed by a conclusion, succinctly stated.

Of course it is idiotic logic; people have been going to bed hungry and scrounging for scraps for 200,000 years, without our planet being on the brink of collapse. Hardship and pain and grief are what **motivates** us to avoid them in the future, they are the fuel of progress, for 200,000 years they have been more predictive of humanity's advancements than of their collapse. We're still here, bigger than ever, more comfortable and safer than ever.

> "As long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those, that are unable to accept what can be."

In this case, perhaps resonates with the current world case, in which racism, bigotry, misogyny and religious conflict (the old world) still struggles to fight a future without those things. Thanos may have a darker vision than that, but the statement cuts both way.

> "Your politics bore me! Your demeanor is that of a pouty child"

I think this is not "philosophical" at all, it is just a succinct dismissal and put-down of an argument.

Screenwriting is very much the art of being succinct, packing a great deal of meaning into a few words of dialogue.

All of these examples _sound_ like something a person could say in conversation without being interrupted; the death knell for a screenwriter is having an opponent on screen just _waiting_ while somebody makes a speech.

Smart and daunting villains are often driven by philosophies that excuse the harm they are doing as they pursue some goal. Thanos has clearly thought about what he is doing, and has excuses for his behavior.

I recognize these as good lines, but I don't find them particularly profound; more megalomaniacal and poorly reasoned. Your infatuation may be personal.

In your own writing, if you want to emulate this, you need to work on being succinct, getting your philosophy (or your villain's) condensed into standalone lines you can state in a single breath. Or roughly under 10 seconds.

Take your favorite lines, and stopwatch yourself speaking them, as delivered. Make sure you don't run out of breath, and see how long they actually are. That will give you a metric for acceptable lengths, then figure out how to say what you want and reach that goal. Without cheating by going over, or speaking faster. When getting across any idea, the fewer words it takes, the more punch it will have. I think what you are looking for is punch.

(I don't do it here, in my answers, because it is hard work! But I have done it, particularly in ads, for radio and TV, where (like film) you have a very strict time budget and must get concepts across in a few seconds, and even in print ads, where you have a strict space budget with zero leeway.)

Original score: 2