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The Doctor

fictional character from the television series Doctor Who
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The Doctor is the primary character of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A Time Lord from the planet of Gallifrey, they explores time and space with various traveling companions in their TARDIS. When a Time Lord's body is sufficiently injured as to cause death, a new one can be regenerated, retaining all the memories of the old, but with a different appearance, and some altered personality traits. This page presents some of the more interesting quotes from the series made by the Doctor in all of their various incarnations.

Doctor Who — Incarnations of The Doctor : 1st - 2nd - 3rd - 4th - 5th - 6th - 7th - 8th - War - 9th - 10th - 11th - 12th - 13th - 14th - 15th
As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves.

Incarnation 1

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One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.
(November 1963 - October 1966)
  • Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension? Have you? To be exiles?
  • Fear makes companions of us all.
    • An Unearthly Child [1.1] (23 November -14 December 1963)
  • I don't believe that man was made to be controlled by machines. Machines can make laws, but they can not preserve justice. Only human beings can do that.
  • It all started out as a mild curiosity in the junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure.
  • Our lives are important — at least to us — and as we see, so we learn... Our destiny is in the stars, so let's go and search for it.
  • One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.
  • I suddenly realised what the old proverb meant: "To lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose!" It was all part of Rassilon's trap to find out who wanted immortality and put him out of the way! He knew very well that immortality was a curse, NOT a blessing!
  • Well then, here we go... the long way around.

Incarnation 2

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Life depends on change, and renewal.
(November 1966 - June 1969)
  • I'd like to see a butterfly fit into a chrysalis case after it spreads its wings.
    • The Power of the Daleks [4.3] (5 November - 10 December 1966)
  • Life depends on change, and renewal.
    • The Power of the Daleks [4.3] (5 November - 10 December 1966)
  • There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things that act against everything we believe in. They must be fought!
  • I am not a student of human nature. I am a professor of a far wider academy of which human nature is merely a part.
  • The power cable generated an electrical field and confused their tiny metal minds. You might almost say they've had a complete metal breakdown.
    • The Tomb of the Cybermen [5.1] (2 September - 23 September 1967)
  • People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them.
  • An unintelligent enemy is far less dangerous than an intelligent one, Jamie. Just act stupid. Do you think you can manage that?
  • We're nowhere. It's as simple as that.
  • I hate computers and refuse to be bullied by them!
  • I do tend to get involved.
  • Keep it confused, feed it with useless information — I wonder if I have a television set handy?

Incarnation 3

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A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.
(January 1970 - June 1974)
  • My dear Miss Shaw, I never report myself anywhere, particularly not forthwith.
  • I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow.
  • Well, I'll tell you something that should be of vital interest to you. That you, Sir, are a NITWIT!
    • Inferno [7.4] (9 May - 20 June 1970)
  • Obviously the Time Lords have programmed the TARDIS always to return to Earth. It seems that I'm some sort of galactic yo-yo!
  • It's all quite simple — I am he and he is me!
  • Allow me to congratulate you, sir. You have the most totally closed mind that I've ever encountered.
  • Courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.
  • A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.
  • A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life there's... (Dies)

Incarnation 4

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Would you like a jelly baby?
(June 1974 - March 1981)
  • Have a Jelly Baby.
    • Catch phrase used in many programs, offering jelly babies to friends and foes.
  • Shut up, K-9!
    • Catch phrase, used in many programs when talking with the robotic dog K-9.
  • You may be a doctor. But I'm the Doctor. The definite article, you might say.
    • Robot [12.1] (28 December 1974 - 18 January 1975)
  • There's no point being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes.
    • Robot [12.1] (28 December 1974 - 18 January 1975)
  • Never cared much for the word "impregnable." Sounds a bit too much like "unsinkable."
    • Robot [12.1] (28 December 1974 - 18 January 1975)
  • Homo sapiens. What an inventive, invincible species. It's only a few million years since they crawled up out of the mud and learned to walk. Puny, defenceless bipeds. They've survived flood, famine and plague. They've survived cosmic wars and holocausts. And now, here they are, out among the stars, waiting to begin a new life. Ready to outsit eternity. They're indomitable.
  • Failed? No, not really. You see, I know that although the Daleks will create havoc and destruction for millions of years, I know also that out of their evil must come something good.
    • Genesis of the Daleks [12.4] (8 March - 12 April 1975)
  • I'm a Time Lord...I'm not a human being; I walk in eternity...
  • Something's going on contrary to the laws of the universe. I must find out what!
    • Pyramids of Mars [13.3] (25 October - 15 November 1975)
  • Deactivating a generator loop without the correct key is like repairing a watch with a hammer and chisel. One false move and you'll never know the time again.
    • Pyramids of Mars [13.3] (25 October - 15 November 1975)
  • The Doctor's not here. He's at large somewhere in the complex!
  • Do you think I don't know the difference between an internal fault and an external influence! No, no, no, there's something going on here. Some dirty work they won't touch with their lily white hands!
  • If you don't stop wallowing in self-pity, I'll bite your nose.
    • The Brain of Morbius [13.5] (3 January - 24 January 1976)
  • You thought I was dead, didn't you? … You're always making that mistake.
    • The Brain of Morbius [13.5] (3 January - 24 January 1976)
  • You humans have got such limited, little minds. I don't know why I like you so much.
  • All right! I confess, I confess. — I confess to your being a bigger idiot than I thought.
  • The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.
  • Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard.
    • The Face of Evil [14.4] (1 January - 22 January 1977)
  • Now drop your weapons, or I'll kill him with this deadly jelly baby!
    • The Face of Evil [14.4] (1 January - 22 January 1977)
  • I'm the Doctor. Who are you, and why are you shooting at me?
    • The Face of Evil [14.4] (1 January - 22 January 1977)
  • I never carry weapons. If people see you mean them no harm, they never hurt you — nine times out of ten...
  • To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained.
    • The Robots of Death [14.5] (29 January - 19 February 1977)
  • That's trans-dimensional engineering; a key Time Lord discovery!
    • The Robots of Death [14.5] (29 January - 19 February 1977)
  • Listen! It's the muffin man! Come on. I'll buy you all muffins.
    • The Talons of Weng-Chiang [14.6] (26 February - 2 April 1977)
  • The localised condition of planetary atmospheric condensation caused a malfunction in the visual orientation circuits. Or to put it another way, we got lost in the fog.
  • the Doctor: I'll call you Romana
    Romana: I don't like Romana
    the Doctor: It's either Romana or Fred!
    Romana: Alright, call me Fred.
    the Doctor: Good. Come on, Romana.
  • Where's your joy in life? Where's your optimism? … Whenever you go into a new situation, you must always believe the best until you find out exactly what the situation's all about. Then, believe the worst.
  • Sometimes my brilliance astonishes even me.
  • Someone once tried to build a machine as efficient as the brain. The only problem was, it would have had to be bigger than London — do you remember London? — and powered by the entire European grid. And that was just a human brain. Mine's much more complex.
    • The Invisible Enemy [15.2] (1 October to 22 October 1977)
  • The Key to Time is still in my possession. Rage all you like!
    • The Invisible Enemy [15.2] (1 October to 22 October 1977)
  • I'm a very dangerous fellow when I don't know what I'm doing.
  • I wouldn't make a very good criminal, would I?
  • I suppose you could say the yoke's on him if you were the sort of person who said that sort of thing which fortunately I'm not.
  • You know K-9, sometimes I think I'm wasted just rushing about the universe saving planets from destruction. With a talent like mine I might have been a great slow bowler.
  • Don't cross your bridges before they're hatched.
  • What can't be cured must be endured. … Oh don't listen to me. I never do.
  • It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for.
    • Logopolis [18.7] (28 February - 21 March 1981)

Incarnation 5

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For some people, small, beautiful events is what life is all about!
(March 1981 - March 1984)
  • The illusion is always one of normality.
  • You know how it is; you put things off for a day and next thing you know, it's a hundred years later.
  • Oh, marvellous. You're going to kill me. What a finely tuned response to the situation.
    • Frontios [21.3] (26 January - 3 February 1984)

Incarnation 6

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(March 1984 - September 1987)
  • A little gratitude wouldn't irretrievably damage my ego.
  • What's the use of a good quotation if you can't change it?
  • Small though it is, the human brain can be quite effective when working at full efficiency — not unlike myself!
    • The Two Doctors [22.4] (16 February - 2 March 1985)
  • Planets come and go. Stars perish. Matter disperses, coalesces, forms into other patterns, other worlds. Nothing can be eternal.
  • In all my travelling throughout the universe, I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core. Power-mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen — they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt.

Incarnation 7

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Time Lords have an infinite capacity for pretension.
(September 1987 - December 1989 + May 1996)
  • A stitch in time... takes up space.
    • Delta and the Bannermen [24.3] (2 November - 16 November 1987)
  • Your species has the most amazing capacity for self-deception, matched only by its ingenuity when trying to destroy itself.
  • Time Lords have an infinite capacity for pretension.
    • Remembrance of the Daleks [25.1] (5 October - 26 October 1988)
  • Earl Sigma: You're a nice guy Doctor, but a little weird.
The Doctor: I don't know about the little...
  • Among all the varied wonders of the universe, there's nothing so firmly clamped shut as the military mind.
  • All is change, all is movement.
  • There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.
    • Survival [26.4] (22 November - 6 December 1989

Incarnation 8

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Who am I?
I can't make your dream come true forever, but I can make it come true today.
(May 1996 & November 2013)
  • Who am I? WHO — AM — I?
    • Awakening with amnesia, after regenerating, in Doctor Who (12 May 1996)
  • Grace, I came back to life before your eyes. I held back death. Look, I can't make your dream come true forever, but I can make it come true today.
    • Doctor Who (12 May 1996)
  • I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there.
    • Doctor Who (12 May 1996)
  • Back of the ship....Because the front crashes first. Think it through.
  • Physician, heal thyself.
    • The Night of the Doctor (14 November 2013)

War Doctor

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Never give up. Never give in.
This incarnation does not use the name "The Doctor", as the Eighth Doctor, facing death, chose to regenerate as a "Warrior" to fight in the Time Wars (May 2013 & November 2013)
  • Why is there never a big red button?
  • If you have been inside my head, then you know what I have seen. The suffering. Every moment in time and space is burning. It must end, and I intend to end it the only way I can.
  • Oh, the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?
    • To two other incarnations of the Doctor who are holding out their Sonic Screwdrivers when confronted by armed adversaries. The Day of the Doctor (23 November 2013)
  • Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame. Whatever the cost.
  • "What I did, I did without choice, in the name of peace and sanity."

Incarnation 9

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I can feel it; the turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am.
(March 2005 - June 2005)
  • RUN!
    • Rose [1.1] (26 March 2005)
  • Nice to meet you, Rose Tyler; Run for your life.
    • Rose [1.1] (26 March 2005)
  • Rose: So what you’re saying is, the whole world revolves around you?
    The Doctor: Sort of, yeah.
    Rose: You’re full of it.
    The Doctor: Sort of, yeah.
    • Rose [1.1] (26 March 2005)
  • It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still. I can feel it; the turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am.
    • Rose [1.1] (26 March 2005)
  • Lots of planets have a north.
    • Rose [1.1] (26 March 2005)
  • The paper's slightly psychic, makes them see whatever I want them to see.
  • You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs, or beef, or global warming, or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible: that maybe you survive.
    • The End of the World [1.2] (2 April 2005)
  • I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own, 'cause there's no one else.
    • The End of the World [1.2] (2 April 2005)
  • You think you know your own name? How stupid are you?
  • Well, you can stay there if you want! … But right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula. Fires are burning ten million miles wide! I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it and ride the shockwave all the way out. Hurtled right across the sky and end up anywhere! Your choice.
  • You're right: I am dangerous, I don't want anyone following me.
    • World War Three [1.5] (23 April 2005)
  • The stuff of nightmares, reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old.
    • Dalek [1.6] (30 April 2005)
  • The last of the great space dustbins How does it feel?
    • Dalek [1.6] (30 April 2005)
  • We're not the same! I'm not the... No, wait, maybe we are... Yeah, right, yeah, okay. You've got a point 'cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. Exterminate!
    • Dalek [1.6] (30 April 2005)

The Doctor: All right then. If you want orders, follow this one. [pause] The Doctor: Kill yourself. Dalek: The Daleks must survive! The Doctor: The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die? Dalek: [evenly] You would make a good Dalek.

    • Dalek [1.6] (30 April 2005)
  • Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once...Everybody lives!!
    • Exultant after saving all the Nanogene-infected Londoners in The Doctor Dances [1.10] (28 May 2005)
  • The Doctor: No! 'Cause this is what I'm gonna do — I'm gonna rescue her! I'm gonna save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet, and then I'm gonna save the Earth, and then — just to finish you off — I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!
    Dalek: But you have no weapons! No defenses! No plan!
    The Doctor: Yeah! And doesn't that scare you to death? Rose? Rose, I'm coming to get you.
  • Rose, now listen; this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger, and I mean fatal. I'm dead, or about to die any second with no chance of escape. And that's okay — hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home. And I bet you're fussing and moaning now — typical! But hold on and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do: let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it; no one will even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world will move on and the box will be buried. And if you wanna remember me, then you can do one thing, that's all, one thing — Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life.
  • Rose: I can see everything. All that is. All that was. All that ever could be.
    The Doctor: That's what I see, all the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?
    • The Parting of the Ways [1.13] (18 June 2005)
  • Time Lords have this little trick, it's sort of a way of cheating death. Except... it means I'm going to change. And you're not going to see me again... Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go … before I go, I just want to tell you: you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I!
    • The Parting of the Ways [1.13] (18 June 2005)

Incarnation 10

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Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden. Except for cheap tricks.
(June 2005 - January 2010)
I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demigods and would-be gods; out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in her.
Some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty. It's not the time that matters, it's the person.
I just want you to know, there are worlds out there, safe in the sky because of her. That there are people living in the light, and singing songs of Donna Noble. A thousand, million light years away. They will never forget her, while she can never remember … But for one moment... one shining moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe.
  • Allons-y!
    • Repeated multiple times by the Tenth Doctor throughout the series
  • Think you've seen it all? Think again. Outside those doors, we might see anything. We could find new worlds, terrifying monsters, impossible things. And if you come with me... nothing will ever be the same again!
    • Series 2 Trailer (2005)
  • Right, okay, [clears throat.] New teeth. That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right! Barcelona!
  • You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords.
  • I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi gods and would-be gods; out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in her.
  • Never say never ever.
  • Something in the air. Something's coming. A storm's approaching...
    • Fear Her [2.11] (24 June 2006)
  • Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden. Except for cheap tricks.
  • I'll tell you what then, don't... step on any butterflies. What have butterflies ever done to you?
  • The naming won't work on me.
    • The Shakespeare Code [3.2] (7 April 2007)
  • The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you're the wordsmith! The one true genius; the only one clever enough to do it. … Trust yourself. When you're locked away in your room, the words just come, don't they, like magic. Words, the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm, words that last forever. That's what you do, Will. You choose perfect words. Do it. Improvise!
    • The Shakespeare Code [3.2] (7 April 2007)
  • I'm not just a Time Lord, I'm the last of the Time Lords.
  • There was a war. A Time War. The Last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. We lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now.
    • Gridlock [3.3] (14 April 2007)
  • Daleks are bad enough at any time, but right now they're vulnerable. And that makes them more dangerous than ever.
  • There have been too many deaths today; way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age-old enemies, and I tell you, I tell you right now, I am not having one more death!
    • Evolution of the Daleks [3.5] (28 April 2007)
  • Some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty. It's not the time that matters, it's the person.
    • The Lazarus Experiment [3.6] (5 May 2007)
  • There's no such thing as an ordinary human.
    • The Lazarus Experiment [3.6] (5 May 2007)
  • I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired. Tired of the struggle. Tired of losing everyone that matters to you. Tired of watching everything you love turn to dust. If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone.
    • The Lazarus Experiment [3.6] (5 May 2007)
  • People don't understand time. It's not what you think it is. … People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect... but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly... timey-wimey... stuff.
    • Blink [3.10] (9 June 2007)
  • Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had, all your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy. …… the Angels are coming for you, but listen—your life could depend on this—don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck.
    • Blink [3.10] (9 June 2007)
  • Yeah, listen, listen, got to dash... things happening. Well... four things. Well... four things and a lizard.
    • Blink [3.10] (9 June 2007)
  • We're at the end of the universe. Okay?! Right at the edge of knowledge itself! And you're busy... blogging!
  • I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices.
  • You wouldn't listen. Because you know what I'm going to say... I forgive you.
    • Last of the Time Lords [3.13] (30 June 2007)
  • All my love to long ago.
  • Brilliant. Take me to your leader. I've always wanted to say that!
  • Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me. Well, a little bit.
  • Donna: You are completely impossible!
    The Doctor: Not impossible... just a bit unlikely.
  • These books are from your future. If you read ahead, it will spoil all the surprises. Like peeping at the end. … I try to keep you away from major plot developments. Which, to be honest, I seem to be really bad at.
  • Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark, but they're wrong, because it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada … It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark.
    • Silence in the Library [4.8] (31 May 2008)
  • Don't play games with me. You just killed someone I liked and that is not a safe place to stand! I'm the Doctor and you're in the biggest Library in the universe. Look me up.
  • River Song: If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you!
    The Doctor: Time can be rewritten!
    River: Not those times. Not one line! Don't you dare! It's OK. It's OK, it's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, time and space. You watch us run!
    • Forest of the Dead [4.9] (7 June 2008)
  • River, you know my name! You whispered my name in my ear! There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could...
    • Forest of the Dead [4.9] (7 June 2008)
  • You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone? That's me when we first met, and you made me better. Now you can do the same for him.
  • I just want you to know, there are worlds out there, safe in the sky because of her. That there are people living in the light, and singing songs of Donna Noble. A thousand, million light years away. They will never forget her, while she can never remember. But for one moment... one shining moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe.
  • Just remember, music isn’t just orchestras and pop stars and special people with albums and downloads and concerts, it’s you. Because the music of the spheres is all around you. When you’re on your own, just close your eyes, and you’ll hear it. Music. Inside your head. ‘Cause everyone’s a musician. Everyone’s got a song inside them. Every single one of you.
  • There are laws. There are laws of time. Once upon a time there were people in charge of those laws, but they died. They all died.
  • For a long time now, I thought I was just a survivor, but I'm not. I'm the winner! That's who I am: the Time Lord Victorious! -->
  • I was told: "He will knock four times". That was the prophecy: knock four times and then... I can still die. If I'm killed before regeneration, then I'm dead. Even then, even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away... and I'm dead.
  • Something is returning, don't you ever listen!? That was the prophecy: not someone, something!

Incarnation 11

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There are fixed points throughout time where things must stay exactly the way they are. This is not one of them, this is an opportunity. Whatever happens here will create its own timeline, its own reality, a temporal tipping point. The future revolves around you, here, now, so do good!
(January 2010 - December 2013)
Didn't anyone ever tell you? There's one thing you never put in a trap — if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow — there's one thing you never — ever, put in a trap. … Me.
The way I see it, life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.
  • Can I have an apple? All I can think about — apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new — never had cravings before.
  • Of course you're not scared. Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of box, man eats fish custard, and look at you! Just... sitting there.
    • To the young Amelia Pond, in The Eleventh Hour [5.1] (3 April 2010)
  • I'm the Doctor; I'm worse than everyone's aunt. [Beat] And that is not how I'm introducing myself.
    • The Eleventh Hour [5.1] (3 April 2010)
  • One question, just one more: Is this world protected?
    You're not the first to come here. There have been so many. …
     And what you have to ask yourself is... "What happened to them?" …
    Hello. I'm the Doctor.
    Basically... run.
    • The Eleventh Hour [5.1] (3 April 2010)
  • There's something you better understand about me, 'cause it's important and one day your life may depend on it. I am definitely a madman with a box!
    • The Eleventh Hour [5.1] (3 April 2010)
  • YOU — ARE — MY — ENEMY. AND I AM YOURS! You are everything I despise. The worst thing in all creation. I have defeated you time and time again. I have defeated you. I have sent you back into the Void. I have saved the whole of reality from you. I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!
  • The Doctor [examining an ancient artifact in a museum]: The writing... the graffiti: Old High Gallifreyan. … The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, where these words could burn stars, raise up empires, and topple gods.
    Amy: What does this one say?
    The Doctor: [hesitates, then, exasperatedly] "Hello sweetie."
  • A weeping angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form evolution has ever produced and right now one of them is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation long enough and assuming the ship doesn't explode in my face, do something incredibly clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?
    • The Time of Angels [5.4] (24 April 2010)
  • Didn't anyone ever tell you? There's one thing you never put in a trap — if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow — there's one thing you never — ever put in a trap. … Me.
    • The Time of Angels [5.4] (24 April 2010)
  • River Song: It's a long story, Doctor. Can't be told. Has to be lived! No sneak previews. Well, except for this one. You'll see me again quite soon. When the Pandorica opens.
    The Doctor: The "Pandorica"! Ha! That's a fairytale!
    River Song: Ha ha! Doctor — aren't we all? I'll see you there.
    The Doctor: I look forward to it.
    River Song: I remember it well!
  • There are fixed points throughout time where things must stay exactly the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity! Whatever happens here will create its own timeline, its own reality, a temporal tipping point. The future revolves around you, here, now, so do good!
  • One simple instruction: don't follow me under any circumstances.
    • Vincent and the Doctor [5.10] (5 June 2010)
  • The way I see it, life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.
    • Vincent and the Doctor [5.10] (5 June 2010)
  • Annihilate? No. No violence, do you understand me? Not while I'm around. Not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm.
  • Hello Stonehenge! Who takes the Pandorica, takes the universe. But bad news everyone …'cos guess who? Ha! Listen, you lot, you're all whizzing about. It's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute? BECAUSE I-AM-TALKING! — Now the question of the hour is, who's got the Pandorica? Answer — I do. Next question, who's coming to take it from me? — Come on! Look at me, no plan, no back-up, no weapons worth a damn. Oh, and something else: I don't have anything to lose! So! If you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship, with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight, just remember who's standing in your way! Remember every black day I ever stopped you! And then, and then... do the smart thing. Let somebody else try first.
  • The universe is big, it's vast and complicated and... ridiculous, and sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. And that's the theory. 900 years, never seen one yet. But this would do me.
    • The Pandorica Opens [5.12] (19 June 2010)
  • People fall out of the world sometimes, but they always leave traces. Little things we can't quite account for. Faces in photographs, luggage, half-eaten meals. Rings. Nothing is ever forgotten, not completely. And if something can be remembered, it can come back.
    • The Pandorica Opens [5.12] (19 June 2010)
  • The Doctor: There was a goblin, or a trickster... Or a warrior... A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.
    Amy: How did it end up in there?
    The Doctor: You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.
    River: [to Amy] I hate good wizards in fairy tales — they always turn out to be him.
    • The Pandorica Opens [5.12] (19 June 2010)
  • The box contains a memory of the universe, and the light transmits the memory — and that's how were going to do it. … Relight the fire. Reboot the universe.
  • Do you know, in 900 years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before?
  • Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many of them.
  • Rory: Doctor, River was brainwashed to kill you.
    The Doctor: Well, she did. And then she used her remaining lives to bring me back. As first dates go, I’d say that was mixed signals.
  • The Doctor: I'm not just a "professional." I'm the Doctor.
    Alex: What's that supposed to mean?
    The Doctor: It means I've come a long way to get here, Alex, a very long way. George sent a message — a distress call, if you like — Whatever is inside that cupboard is so terrible so powerful, that it amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space.
    Alex: Hey?
    The Doctor: Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire; empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought — and a whole terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities. You see these eyes? They're old eyes — and one thing I can tell you, Alex: monsters are real.
    Alex: You're not from Social Services, are you?
  • I can't save you from this. There’s nothing I can do to stop this. I stole your childhood and now I've lead you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is I knew. I knew this would happen. This is what always happens. Forget your faith in me. I took you with me because I was vain. Because I wanted to be adored. Look at you. Glorious Pond. The girl who waited for me. I'm not a hero. I really am just a mad man in a box. And it’s time we saw each other as we really are. Amy Williams, it’s time to stop waiting.
  • The Doctor [explaining his appearances are not what has caused aliens to appear]: It's a coincidence! It happens! It's what the universe does for… [sees Amy and Rory shopping in the store, and Amy being asked by a young girl for her autograph]… fun. [surprised to see the child who asked for an autograph pointing towards him — turns around and sees poster featuring Amy modeling for "Petrichor" perfume: "For the girl who's tired of waiting."]
  • Hello, Stormageddon. It’s The Doctor, here to help. Be quiet. Go to sleep. No really— stop crying. You’ve got a lot to look forward to you know: a normal human life on Earth. Mortgage repayments, the 9 to 5, a persistent nagging sense of spiritual emptiness. Save the tears for later boyo. Oh, that was crabby. No, that was old. But I am old, Stormy. I am so old. So near the end. But you, Alfie Owens. You are so young, aren’t you? And you know, right now, everything’s ahead of you. You could be anything. Yes, I know. You could walk among the stars. They don’t actually look like that, you know — they are rather more impressive. [uses his sonic to make a starry sky appear on the ceiling] Yeah! You know, when I was little like you, I dreamt of the stars. I think it’s fair to say, in the language of your age, that I lived my dream. I owned the stage. Gave it a hundred and ten percent. I hope you have as much fun as I did, Alfie.
    • Closing Time [6.12] (24 September 2011)
  • I’m the Doctor — I’m an alien from outer space, I’m 1000 years old, I’ve got two hearts — and I can’t fly a plane!
  • Oh, you like to think you’re a god. But you’re not a god. You’re just a parasite eaten out with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow. So … so come on, then. Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you’ve got a big appetite. Because I’ve lived a long life and I’ve seen a few things. … I walked away from the Last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time, no space — just me. I’ve walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a madman. I’ve watched universes freeze and creations burn. I have seen things you wouldn’t believe. I have lost things you will never understand. And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze! So come on, then! Take it! Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all!
  • Clara sometimes asks me if I dream. 'Of course I dream,' I tell her. 'Everybody dreams.' 'But what do you dream about?' she asks. 'Same thing everybody dreams about,' I tell her. 'I dream about where I'm going.' She always laughs at that. 'But you're not going anywhere, you're just wandering about.' That's not true. Not anymore. I have a new destination. My journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone's. It's taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I'm going. Where I've always been going. Home, the long way around.
  • We all change. When you think about it, we are all different people, all through our lives. And that's ok, that's good, you gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day...I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.

Incarnation 12

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I am not a good man. And I'm not a bad man. I am not a hero, and I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot! With a box and a screwdriver, just passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army, I never have. Because I've got them. Always them! Because love is not an emotion. Love is a promise.
(December 2013 - December 2017)
And you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight, 'till it burns your hand, and you say this: No one else will ever have to live like this. No one else will have to feel this pain! Not on my watch.
  • The Doctor: So tell me, what do you think of the view?
    Half-Faced Man: It is beautiful.
    The Doctor: No it isn't. It's just far away. Everything looks too small. I prefer it down there. Everything is huge. Everything is so important. Every detail, every moment, every life clung to.
  • Those people down there. They are never small to me. Don't make assumptions about how far I will go to protect them, because I've already come a very long way.
    • Deep Breath [8.1] (23 August 2014)
  • I'm the Doctor. I've lived for over two thousand years, and not all of them were good. I've made many mistakes, and it's about time I did something about that.
    • Deep Breath [8.1] (23 August 2014)
  • Stop laughing. Are you all simple or something?
  • Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard, I can feel it through your hands. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel! Right now, you could run faster and you can fight harder and you can jump higher than you could ever in your life, and you're so alert, it's like you could slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a super power! It's your super power!
    • Listen [8.4] (13 September 2014)
  • The deep and lovely dark. We'd never see the stars without it.
    • Listen [8.4] (13 September 2014)
  • I tried to talk. I want you to remember that. I tried to reach out. I tried to understand you, but I think you understand us perfectly. And I think that you just don't care! And I don't know whether you are here to invade, infiltrate, or just replace us. I don't suppose it really matters now. You are monsters! That is the role you seem determined to play, so it seems that I must play mine: The man that stops the monsters!
  • Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?
  • Pain is a gift. Without the capacity for pain, we can't feel the hurt we inflict.
  • I am not a good man. And I'm not a bad man. I am not a hero, and I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot! With a box and a screwdriver, just passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army, I never have. Because I've got them. Always them! Because love is not an emotion. Love is a promise.
    • Death in Heaven [8.12] (08 November 2014)
  • Never trust a hug. It's just a way to hide your face.
    • Death in Heaven [8.12] (08 November 2014)
  • There's no such this as 'the Doctor.' I'm just a bloke in a box, telling stories. And I didn't come here because I'm ashamed- bit of shame never hurt anyone. I came because you're sick and you asked. And because sometimes, on a good day, if I try very hard, I'm not some old Time Lord who ran away. I'm the Doctor.
  • So there's this man; he has a time machine. Up and down history he goes, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, getting into scrapes. Another thing he has is a passion for the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, and one day he thinks, "what's the point of having a time machine if you don't get to meet your heroes." So, off he goes to 18th century Germany, but he can't find Beethoven anywhere. No one's heard of him, not even his family have any idea who the time traveller is talking about. Beethoven literally doesn't exist. This didn't happen by the way. I've met Beethoven, nice chap, very intense, loved an arm wrestle. No, this is called "the Bootstrap Paradox." Google it. The time traveller panics. He can't bear the thought of a world without the music of Beethoven. Luckily, he brought all of his Beethoven sheet music for Ludwig to sign. So he copies out all the concertos and the symphonies, and he gets them published. He becomes Beethoven, and history continues with barely a feather ruffled. Now my question is this: who put those notes and phrases together? Who really composed Beethoven's 5th?
  • Winning is all about looking happier than the other guy.
  • Doctor: And we're off! Fingers on buzzers, are you feeling lucky, are you ready to play the game? Who's going to be quickest, who's going to be luckiest?
    Kate: This is not a game!
    Doctor: No, it's not a game, sweetheart, and I mean that most sincerely.
    Bonnie: Why are you doing this?
    Kate: Yes I'd quite like to know that too. You set this up. Why?
    Doctor: Because it's not a game, Kate! This is a scale model of war! Every war ever fought, right there in front of you! Because it's always the same! When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn, how many hearts will be broken, how many lives shattered, how much blood will spill until everybody does what they're always going to have to do from the very beginning, SIT! DOWN! AND! TALK! Listen to me, listen, I just- I just want you to think. Do you know what thinking is? It's just a fancy word for changing your mind.
    Bonnie: I will not change my mind.
    Doctor: Then you will die stupid. Alternatively, you could step away from that box, you could walk right out of that door, and you could stand your revolution down.
    Bonnie: No. I'm not stopping this, Doctor. I started it, I will not stop it. You think they'll let me go after what I've done?
    Doctor: You're all the same, you screaming kids, you know that? "Look at me, I'm unforgivable," well here's the unforeseeable: I forgive you! After all you've done, I forgive you.
    Bonnie: You don't understand. You will never understand!
    Doctor: I don't understand? Are you kidding? Me? Of course I understand. I mean, you call this a war? This funny little thing? This is not a war. I fought in a bigger war than you will ever know! I did worse things than you could ever imagine! WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES... I hear more screams than anyone could ever be able to count! And you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight, 'till it burns your hand, and you say this: No one else will ever have to live like this. No one else will have to feel this pain! Not on my watch.
  • It's funny, the day you lose someone isn't the worst. At least you've got something to do. It's all the days they stay dead.
  • I'm not scared of hell. It's just heaven for bad people.
    • Heaven Sent [9.11] (28 November 2015)
  • How long can I keep doing this, Clara? Burning the old me to make a new one?
    • Heaven Sent [9.11] (28 November 2015)
  • Go to the city. Find somebody important. Tell them I'm back. Tell them I know what they did, and I'm on my way. And if they ask you who I am, tell them "I came the long way around." You can probably still hear me. So just between ourselves, you got the prophecy wrong. The hybrid is not half-Dalek- nothing is half-Dalek, the Daleks would never allow that. The hybrid destined to conquer Gallifrey and stand in its ruins... is me.
    • Heaven Sent [9.11] (28 November 2015)
  • What do the rich old men always do when the fighting starts? They'll find the safest place to hide themselves away and send away all their young people to die.
    • The Return of Doctor Mysterio [9.13] (25 December 2016)
  • You don't steer the TARDIS, you negotiate with it.
    • Smile [10.2] (22 April 2017)
  • Bill: You know what I mean? Every choice I make here in this moment, here and now, would change the whole future!
    Doctor: Exactly like every other day of your life. The only thing to do is stop worrying about it.
  • Doctor: What makes you so sure your life is worth more than those people out there on the ice? Is it the money? The accident of birth, that puts you inside the big, fancy house.
    Sutcliffe: I help move this country forward. I move this Empire forward.
    Doctor: Human progress isn’t measured by industry. It’s measured by the value you place on a life. An unimportant life. A life without privilege. The boy who died on the river, that boy’s value is your value. That’s what defines an age, that’s… what defines a species.
  • Bill: Regency England. Bit more black than they show in the movies.
    Doctor: So was Jesus. History's a whitewash.
    • Thin Ice [10.3] (29 April 2017)
  • You had history! History was saying to you "Look! I've got some examples of fascism here for you to look! No? Fundamentalism? No? Oh, okay, you carry on."
  • Doctor: Humanity is doomed to never learn from its mistakes.
    Bill: Well, I guess that's part of our charm.
    Doctor: No. It's really quite annoying.
    • The Lie of the Land [10.8] (3 June 2017)
  • Shhh. Does anybody hear that? Do you know what that sound was? ...That was the sound of my patience shattering into a billion little pieces.
  • Hey! I'm going to be dead in a few hours, so before I go, let's have this out. You and me, once and for all. Winning? Is that what you think it’s about? I’m not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone — or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It’s not because it’s fun. God knows it’s not because it's easy. It’s not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it's right! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind! It's just that. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live — maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, maybe there’s no point in any of this at all, but it's the best I can do. So I'm going to do it, and I will stand here doing it until it kills me. You're going to die, too, someday. When will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?
  • Oh, there it is, silly old universe. The more I save it the more it needs saving. It's a treadmill... Yes, yes I know they'll get it all wrong without me. Well, I suppose one more lifetime won't kill anyone... well, except me. You wait a moment, Doctor! Let's get it right. I've got a few things to say to you. Basic stuff first: never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never-ever eat pears! Remember, hate is always foolish, and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Oh, and you mustn't tell anyone your name. No one would understand it anyway... except... except children. Children can hear it, sometimes, if their hearts are in the right place, and the stars are too, children can hear your name. But nobody else. Nobody else, ever. Laugh hard, run fast, be kind. Doctor, I let you go.

Incarnation 13

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I know exactly who I am. I’m the Doctor. Sorting out fair play throughout the universe.
(December 2017 - October 2022)
Something I believe in my faith, love, in all its forms, is the most powerful weapon we have. Because love is a form of hope, and like hope, love abides. In the face of everything, you both found love with each other. You believed in it, you fought for it, and you waited for it. And, now, you're committing to it. Which makes you, right now, the two strongest people on this planet. Maybe in this universe.
Yeah. Cause sometimes this team structure isn't flat, it's mountainous, with me at the summit, in the stratosphere, alone. Left to choose. Save the poet, save the universe. Watch people burn now or tomorrow. Sometimes even I can't win.
  • A bit of adrenaline, a dash of outrage and a hint of panic knitted my brain back together again. I know exactly who I am. I’m the Doctor. Sorting out fair play throughout the universe.
  • I carry them with me. What they would've thought, said, and done. Make them a part of who I am. So even though they're gone from the world, they're never gone from me.
    • The Woman Who Fell to Earth [11.1] (7 October 2018)
  • You had no right to do that.
    • The Woman Who Fell to Earth [11.1] (7 October 2018)
  • Ryan: Can we open it?
    Doctor: Is the right question!
    • Rosa [11.3] (21 October 2018)
  • Now we know what our task is. Keep history in order. No changing it. Just guarding it against someone who wants to disrupt it.
    • Rosa [11.3] (21 October 2018)
  • I know there aren't many certainties in any of our lives, but Umbreen, Prem, what I see in you is the certainty of having each other. Something I believe in my faith, love, in all its forms, is the most powerful weapon we have. Because love is a form of hope, and like hope, love abides. In the face of everything, you both found love with each other. You believed in it, you fought for it, and you waited for it. And, now, you're committing to it. Which makes you, right now, the two strongest people on this planet. Maybe in this universe... I'm not sure how we formalize this.
  • I know because we are all the same. We want certainty, security. To believe that people are evil or heroic. But that's not how people are. You want to know the secrets of existence? Start with the mysteries of the heart. I can show you everything if you stop being afraid of what you don't understand. If you trust me.
  • That creature is a lie, and he debased you and your faith. Don't you see? You were the creators! Look what you can do! You build! But he made you destroyers. That's no god. I'm sorry.
  • Dalek: Humanity will surrender.
    Doctor: They really won't, trust me. I've seen them in action. They've fought off so many things, including the worst of their own people. They're really stubborn. Have you not worked that out yet?
  • Noor: Answer me one question. The fascists, do they win?
    Doctor: Never. Not while there's people like you.
  • I've seen Gallifrey destroyed, twice. First by a war, second by a lunatic who I'm still trying to find. In my time, Gallifrey doesn't exist. It's gone! Forever. And if you don't know that, you're in my past, so you are only serving at the glory of ash and bone.
    • Fugitive of the Judoon [12.5] (26 January 2020)
  • His thoughts, his words inspire and influence thousands for centuries. If he dies now, who knows that will have on future history? Words matter! One death, one ripple, and history will change in a blink. The future will not be the world you know. The world you came from, the world you were created in won't exist, so neither will you. It's not just his life at stake, it's yours. You wanna sacrifice yourself for this? You want me to sacrifice you? You want to call it? Do it now. All of you... Yeah. Cause sometimes this team structure isn't flat, it's mountainous, with me at the summit, in the stratosphere, alone. Left to choose. Save the poet, save the universe. Watch people burn now or tomorrow. Sometimes even I can't win.
  • Jericho: How did you get in here?
    Doctor: Your door was open.
    Jericho: It most certainly was not!
    Doctor: Well it was once I opened it, but let's not get bogged down in the order of things.
  • Yaz, I can't fix myself to anything, anywhere... or anyone. I've never been able to. It's what my life is... Not because I don't want to. Because I might. But if I do fix myself to somebody, I know sooner or later it'll hurt.
  • That's the only sad thing: I wanna know what happens next. Right then... Doctor Whoever-I'm-About-To-Be... Tag, you're it.

Incarnation 14

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The Doctor: I don't know who I am anymore.
Shirley Anne Bingham: Well, you look like the Doctor to me.
The Doctor: Well, exactly. The one in the skinny suit. After that, I wear a bowtie, after that, I'm a Scotsman, after that, I'm a woman.
  • I've got this friend called Donna Noble. And she was my best friend in the whole wide universe, I absolutely love her. Oh! Mm, do I say things like that now...? But Donna took the mind of a Time Lord into her head. I had to wipe her memory to save her life. If she remembers me, she will die. So what happens next? I get this face back and the TARDIS lands right next to her. I turn around, there's her husband, and then a spaceship crashes right in front of her, it's like she's drawing us in... She's got no idea. She's so ordinary, she's brilliant! She's got this beautiful daughter, she's happy... Is she? But now the universe is turning around her again. I don't believe in destiny, but if destiny exists, then it is heading for Donna Noble, right now.
  • It's funny, cause I wonder where the TARDIS goes at random. Maybe it lands on some outcrop by the sea. There's a tribe, and they worship it for a hundred years. Then they grow up, they try to burn it. Then they get wise, they preserve it. Then they build a city all around it, till the TARDIS is just a tiny little dot, surrounded by skyscrapers and monorails. Time passes, and the city falls, it all gets swept away. And there's the TARDIS, still on its outcrop by the sea. She's the only thing I've got left.
  • Funny thing is I fought all those battles for all those years. And now I know what for. This. I've never been so happy in my life.

Incarnation 15

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  • Bigeneration! I have bigenerated! There's no such thing -- bigeneration is supposed to be a myth, but... [cracks neck] Look at me!
  • Now, you two, if you don't mind, there is a great big universe out there calling, and I've gotta get going. So off you pop, old man.
  • Name: "The Doctor". Occupation: "Not a doctor". Current status: "Just passing by". Employer: "Myself". Address: "That blue box over there". Now, if you don't mind, I just got snowmanned, and I would like to go home.
  • I don't have a people, I don't have a home... But I don't have a job, either. I don't have a boss, or taxes, or rent, or bills to pay. I don't have a purpose, or a cause, or a mission, but I have... freedom. That's why I keep moving on, to see the next thing, and the next, and the next. And sometimes... It looks even better through your eyes.
  • I have lived. And I have loved. And I can only smile like this because I have lost so much. I've experienced everything.
  • I don't care what you think, okay? You can say whatever you want. You can think absolutely anything. I will do anything if you just allow me to save your lives.

The Doctor's Rules

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A list of rules stated by the Doctor or his companions, mostly originating in scripts written by Steven Moffat.
  • Rule 408: You should always waste time when you don't have any. Time is not the boss of you. -Let's Kill Hitler 6.8 (27 August 2011), arguably the rule could be limited to the last sentence.

Additional Rules

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  • Oh, shut up. -Not strictly a rule, but worth mentioning. Repeated mostly throughout series 5, 6, and 7. Almost always said jokingly and affectionately.
  • Rules of engagement: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, look ridiculous. -Whether it counts as a rule is questionable, but River and Rory mention it in A Good Man Goes to War.

Quotes about the Doctor

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The Man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth Doctor: you take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. ~ Davros
 
All those stories you've heard about him: they're not stories, they're true. Really, you're not telling me you don't know what's coming. ~ Dorium Maldovar
 
When I was a little girl I had an imaginary friend, and when I grew up, he came back. He's called the Doctor. ~ Amy Pond
 
Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever, for one moment, accepts it. ~ River Song
 
Every waking second, I can see what is, what was...what could be, what must not. That's the burden of the Time Lord, Donna. ~ The Doctor
Alphabetized by author or character
 
He's just really unlikely as a hero — which makes him so brilliant, I think, because he's like this mad professor. ~ Karen Gillan
 
A lot of our heroes depress me. But you know, when they made this particular hero, they didn't give him a gun, they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn't give him a tank or a warship or an X-wing fighter, they gave him a call box from which you can call for help. And they didn't give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat ray...they gave him two hearts. And that's an extraordinary thing. There will never come a time when we don't need a hero like the Doctor. ~ Steven Moffat
  • There's one thing I always wanted to ask Jack. Back in the old days. I wanted to know about that Doctor of his. The man who appears out of nowhere and saves the world; except sometimes he doesn't. All those times in history where there was no sign of him... I wanted to know why not. But I don't need to ask any more. I know the answer now: Sometimes, the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame.
  • He's just really unlikely as a hero — which makes him so brilliant, I think, because he's like this mad professor.
  • According to K'anpo Rinpoche, each time the Doctor regenerates his cells are replaced and his brain structure is rearranged. Consequently, each Doctor has been quite unique. First was a crotchedy old man-a white-haired grandfather giving those young whipper-snappers "what for." By contrast, the Tenth was an exuberant young man-a great-haired lover, brash and impetuous. In between, he's been a clown (Sixth), a pleasant uncle (Third), a cricket player (Fifth), a scatterbrained jelly-baby-offering comedian (Fourth), and Moe from the Three Stooges (Second).
    But does regeneration make the Doctor, literally, a different person? K'anpo Rinpoche suggests the difference is merely metaphorical. He'll behave and look different, sure, but he won't be literally a different person-like twins are literally different persons. The Doctor still is the Doctor, regeneration after regeneration. If we saw the First and Tenth Doctor together, however, there'd be nothing to make us think they are, literally, the same person. They're more different than they're the same-more different then you and the person across the room. You and he or she aren't the same person, right? So how could each regeneration of the Doctor be, literally, the same person?
  • What we're asking is how the "replacements" could all be one in the same person. Non-Who fans might wonder, "Who cares?" But think about yourself at age ten. You acted differently, had a different worldview, a different personality, and different beliefs. As you learned, your brain structure was rearranged. In fact, gradually, your body completely replaces all of its cells using material and energy you ingested. Just like the Doctor, you regenerate; and you at ten is less like you now than that person across the room. How could you at ten and you now possibly be the same person?
    So our question about the Doctor's identity is very relevant. By answering it we can answer an important question about ourselves: How is it that we retain our identity over time?
  • When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it'll never end. But however hard you try you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever, for one moment, accepts it. Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. Not today. Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives.
  • When I was a little girl I had an imaginary friend, and when I grew up, he came back. He's called the Doctor. He comes from somewhere else. He's got a box called the TARDIS that's bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in time and space. I ran away with him. And we've been running ever since.
  • You make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you’d become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name? Doctor – the word for healer, and wise man, throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word "doctor" means "mighty warrior". How far you’ve come. And now they’ve taken a child. The child of your best friends. And they’re going to turn her into a weapon, just to bring you down. And all this, my love...in fear of you.
  • The sky is full of a million million voices saying, "Yes, of course we'll help." You've touched so many lives, saved so many people...did you think when your time came, you'd really have to do more than just ask? You've decided that the universe is better off without you — But the universe doesn't agree.
  • One day you meet the Doctor. And of course, it’s the best day ever. It’s just the best day of your life. Because...because, he’s brilliant, and he’s funny, and mad, and best of all...really needs you. The trick is – don’t fall in love. I do that trick quite a lot, sometimes twice a day. And once you start running, you start to forget; slowly, after a while, you just stopping asking. Who are you? Where are you from? What set you on your way and where are you going? Oh...and what is your name? You get used to not knowing. I thought I never would. I was wrong. I know who he is. I know how he began and I know where he’s going. I learnt the truth about the Doctor and his greatest secret the day we went to Trenzalore.
  • How does [the Doctor] decide who lives, who dies, when to intervene, and when not to? If you do save them, where do you stop? Do you remake the universe according to what you think is right and wrong?
    • James Moran in Spilsbury, Tom (April 2008). "The Gallifrey Guardian: Series Four Episode 2: The Fires of Pompeii: Volcano Day!". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 394. Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Panini Publishing Ltd. pp. 8–9.
  • Some years ago, you travelled far and wide. And oh, the things you have seen! There was a man, a very special man. No, no, let me think. It wasn't a romance, no, it was something much, much more than that. He taught you so much. There was laughter and adventure, and you prayed that your time with him would never, ever end. But then suddenly he left you. The man was lonely. A scientist? No, a doctor. The Doctor. Am I right?
  • He's this sort of harborer of good and fun and madness, and he's the cleverest man in the universe — and the silliest man in the universe.
    • Matt Smith, in Doctor Who Rewind (2011) by BBC America
  • This extraordinary character who is everything at all times. It's continuously inspiring really, to get to play this mercurial, anarchic, extraordinary creature who gets all the best lines and gets to be the cleverest person in the room. I'm sure I'll miss lots about it, but I'll forever be proud to have been part of it, to be part of that history.
  • Humans can be monsterous enough to commit genocide. What of gods? It's not difficult to perceive the practically immortal, time and space-traveling Doctor as god-like. His superior vantage point and detachment allow him to make horrible calculations, sometimes sacrificing individuals for the greater good. He sees space-time in a way that's beyond human comprehension, understanding the sweep of history as from the point of view of a being that's outside both space and time, and yet who can intervene in and manipulate them. For all his genuine attachment to his various human (mortal) companions, he's ultimately a lonely being, a perpetual traveler, an observer to whom individual human and similar beings, with their limited life spans and understandings, must seem puny and ant-like.

Dialogue

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You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?
Tenth Doctor: Never cruel or cowardly.
War Doctor: Never give up, never give in.

See also

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Doctor Who — Incarnations of The Doctor : 1st - 2nd - 3rd - 4th - 5th - 6th - 7th - 8th - War - 9th - 10th - 11th - 12th - 13th - 14th - 15th
Wikipedia listings
List of Doctor Who serials (Chronology of Doctor Who episodes)
Chronology of the Doctor Who universe (General chronology of fictional events)
Doctor Who story chronology (Chronology from the Doctor's perspective)
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