Doctor Who

"The Doctor's in charge. -Dragonfire 24.4 (23 November 1987)[ref]"

"The Doctor cannot look at what is in River Song's diary. -Silence in the Library 4.8 (31 May 2008)"

"Stay out of trouble. -From several episodes, mentioned in The Beast Below and The Pandorica Opens. Usually followed by a reference to how people are unsuccessful at following it."

"Don't ask stupid questions. -The Eleventh Hour 5.1 (3 April 2010)"

"Do everything the Doctor tells you. -The Eleventh Hour and The Impossible Astronaut, among others. Another rule that is typically disregarded by his companions."

"Oh, shut up. -Not strictly a rule, but worth mentioning. Repeated mostly throughout series 5, 6, and 7. Almost always said jokingly and affectionately."

"Never interfere in the affairs of people or planets, unless there are children crying. -The Beast Below 5.2 (10 April 2010)"

"Never use force! You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross. In which case, always use force. -Amy's Choice 5.7 (15 May 2010)"

"Never ignore coincidence. Unless of course you're busy, then always ignore coincidence. -The Pandorica Opens 5.12 (17 June 2010)"

"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."

"Foreknowledge is dangerous. -Let's Kill Hitler 6.8 (27 August 2011)"

"Some points in time are fixed. They must always happen. -The Wedding of River Song 6.13 (1 October 2011)"

"Not all of time can be rewritten. -The Angels Take Manhattan 7.5 (29 September 2012)"

"He's like fire and ice and rage, he's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever, he burns at the centre of time, and can see the turn of the universe. And ... he's wonderful."

"I met this man, a very special man, called the Doctor. And years ago, we travelled together. … Space and time. Then it came to an end. Suddenly, I was back to a normal life. Electric bills, burst pipes, bus tickets... and rain. … For years I tried to forget! And then I met him again, the Doctor ... but we had both changed, but it was funny because we were still both, the same. I learned that I could carry on here on Earth, doing what we always did."

"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 man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons."

"The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame."

"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."

"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."

"We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to your sleep. This song is ending. But the story never ends."

"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."

"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."

"I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him."

"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."

"First there were the Daleks...And then there was a man who fought them. And then, in time — he died. There are a few, of course, who believe that this man somehow survived, and that one day he will return. For both our sakes, dearest Hannah, we must hope these stories are true."

"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."

"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."

"You've been asking a question, and it's time someone told you you've been getting it wrong. His name... His name is the Doctor. All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him."

"He is The Doctor. He has walked the universe for centuries untold. He has seen stars fall to dust. You might as well flirt with a mountain range."

"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?"

"At a later stage, Dr Who would be metamorphosed into a woman. This requires some considerable thought – mainly because I want to avoid a flashy Hollywood ‘Wonder Woman’ because this kind of hero(ine) has no flaws – and a character with no flaws is a bore."

"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?"

"There's only one person in the universe who would know, straight away! One person who could help us! And where is he whenever you need him?"

"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."

"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."

"Clara Oswald: You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?"

"Listen! It's the muffin man! Come on. I'll buy you all muffins."

"Back of the ship....Because the front crashes first. Think it through."

"I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there."

"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."

"Who am I? WHO — AM — I?"

"I am not like you."

"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."