Attack on Titan is one of those epic manga & anime titles that demonstrates the nature of heroism.
Its cast of striving characters offers many nuggets of pithy wisdom, insight or sheer bombastic courage.
If you are looking for some clear direction in life, there are a lot of lines from the Attack On Titan script that can help. In fact, they offer some of the most inspiring Japanese anime quotes available – though they are often couched in a distinctly dark context.
Best Attack On Titan Quotes
I’ve gone back to the original anime quotes in the Japanese language to create my own translations, as I often find that existing translations are not giving the full message.
I’ve divided the quotes into different Attack on Titan characters.
Armin Arlert アルミン・アルレルト
The first quote is by Armin Arlert and offers the insight that just because something has been the way it has for a long time, doesn’t mean that it always will be.
100年壁が壊されなかったからといって 今日壊されない保証なんてどこにもないのに…
Just because a wall has been able to stand for 100 years doesn’t mean that it is guaranteed to remain standing today.
Armin Arlert
The fact that change is inevitable can be true in a positive way, or in a negative way.
I am reminded here of the often-cited metaphor of the stonecutter who strikes away at a rock 100 times with little or no perceivable change before suddenly splitting the rock clean in two with the 101st blow.
It is true that in many things, it is the general rule in any early stages of a large and heroic venture the start is a slog. You toil away making gains so incremental that they are barely visible to the naked eye.
In the world of business, this is sometimes referred to as the “trough of despair”. There is a period in most businesses where, after an initial phase of excitement and energy around an initial idea, the grind of the daily work of achieving that idea takes its toll. The grind is exacerbated by an almost imperceivable level of tangible progress.
If you are stuck in this stage of life, whatever you are doing, you may want to pull out this Armin Quote.
It’s also worth comparing this quote with this quote from poet Robert Frost’s poem “The Mending Wall”
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun.”
Or perhaps Jimi Hendrix said it best when he sang,
“Castles made of sand fall in the sea…eventually”
強い者が弱い者を食らう 親切なくらい分かりやすい世界…
The strong eat the weak. This world is simple to the point of kindness…
Armin Arlert
This quote evokes the image of the big fish eating the small one. But Attack On Titan twists this on it’s head from being something that is simply cruel. It says that the fact that the world is so simple is actually a kindness.
Whether you are a big fish, or a small fish, at least you know the rules. And you know the rules, you can play your best game.
すべての人にとって都合の良い人なんていないと思う
No matter the person, no one’s life is convenient.
Armin Arlert
This Armin quote points out the simple idea that no one in life has it easy. We all have our own cross to bear.
If you walk around thinking your life deserves to be convenient or easy, you’re bound to become bitter when it inevitably isn’t.
Much better to use the ancient Stoic idea that every problem is an opportunity to improve yourself. In this view, the purpose of life is to be the best version of yourself that you can be. Problems are seen as a challenge thrown down by a higher power to help you test yourself and grow.
I am reminded here of such biting criticisms of this desire for people to leave a sheltered life as that of the band The Dead Kennedys who named one of their albums “Give Me Convenience, Or Give Me Death”.
Or the mighty Jonathan Richman gives it to us in lyrics as,
“When we refuse to suffer
When we refuse to feel
We suffer more”
「私はとうに人類復興のためなら心臓を捧げると誓った兵士！！ その信念に従った末に命果てるなら本望！！」
Long ago I made a vow that I would be a soldier who would offer up his very heart for the restoration of the human race. If the final result of that conviction is the end of life, then that is my true desire.
Armin Arlert
Japanese has a great word that we don’t have, but deserve to, in English called 本望 honbo. The 本 hon part means “true”, or “original”, and the 望 bo means “hope” or “ambition”. So your honbo is your true desire. Do you have one of those? A deep-seated hope, or ambition, perhaps spoken, perhaps unspoken.
Armin’s quote here shows that we should be prepared to die for our honbo. Or even that being prepared to die is what qualifies us as really having a true desire.
So the gauntlet is thrown. What are you prepared to die for?
「何かを変えることができる人間がいるとすれば その人は きっと大事なものを捨てることができる人だ」
Show me a person that is able to change the world and I will show you a person who is able to throw away something that matters.
Armin Arlert
This quote by Armin shows that it is only those who are willing to sacrifice something who make a difference in the world. To make an impact, you have to decide on what you are here to do in the world.
It is interesting here to look at the etymology of the word “Decide”. The word “decide” comes from the Latin decidere. The de part means something like “off” and the “cide” part is also seen in such macabre words such as “homicide, suicide, regicide, fratricide, genocide”. “Cide” means to “cut”. So to decide literally means to “cut off”.
To make a decision is to cut off a range of other possibilities. If you want to change the world, you have to have the courage to say “I am willing to cut off all these other possibilities to pursue this one thing”.
You can see this reflected in sayings like “a jack of all trades is a master of none.”
Levi Ackermanリヴァイ・アッカーマン
悔いが残らない方を自分で選べ
Choose the way that leads to no lingering regret.
Levi Ackerman
In the same way that we said above that to “decide” is to be willing to “cut off” a range of possibilities, this quote from Attack on Titan’s Levi gives another clue on how we can go about making decisions.
When presented with a range of equally good, or equally bad, options, Levis suggests that we should choose “the way that leads to least regret”.
This connects with the idea of the 本望 honbo, or “true desire”, that we saw above. When you stack up the options in comparison to what you are truly seeking in your life, which is the least likely to lead to regret?
Seems like as good a compass as any to me.
作戦の本質を見失うな 自分の欲求を満たすことのほうが大事なのか？
Don’t lose sight of the true fight. Is it more important to satisfy your own desires?
Levi Ackerman
After you have made your true decision about what your true mission is, it is still easy to lose sight of it in the fray. In particular, we have various distractions that are always exerting their influence. Entertainment, information, escape. Are these more important than “the true fight”?
Levi urges us here to play the long game.
躾に一番効くのは痛みだと思う
I believe that the best way to find discipline is through pain.
Levi Ackerman
This quote immediately makes me think of the often used adage “No pain, no gain”. This Levi quote places this in a distinctly Japanese context. Here “pain” is applied to the Japanese concept of 躾 shitsuke, which doesn’t really have a neat equivalent in English. Shitsuke encompasses the ideas of discipline, training and manners in one neat little bundle.
Levi tells us that it is the “school of hard knocks” that teaches best to be a well adjusted, and behaved, individual.
It’s an interesting contrast with the context of how we usually use the phrase “no pain, no gain” in the West as a physical fitness idea associated with toning your abs or getting a better physical figure for your own personal gain. The idea of shitsuke is much more associated with being better in the eyes of society for the greater good.
So this quote is a classic illustration of the difference between the oft-referenced difference between “communal” Asian cultures and “individualistic” Western ones.
今お前に一番必要なのは 言葉による「教育」ではなく「教訓」だ
What you need right now isn’t education by words but education by practice.
Levi Ackerman
This one is hard to translate quite right into English as the original Japanese translates the related words of 教育 kyoiku and 教訓 kyokun, both of which share the same first Chinese character 教, meaning something like “education”. The second character in 教育 kyoiku means something like “raise up” and the word itself is usually translated as “education”. The second character in 教訓 kyokun is close to the word “to train” in English. So the implication of this quote is that what is required is not learning about something but learning by doing something.
Which is often the case with learning, don’t you think?
Eren Yeager エレン・イェーガー
皆「何か」に背中を押されて地獄に足を突っ込むんだ。
大抵その「何か」は自分の意思じゃない。他人や環境に強制されて仕方なくだ。
ただし、自分で自分の背中を押したやつの見る地獄は別だ。その先にある何かを見ている
それは希望かもしれないしさらなる地獄かもしれない。
それはわからない。進み続けた者にしか…わからない
All people are pushed at the back by “something” to enter the gates of hell. Usually, this “something” is not their own will, but that of others, or they are forced by environment as a last resort.
But the hell that is encountered by those who push their own backs is of a different kind. It may be “hope”, or it may be a yet deeper level of “hell”.
There is no way of knowing. Only those who continue pushing forward can tell.
Eren Yeager
This Eren quote is intriguingly ambiguous. It immediately brings to mind the William Shakespeare quote
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em”
The Eren quote references specifically the second of these categories, those that “achieve greatness” of their own accord.
Eren tells us that when we are striving for our dreams, we never truly know that we are on the right path, or even if our own motivations are the right ones. There is always an element of faith. It is only those that see their path through that are able to look back and know if they were right or wrong.
オレ達は皆生まれた時から自由だ それを拒む者がどれだけ強くても関係無い
From birth, we are free. It doesn’t matter how powerful are those that stand in our way.
Eren Yeager
Eren has a keen sense of his own identity. He reminds us that if we are true to ourselves, external influences, good, bad and otherwise, become irrelevant.
He backs it up again by saying:
オレは生まれた時からオレのままだ
Since the time I was born, I have simply been me.
Eren Yeager
Mikasa Ackerman ミカサ・アッカーマン
私はもう諦めない。二度と諦めない・・・死んでしまったらもう
あなたのことを思い出すことさえ出来ない
だから、何としてでも勝つ！
何としてでも生きる！
I’m not giving up anymore. Never again will I throw in the towel…When I am dead I won’t be capable of giving you as much as a single thought.
For that very reason, I will be victorious no matter what!
I will live, no matter what!
Mikasa Ackerman
This quote from Mikasa shows that love of another can be a source of near infinite motivation to push on. As she says, there is no way of loving someone when you are dead. So you’ll just have to do it while you are alive.
Reiner Braun ライナー・ブラウン
兵士には引けない状況がある
There are times when a soldier can not retreat.
Reiner Braun
Reiner represents the figure of the ideal soldier. But if we look at the soldier, or warrior, as a metaphor for life, he gives us wisdom that we can all use.
There are indeed moments in our life where, if we are being true to ourselves, there is simply no choice to retreat. The tricky part is knowing when these times are.
I am reminded here of the Stoic prayer,
“God, grant me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.”
俺のすべきことは自分のした行いや選択に対し…戦士として最後まで責任を果たすことだ
What I must do is accept final responsibility as a soldier for my own actions and choices.
This quote tells that being a soldier, in war or in life, means accepting responsibility for our actions and choices.
Here we see the difference between the “victim” mindset where we see ourselves as being passively the sum of our circumstances, and the “hero” mindset where we see ourselves as having agency, and responsibility, for our own predicaments.
Bertolt Hoover ベルトルト・フーバー
誰かがやらなくちゃいけないんだよ。誰かが自分の手を血で染めないと…
Someone has to do it. Someone must daub their hands in blood…
Reiner Braun
Bertolt is effectively saying “to make an egg, you have to break a few eggs”, and that someone has to be willing to be the one to break them.
When you face problems in life, are you willing to get your hands dirty?
悪魔の末裔が！根絶やしにしてやる！
Demon spawn! I’m here to pull up the weeds!
Reiner Braun
Annie Leonhart アニ・レオンハート
アルミン、あんたはひとまず賭けに勝った…でも、私が賭けたのは、ここからだから。
Armin, you’ve won the first bet…but you know it’s my gambit from here on.
Annie Leonhart
正しい人間とは言えないだろうけど…それも 普通の人間なんじゃないの？
I guess I’m not a right and proper person…but isn’t that just normal?
Annie here points out a simple truth, no one’s perfect. Most of us aren’t even good!
She could have been reading from the good book, saying “he has never sinned may cast the first stone”.
Sasha Braus サシャ・ブラウス
私達にゃ私達の生き方があるんやから 誰にもそれを邪魔できる理由はない！！
We have our own way of living. So no one has reason to be able to intervene!!
Sasha Braus
This theme of “having your own life” or “way of living” is strong within Attack On Titan. Not surprising really, given the nature of self-actualization being central to the Hero’s Journey.
Historia Reiss (ヒストリア・レイス)
自分の命も顧みない行動が示すものは我々同志に対する忠誠です
Those that show with their actions that they don’t ruminate on their own lives are our faithful comrades in arms.
Historia Reiss
Clearly Reiss is a person of action. That’s a more poetic way of saying “don’t overthink it”.
あなたが私に言ったとおり私たちはもう…人のために生きるのはやめよう。私たちはこれから私たちのために生きようよ！
Now, it’s just like you told me…we have to stop living for others. From now on, we have to live for ourselves!
Historia Reiss
There is an ongoing debate about whether the project of self actualization is a selfish or a selfless process. If you let yourself get consumed in your creative, or any other type of work really, are you being “selfish”.
Psychologists such as Maslow would argue that, far from doing something selfish, you are contributing to the world in the best way possible by finding a way to be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be and then offering the fruits of your labour back to those around you.
Ymir ユミル
私はこの名前のままでイカした人生を送ってやる。それが私の人生の復讐なんだよ
I’m going to show that I can live a noble life true to my name. My life is an act of vengeance.
Ymir
You get the sense here that the “act of vengeance” that Ymir is referring to here is not so much a specific act of vengeance against any one person, as much as an existential act of vengeance against the cumulative circumstances of his life.
“Revenge” is usually considered a negative activity. Here I think Ymir is looking for more of a healthy vindication.
Whatever gets the pistons pumping, I say.
Hange Zoë ハンジ・ゾエ
一人一人の選択がこの世界を変えたんだ
Each single person’s choices have changed this world.
Hange Zoë
This could be the slogan of any modern day environmentalist’s group. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking that what we do as individuals doesn’t matter. But Hange’s quote reminds us that, of course, the world is the cumulative sum of all of our little choices. For better, or for worse.
Mike Zacharias ミケ・ザカリアス
人は戦うことをやめた時、初めて敗北する。戦い続ける限りはまだ負けてない。
When people cease fighting, that is defeat. As long as we continue to fight, we have not been beaten.
Mike Zacharias
Brian Johnson of Optimize has asserted that poverty is defined by a lack of hope. A person is called “bankrupt” in every sense of the word if there is no hope of improvement.
So too failure and defeat. If you haven’t given up, then you’re never beaten.
Apparently, there was a group of Japanese soldiers left in the pacific islands after World War II that never heard the war was over and stayed hiding in the jungle as far as the 80s. Some have posited it was this belief in the fact that had not been defeated that kept them going so long.
Hannes ハンネス
兵士が活躍するってことは それこそ最悪の時だ…
A soldier comes into his own at the very darkest of hours.
Hannes
This one is a message that we all need to hear from time to time. When things are at their worst, that is when heroes arise.
This is a glorified way of saying “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”.
Easy to say, hard to do.
あのなんでもない日常を取り戻すためだったら俺はなんでもする。どんだけ時間がかかってもな
I will stop at nothing just to bring back the everyday. No matter how long it takes.
Hannes
The poignancy in this line is the passion for bringing back the mundane. This reminds me of the Tom Waits lyric about a soldier on deployment pining for home saying,
“What I miss you wouldn’t believe
Shovelling snow and raking leaves”
It has been said that the greatest crime is taking the everyday for granted. You miss things most when they are gone. Hannes agrees.
Dot Pixis ドット・ピクシス
その一歩は我々人類にとっての 大きな進撃になる
For humanity, that single step is a mighty charge.
Dot Pixis
The obvious parallel to this quote is Neil Armstrong’s iconic quote from the moon landing, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”
In the context of the Attack on Titan quote, the “Giant leap” is replaced by a “charge” in the military sense. The word used has in Japanese, 進撃 shingeki has particular resonance because it is a word used in the Japanese title of “Attack on Titan” which is “進撃の巨人” Shingeki no Kyojin, meaning Charge (Attack) of the Giants.
人が恐怖を原動力にして進むには限界がある
People that use fear as their motivating source to move forward are forever limited.
Dot Pixis
Dot Pixis tells us that fear can only get you so far as a driving force in life. Fear of an explosion, for example, can cause you to run several hundred metres, but it won’t keep you running for miles.
Attack of Titans asserts that this is a general rule, a natural truth.
Has this been your experience? It rings true for me.
Kittsu Vēruman キッツ・ヴェールマン
誰も自分が悪魔じゃないことを証明できないのだから…
No one is capable of testifying that they are not a demon.
Kittsu Vēruman
Here we have an acknowledgement by Veruman that we all have a dark side within us. Acknowledging that this is true of every one of us keeps us humble, and on the alert.
Yelena イェレナ
敵から学ぶことは多い
There is a lot you can learn from your enemy.
Yelena
This quote from Yelena can actually be read two ways in the original Japanese. It can either be, “There is a lot you can learn from your enemy” or “I often learn from my enemy”.
Either way it is a useful idea, and one that most businesses employ as a modus operandi of what they do.
Kenny ケニー
今なら奴のやったこと… わかる… 気がする…
俺が…見てきた奴ら… みんなそうだった…
酒だったり… 女だったり… 神様だったりもする
一族… 王様… 夢… 子供… 力…
みんな何かに酔っ払ってねぇと やってらんなかったんだな…
みんな何かの奴隷だった… あいつでさえも…
I feel like now I understand what all those people did.
All the people I have seen were the same. Whether it was booze, women, God, family, king, a dream, children, power. Without being drunk on something, they weren’t able to go on. They were all slaves to something.
Kenny
This line is spoken as the character of Kenny’s dying soliloquy. The thought strikes him as a final, revelatory moment of clarity. The way he frames the idea, that everyone needs something in their lives that keeps them going, is intriguing. Some of the examples he mentions are usually considered negative, “Booze, womanising, power”, others are more positive; “God, family, dreams, children” and others are more ambivalent, such as “king”.
He tells that everyone is made a drunken slave to these things.
You get the sense that Kenny is making a damning indictment of humanity here. But for me, I don’t have a problem with people being “drunk” on their love of dream and family. Whether I, too, will have a death bed epiphany about human vice, I can’t possibly know. I hope not.
Attack On Titan Quotes Conclusion
That completes my little survey of notable quotations from Attack on Titan.
They are words that point us the way in how we can stay on the path of our own hero’s journey, whether you’re battling giants or not.
For more inspiring anime quotes try our Luffy quotes from One Piece, or for some darkly pithy anime quotes try our Ryuk from Death Note quotes.
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