From: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Genre: Movies
Who said it?: The Black Knight
The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the 1975 comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The film takes, shall we say, “liberties” with the legend of King Arthur but the story is fairly the same: King Arthur travels the entire country of Britain to recruit knights to his kingdom and eventually sets upon his quest to find the Holy Grail.
The quote comes fairly early in the film. As King Arthur (played by Graham Chapman) is in search for knights, he runs across the Black Knight (played by John Cleese). Arthur tries to recruit the Black Knight and, when he refuses, tries to cross the (really short) bridge. The Black Knight does not allow passage and the two fight. Arthur does get the better of the Black Knight by cutting off his limbs. However, despite losing his arms and legs slowly, the Black Knight refuses to yield and this is when he delivers the quotes.
Geek wisdom: Some people don’t know when to give up. Sometimes, it’s pride that keeps them going but they simply don’t look at the facts and stubbornly refuse to give up even when it will be their downfall.
It’s always better to know when to give before something even worse than failure happens.
Compare:
The Black Knight in Sapkowski’s 2nd Witcher novel, having been skewered and having his hand nearly cut off, says to the SkoiaTael elves “It’s only a scratch”
I think Sapkowski is a Python fan.