"Another trend I noticed while slowly working my way through the Masters of Bilge canon was that bad writers like to preface their books with a quote from somebody classy.....This made me wonder why great writers didn't start their books with quotations from world-class hacks."
— Joe Queenan in Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon.
An epigraph
(from the Greek epi-, "on" or "over", and gráphō, "writing", meaning "writing upon" or, more colloquially, "inscription") is the quotation of a line, excerpt or poetry done at the beginning or (more rarely) at the ending of a work, segment or chapter. Frequent in literature, shows up occasionally otherwise.
In written works, epigraphs are often used to make the reader look in a certain direction while reading, or as instructions on how to receive the work. In Speculative Fiction, it is often used to do an Encyclopedia Exposita. Can also be used for an As the Good Book Says... effect.
Super-Trope to Dictionary Opening. See also Pretentious Latin Motto.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Bleach starts each tankōbon with a small illustration of a character and a short poem that seems to be written in the voice of that character.
- Instead of the usual intro from Haru and Gatchmon, the final two episodes of Digimon Universe: App Monsters opens with a quote about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence, with Episode 51 starting with a quote from Stephen Hawking and the finale starting with a quote from Clive Sinclair. Both quotes are read out loud by Haru.
- One of the trailers for End of Evangelion opens with a quote from Milton's Paradise Lost — namely, verses 146-150 from book 2.
- In Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer, The Stinger ends with the words of Albert Einstein, "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved through understanding."
- Each episode of Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou has the ending sequence start with a tanka poem taken from Kokin Wakashuu books.
- The Stinger in Highschool of the Dead ends with an excerpt from the T. S. Eliot poem The Hollow Men: "This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper."
- The Love and Creed of Sae Maki begins with Aristotle's famous I Just Want to Have Friends quote; "For without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods".
- Macross Plus ends with the words, "Dedicated to you, our future pioneers..."
- Monster (1994): The anime adaptation is epigraphed by a passage from the Book of RevelationChapter 13, Verse 1-4 which coincides with the plot.
Comic Books
- Black Orchid: The three issues of the Neil Gaiman series had quotes from Omar Khayyam, Lou Reed, and E. E. Cummings on the back covers.
- The Incredible Hulk: Every issue of The Immortal Hulk begins with a quote that relates thematically to the events of the issue.
- The Infinity War: "And when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you" - Friedrich Nietzsche. The Magus even became aware of it when it got all powerful.
- The Frankenstein Monster: Issue #5 of The Monster of Frankenstein has a quote from Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Bad Moon Rising" in its first page, foreshadowing the werewolf business to come.
- The Sandman (1989): In the collected editions, each story arc is preceded with two quotes. The first one reads as something deep and profound; the second a pithy, less serious comment on the same topic — from the story itself.
- Watchmen: Each chapter ends with one of these, which is alluded to in the title of the chapter. The final epigraph to the collected edition was chosen both as a reference to a graffito in the series, and for its being used as another epigraph (to the Tower Commission report on the Iran-Contra Scandal).
- Wonder Woman:
- Wonder Woman (1942): Issue 322 closes with a relevant quote from William Shakespeare's Richard II.
- Wonder Woman (1987): Each issue of the "Challenge of Artemis" arc begins with a quote tying in to the story about to unfold.
Fan Works
- Many A Practical Guide to Evil fanfics draw inspiration from how that series uses epigraphs. Examples include:
- Akua Sahelian And The Mirror Of Desire is set on Earth, and as such it mostly uses real-world stories as quote sources. However, it sometimes uses original quotes from the Wizarding World or existing quotes from Calernia. Some of the epigraphs also add additional commentary on their source.
- A Treacherous Guide To Angelic Intervention opens with a quote from the original story discussing Dread Emperor Traitorous, but averts this for subsequent chapters.
- When Heroes Die uses quotes much as the original does, but also sometimes uses them to give information on how the story has diverged from canon as a result of Taylor’s influence on Creation.
- A Game of Cat and Cat: Main story chapters start with an excerpt from book written by one of the characters, usually from Leon Belmont's diary (the quote below is the epigraph for the first chapter), but Chapter 2 has one from Fictional Document How to Survive the End of the World, by Kazuya Kawamoto. Chapter 10: Living with Other People.
“Demon Summoning is one of the blackest arts imaginable. Not only must the summoner submit his God-given soul to vile monsters, he must sacrifice others to call forth his evil masters. I pray that this dark art shall be lost in the mists of time…”
—Diary of Leon Belmont, translated by Julius Belmont - Bait and Switch: The author started using these beginning with "The Universe Doesn't Cheat".
- "The Universe Doesn't Cheat" opens with two lines from the refrain of James Taylor's "Never Die Young", in something of a reference to Eleya's approach to the "Kobayashi Maru":
… Never give up, never slow down / Never grow old, never ever die young
- The second verse and part of the chorus of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" were added to Reality Is Fluid retroactively, referring to the fic's minor theme of the Cycle of Revenge.
- "To Absent Friends" favors the first two verses of James Taylor's "Fire and Rain."
- "Shakedown Shenanigans" uses a line from Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series that apparently appears on the Bajor's dedication plaque.
"To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well."- "Last Rights" has the first two verses and chorus of "Say the Same" by Hoobastank.
- "The Universe Doesn't Cheat" opens with two lines from the refrain of James Taylor's "Never Die Young"
- Batman Angel Of Death opens with "To love another person is to see the face of God," credited to Herbert Kretzmer.
- Danganronpa: Paradise Lost: Every chapter, alongside the prologue, intermission and epilogue, begins with a quote from a famous author (e.g. the prologue opens with "All things truly wicked start from an innocence." by Ernest Hemingway) hinting at the chapter's events.
- A Delicate Balance: Every chapter starts with a quote from a John Donne poem, which also serve as chapter titles.
- Drunkard's Walk: Each chapter of every story in the cycle starts with one or two relevant quotes, their sources ranging from modern pop music to ancient Greek philosophers.
- "Flaihhsam s'Spahkh" uses verses 27-19 of the Epic Poem "Horatius" by Lord Thomas Macaulay, which was also used in the Rihannsu novels (see Literature).
- Flufferverse: Every chapter of each fic begins with at least one literary quote.
- In all three parts of The Heart Trilogy, the chapters are initiated with quotes. The epigraphs of Heart of Fire are riddles and their answers. The ones of Heart of Ashes are all somehow dragon-related, covering various works. In Heart of the Inferno, all the epigraphs are borrowed from Tolkien's Legendarium.
- Held: A Story of Redemption: Chapters 1 and 2 of Small Prayer begin with a quote of the first and second stanzas of "Desiderata" respectively.
- Horseshoes and Hand Grenades and all stories in that universe have quotes/poem verses that fit with the events within the chapter.
- in a Haunted House w/ one direction: Parts 1 through 3 all end with a quote from The Shining, "Monsters are real. Ghosts are too. They live inside of us, and sometimes, they win."
- Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger: At the start of every chapter is a quote pulled from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords which relates to the story's events.
- Kyon: Big Damn Hero: At the start of each chapter there are extracts of self-help books on being a hero, some poetry, or texts that are implied to be from future documents/books.
- Lost Cities: Each chapter begins with a quote from Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, another work about fantastical cities, in some way relevant to the themes of the city described within it.
- Ma'at: The first chapter has what's effectively one, as the protagonist is singing a song that's its first lines:
"On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again" - Metro: For all sections, such as "If I Had A Hammer (Part One)":
"Take the scorn and wear the horns
It was the crest when you were born
Your father's father wore it
And your father wore it too"
—- Traditional, Cornwall, "Hal-An-Tow" - A Mother's Touch has a quote relating to the subject matter of the chapter. For example, the second chapter talks about how people with privilege lack smarts and heart, reflecting how Yoko is going to put Sylvio and Reiji across the wringer for their stupidity.
- Each chapter of The New Age of Monsters starts with a short text that is taken from an in-universe news article or book. They mostly serve to provide some backstory for the individual kaijus and as exposition for the world in general.
- Every chapter of Old West is initiated with short verses borrowed from various country songs in order to either capture the chapter's mood or describe certain characters.
- ...Or is He Both? does this at the start of each chapter to emulate The Immortal Hulk.
- The Master Kadoc & Caster arc of P1 Crypters concludes with the Alt Text featuring the final lines from Faust: Second Part of the Tragedy as Kadoc successfully summons Anastasia.
The indescribable,
Here, is done:
Woman, eternal,
Beckons us on. - Paradoxus:
- The prologue opens with a bit of dialogue between two Named by the Adaptation, OC Stand-Ins who by the time the fanfic takes place, are both long dead —Hellis, nymph of the sun, and Nótt Skoð, nymph of time and the void. They are talking about how You Can't Fight Fate, a Central Theme of the fic. Their inclusion also serves two establish three facts that are mostly reread bonuses. One, the Great Dragon's nymphs are going to be of key relevance throughout the plot. Two, it reaffirms that time travel kickstarts the plot but also foreshadows that it's part of the reason why things are the way they are. And three, it brings attention to an important detail, that Nótt's reincarnation (aka Morrigan, Daphne's daughter) is an important behind-the-scenes player.
- Unlike the prologue's, the first chapter's introductory quote is not attributed to any character and it's much more straightforward in its connection to the fanfic's plot and Central Theme. It crystallizes every important character's hopes that going back in time would solve their problems. Trisha and Altalune are determined to save their mom from an untimely death, Sylvanas wants to protect her people while staying away from her hellish afterlife, and Aen'da seeks an ally against the Burning Legion.
- The second chapter begins with another unattributed quote that makes reference not to the central theme but to the main characters' wants throughout the plot. They all wish to preserve all the fragile, loved things or people they lost in a previous timeline thanks to the chaos brought by the Burning Legion. In Trisha, Altalune, and Stacy's cases, it's their mothers. For Galadwen, the aim is to prevent as much destruction as possible by eradicating the demons with a united elven front.
- The third chapter's introductory quote that it's indeed Bloom's encounter with Galadwen that sets the events of the plot—they are two who were fated to meet. It makes Galadwen aware of Eudora already making moves on the Magix dimension and makes her realize the true Aspect of Fire is not a bonafide elf but a fairy carrying a Titan-like deity's power.
- Chapter 04: Subverted in the sense that all chapters prior, the prologue included, open with a quote or bit of dialogue. This one doesn't, implying that the meaning of the third chapter's epigraph still applies. Since Bloom already met Galadwenl, the only other relevant thing that happens is Galadwen's accidental bond with Trisha through her mother. In other words, the "starting point" might be not what it seems at first glance.
- The fifth chapter's opening line aptly describes the Oðrsson sisters' The Determinator attitude toward the Legion's invasion and their mother's demise. They are unwilling to resign to their and the dimension's doomed fates without their most powerful guardian fairies; they also rebel at the thought of their destroyed family. It also shows that, given how much they've lost and been through, the sisters would rather die with a bang while trying to improve their situation than just accept it all quietly.
- Peace Forged in Fire opens part 2 with the final verse and chorus of P!nk's "Try."
- Peace of Mind, Piece of Heart: Every chapter begins with one of these.
- Project Freelancer Phase One: Genesis mixes quotes from books, movies, and tv shows with journal entries from the Freelancers. The authors are particularly fond of Dresden Files quotes.
- "Solaere ssiun Hnaifv'daenn" uses a line from The Qur'an, appropriate considering the primary viewpoint character is Lieutenant Commander Jaleh Khoroushi, an Iranian Muslim:
“And tell my servants that they should speak in a most kindly manner [unto those who do not share their beliefs]. Verily, Satan is always ready to stir up discord between men; for verily, Satan is man’s foe. Hence, We have not sent you [unto men O Prophet] with power to determine their Faith.”
- The Son of the Emperor: At the start of each is chapter is a quote, usually from a historical figure.
- Steven Universe: Alternate Future: The final chapter titled "The Future" ends with three quotes from Rebecca Sugar, Walt Disney, and Stan Lee. Similarly, the same three people are quoted in the Grand Finale story Snake Eyes.
Rebecca Sugar: "I hope to represent people who have felt a lack of representation, but I hope to also show people who have felt represented that they can also relate that are not heteronormative, and to families that are not traditional, maybe even moreso than the more generic characters and families that they've been seeing on TV." / "Something weird might may be something familiar viewed from a different angle. And that's not scary, right?"Walt Disney: "Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." / "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them."Stan Lee: "I love being with people. That's the most incredible thing in the world. That world may change and evolve, but the one thing that will never change, we're all part of one big family." / "That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero."
- Stray has one for most of its chapters. A variation on "What can change the nature of a man?" from Planescape: Torment is the most common, but the story also uses quotes from The Waste Land, Evangelion, and other works.
- A Thing of Vikings has each chapter open with an epigraph sourced from a fictional work from the future of the alternate history, which give painless exposition on some element of foreshadowing or worldbuilding, with the framing for each being as varied as textbooks, to a Norse-flavored Wiki, to military dossiers on the dragon breeds.
- Tiberium Wars: Each chapter starts with a suitable quotation — most are from sources in-universe, but the very first is a famous line by Robert Heinlein about the importance of the military.
- In To the Stars each chapter starts with one or two excerpts from in-universe works such as history books, instructions, documentations, documentaries etc. etc, that are relevant to the chapter. And one Shout-Out to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
- Total Drama:
- Chapter 1 of Courtney and the Violin of Despair begins with a morality ballad from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, Patience, emphasizing Courtney’s good nature and the fact that she totally does not deserve what’s about to happen to her.
- Chapter 2 of Legacy begins with a quote from the Shakespeare play, Richard II.
- In Total Drama Island by Gilbert and Sullivan, all of the episode plot summaries start with a verse or verse fragment that fits the episode's tone or major events.
- Turnabout Reunion starts with a excerpt from chapter 2 of the Turnabout Storm fan novelization, so as to not keep readers out of the loop.
- The War of the Masters: Several of the authors are major music geeks in addition to Trekkies, and nearly every story uses multiple songs as epigraphs. Some also cite Fictional Documents such as K'Ragh's memoir Foolish Notions.
- A Good Compromise borrows "Sacrifice" from the soundtrack of RWBY volume 2. The lyrics are seemingly being used to refer to the Dominion.
- "The Only Way to Go" uses the Brantley Gilbert song "One Hell of an Amen," whose chorus also provides the story's title.
- "Remembrance of the Fallen" uses a line from Matt Stover's Revenge of the Sith novelization:
“The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins—but in the heart of its strength lies weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars.”
- A Good Compromise borrows "Sacrifice"
- Welcome To Amoros: This Forum Quest's Content Warnings are pre-contextualized by a quote about purity culture from Tumblr user genderkoolaid:
in order to not succumb to sex negative conservatism you have to accept that people will get off to things that are upsetting to you. [...] there are people who have only ever had heterosexual vanilla sex in missionary with the lights off, who actively contribute to more real world harm than your average fetish artist. kink is not a reliable source of information on someone's moral standing.
- Yu-Gi-Oh: Lady of Dragons opens every chapter with a quote; sources range from Aristotle to Queen to Final Fantasy IV.
Films — Animation
- Barbie movies frequently have an inspirational quote at the end of the credits, usually credited to Barbie herself.
- Boys Go to Jupiter opens on a billboard quoting Dionne Warwick's "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?".
In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star
Weeks turn into years, how quick they pass
And all the stars that never were
Are parking cars and pumping gas - Children VS Wizards opens with a quote from political scientist and philosopher Oleg Matveychev about what it means to be a Russian, thereby setting up the story's main theme.
"RUSSIAN - that's how foreigners generally address anyone who speaks Russian. And there's nothing that can be done about it now.
I would add that a Russian is a person who loves Russia — their motherland and any people nearby — their fellow countrymen." - Parodied in the opening to The LEGO Batman Movie, as Batman talks about how "important movies" open with some reading and starts to read off the lyrics to Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" before crediting it to himself.
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and make a change
Hoo
No, I said that. Batman is very wise. - Meet the Robinsons ends with a quote from Walt Disney showing source of the film's arc motto "Keep moving forward."
- The Prince of Egypt features three verses about Moses, sourced from the Book of Deuteronomy, the New Testament and The Qur'an, at the very end of the credits.
- The mid-credits of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse features a quote from the late Stan Lee: "That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero."
Films — Live-Action
- The Abyss opens with a title card with a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche's "...when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you."
- An Adventure in Space and Time, which dramatizes the making of Doctor Who from its inception to the departure of William Hartnell in 1966, opens with a recreation of one of The BBC's channel idents from the 1960s, with the continuity announcer reciting Hartnell's line from "The Aztecs" stating that "you can't rewrite history, not one line."
- All Too Well: The Short Film opens with a quote from Pablo Neruda, since it accompanies a Love Nostalgia Song.
Love is so short, but forgetting is so long.
- Anon (2018) opens with lines from a 19th century poem expressing how the poet wants to be invisible even to God, reflecting on everybody's memories in the film being recorded by law.
- Played for Laughs in The Big Short. "Truth is like poetry. And most people fucking hate poetry." - Overheard at a Washington D.C. Bar.
- The opening credits sequence of The Breakfast Club includes a four-line quotation of the song "Changes" by David Bowie.
- The beginning of Conan the Barbarian (1982) has Nietzsche's Stock Quote "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
- Cyberjack, the cheesy Michael Dudikoff sci-fi action movie about a bunch of terrorists storming a building to steal a computer super-virus, opens with a quote by, of all people, Stephen Hawking.
- Do the Right Thing ends with two quotes to underline the conflict of the movie: one by Martin Luther King Jr., arguing that violence is never justified, and one by Malcolm X arguing that violence in self-defense is justified.
- Denis Villeneuve's Dune films start with a phrase said in Sardaukar throat singing language and an epigraph on the screen.
- Dune: Part One has "Dreams are messages from the deep."
- Dune: Part Two has "Power over Spice is power over all."
- The Equalizer opens with a quote incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain: "The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why."
- Evil Easter 3 opens with a quote from religious historian Mattias Gardell that "national socialism could be defeated with garlic". The quote is (purposely) taken out of context, as the text the quote is taken from is critical to the idea of Ghostapo occult nazi conspiracies.
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps: Near the end of the closing credits, there is a quote from Jack Kirby: “If you look at my characters, you will find me. No matter what kind of character you create or assume, a little of yourself must remain there.”
- The Fog: The film opens with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe, "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream" from his poem "A Dream Within A Dream".
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire opens somewhat obviously with Robert Frost's 'Fire and Ice', in its entirety.
- The Hagakure is quoted throughout the gangster flick Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai starring Forrest Whitaker as a gangster hitman, using title cards.
- The Great Beauty starts with a quote from Journey to the End of the Night.
- The House by the Cemetery ends with a quote "No one will ever know whether the children are monsters or the monsters are children", which is falsely attributed to the writer Henry James (film's director Lucio Fulci actually came up with it).
- The Hurt Locker begins with this quote from Chris Hedges: "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug."
- I Went Down begins with a quote from The Republic.
I went down to the Piraeus yesterday with Glaucon, the son of Ariston.
- Jojo Rabbit has a poem from Rainer Maria Rilke before the credits roll: "Let everything happen to you / Beauty and terror / Just keep going / No feeling is final."
- Played for Laughs in Kill Bill which quotes "Revenge is a dish best served cold" which is falsely attributed as being an old Klingon proverb.
- Lady Bird opens with a Joan Didion quote: "Anybody who talks about California hedonism has never spent a Christmas in Sacramento."
- Mad Max: Fury Road ends with a (fictional) quote from The First History Man: "Where must we go... we who wander this Wasteland in search of our better selves?"
- Three A Nightmare on Elm Street films open with a quote:
- Dream Warriors opens with Edgar Allan Poe's "Sleep, those little slices of death — how I loathe them."
- The Dream Master opens with "When deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake." (The Bible, Job IV, 13-14).
- Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare opens with two quotations; first one is Friedrich Nietzsche's "Do you know the terror of he who falls asleep? To the toes he is very terrified, because the ground gives the way under him, and the dream begins..." and the second one comes from Freddy himself ("Welcome to prime time, bitch.")
- Nope starts with a passage from the Book of Nahum: "I will cast abominable filth at you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle."
- The Passion of the Christ: To bring context to the brutality that is about to be shown, the movie displays this abbreviated quote from Isaiah 53:5: "He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; by His wounds we are healed."
- The Phantom of the Opera (1989) opens with a quote from St. Jean Vitius of Rouen about making a Deal with the Devil. The guy in question actually never existed.
- Ripley Under Ground opens with a quote from Patricia Highsmith, the author of the book it is based on.
- Spectre has "The dead are alive", before opening on a parade during Día de Muertos in Mexico, where James Bond follows the trail of a villain.
- Steps Trodden Black opens with an excerpt from The Road Not Taken, from which it takes its title.
- The ending of Tears of the Sun, a movie centering around Navy SEALs helping a group of refugees escape genocide-ridden Nigeria, has a quote attributed to (but probably not written by) Edmund Burke before the ending credits start: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
- The Tree of Life opens with a quotation from Job 38:4-7: "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation ... while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
- True Grit (2010) begins with Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when none pursueth."
- Jess Franco's ''Venus In Furs ends with a quotation from John Donne:
I runne to death, and death meets me as fast,
And all my pleasures are like yesterday
Live-Action TV
- Each Andromeda episode begins with a (fictional) quote.
- Criminal Minds usually begins and ends with an epigraph read by whichever character the episode focuses on.
- Frontier (2016): Every episode is preceded by a quote that sounds like it could have been made by an 18th-century writer commenting on the nature of power, perseverence, or man's soul, but invariably turns out to be someone rather unexpected for a historical drama, like Beyoncé.
- The first episode of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace cuts to a King Lear quote about 5 minutes in. In the middle of a scene. For no reason.
- Every episode of Grimm begins with a quote. Usually from a fairy tale, but as the series went on they started having to widen their sources a bit.
- Iron Chef always begins with a quote from French epicurean Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."
- All first season episodes of Millennium (1996) save for the pilot have a literary quote intertitle between The Teaser and act one. The practice was mostly dropped after that, but with the occasional return.
- The Stand (1994): The made-for-TV miniseries opens with the closing lines of T. S. Eliot's poem, "The Waste Land", "This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper".
- Every episode of Wilfred begins with a quote, with one word highlighted to reveal the episode's title and theme.
- The Wire has an epigraph to each episode, always a quote from later in that episode, usually with an ironic subtext in hindsight.
- One episode of The X-Files opens with a quote from William Shakespeare's Henry IV: "For nothing can seem foul to those that win."
Music
- Buttress: The MV of "Magick" opens with a quote of Kenneth Anger's that says "Making a movie is casting a spell".
- Claude Debussy's suite En blanc et noir for two pianos has epigraphs for its otherwise untitled movements.
- Several of Doctor Steel's songs have epigraphs, some sampled from old Public Service Announcements such as "Duck and Cover", others deliberately done as a parody of such announcements.
- Most of the tracks on Sabaton's The Art of War album have relevant quotes from the book of the same name either at the start or the end of the song.
- In keeping with Kanye West having an ego the size of Jupiter, rather then having a epigraph at the start of the music video for his song "Diamonds From Sierra Leone," he instead quotes himself from the song about to play.
- Ralph Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia Antartica has quotations preceding each of its five movements, three from famous poets, one from Psalm 104 and one from Captain Scott's last journal (which is also read in the film whose music the symphony was adapted from). These are sometimes recited—which is wrong, because the composer explicitly instructed that they should be printed in the programme to be read silently by the listeners, and because recitation destroys the attacca transition into the fourth movement.
Radio
- Dimension X's "Universe": At the start of this episode, which was based on Robert A. Heinlein's Universe, an in-universe holy book is quoted. The scripture is also cited about four minutes later in the story, a Creation Myth that describes how everyone has a place in the world.
"In the beginning, there was Jordan, thinking his lonely thoughts. Out of the lone-ness came a longing. Out of the longing came a vision. Out of the dream came a planning, and out of the planning came a decision. Jordan's hand was lifted and the ship was born!"
Theatre
- Tony Kushner's Angels in America:
- The published script of Millenium Approaches begins with this one:
In a murderous time
the heart breaks and breaks
and lives by breaking.
— Stanley Kunitz, "The Testing Tree" - And part two, Perestroika, begins with this one:
Because the soul is progressive, it never quite repeats itself, but in every act attempts the production of a new and fairer whole.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, "On Art"
- The published script of Millenium Approaches begins with this one:
- Dead End is prefaced with this Thomas Paine quotation:
"The contrast of affluence and wretchedness is like dead and living bodies chained together."
Video Games
- The Ancient Art of War opens each match with a quote from Sun Tzu.
- A variation of sorts exists in some Call of Duty games. Upon most player deaths, the game usually displays a quote about the more sobering realities of warfare (or the cost of a modern piece of military equipment).
- Crystal Shard's A Tale of Two Kingdoms opens up with a quote from the poem Ode (by O'Shaugnessy); whereas Heroine's Quest opens up with a similar quote from the Prose Edda.
- The original version of A Change in the Weather contained quotations from Eric Bogle songs — "A Change in the Weather" at the beginning, and "Katie and the Dreamtime Land" at the end.
- Civilization IV: Every technology has a quote with it from The Bible to Oscar Wilde to Sputnik 1. Narrated (mostly) by Leonard Nimoy.
- At the beginning of "Episode 2: Memory" of Code 7, S.O.L.I. recites the first stanza of Queen Mab by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
- Death Stranding opens on an excerpt from Kobo Abe's Nawa which explains the concept of the stick and rope being tools to ward off bad things and bring good things closer, respectively.
- Deus Ex has one for each ending. For example, becoming a Deus est Machina results in the Voltaire quote "If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent Him.".
- Devil May Cry 5: The prologue cutscene starts with an excerpt of William Blake's "A Poison Tree":
"And it grew both day and night, till it bore an apple bright."
- Disco Elysium: The first lines of the game are taken from R.S. Thomas's poem "Reflections", which was also the source of the game's Working Title, No Truce With The Furies.
The furies are at home in the mirror; it is their address.
Even the clearest water, if deep enough can drown.
— R.S. Thomas - Doom:
- Doom (2016) opens with an excerpt from a fictional, quasi-biblical text describing the Doom Slayer's previous bloody exploits throughout Hell:
So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.—Corrax Entry 7:17
- At the beginning of the final level of Doom Eternal's main campaign as the Slayer jets off to defeat the Icon of Sin, the following passage, apparently from the same fictional text, is displayed over the loading screen. This is in contrast to all of the previous pre-level blurbs, which contained information to the player about what was to come in the level:
'For he will walk among us, and he will smite the evil from this earth. For he who comes in our time of need is not of mortal breed, he is the Destroyer, the right hand of our Creator and the one who brings fear where there is no hope.' Corrax tablet 3:13
- At the end of The Ancient Gods: Part Two, the Doom Slayer has finally killed Davoth, the Dark Lord, and thus every demon outside of Hell, but Post-Victory Collapses afterward, as his power was drawn from Davoth all along. After being interred in a coffin that resembles the one that he was awoken from, the screen fades to black and displays the following text, pulled from the previous game's opening epigraph, to show that his twenty-eight-year war against Hell is finally over:
May the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
- At the end of The Ancient Gods: Part Two, the Doom Slayer has finally killed Davoth, the Dark Lord, and thus every demon outside of Hell, but Post-Victory Collapses afterward, as his power was drawn from Davoth all along. After being interred in a coffin that resembles the one that he was awoken from, the screen fades to black and displays the following text, pulled from the previous game's opening epigraph, to show that his twenty-eight-year war against Hell is finally over:
- Doom (2016) opens with an excerpt from a fictional, quasi-biblical text describing the Doom Slayer's previous bloody exploits throughout Hell:
- Dragon's Dogma starts with a quote from Henri de Régnier. The delightful and ever-novel pleasure of a useless occupation. It plays with the idea of the New Game Plus option. It's also a reference to the ever repeating cycle of the Arisen becoming the Seneschall and existing to provide life to the world only to be replaced by the next Arisen.
- Occurs several times in The Elder Scrolls. The first (The best techniques are passed on by the survivors) and the third (Each event is preceded by prophesy; but without the Hero there is no event).
- Eversion was originally created for a contest for games inspired by passages from H. P. Lovecraft's notebook. Accordingly, the game opens with the chosen passage (which alludes to the character's eponymous power):
sounds - possibly musical - heard in the night from other worlds or realms of being.
- At several points in Final Fantasy XII, there will be a quote from a book written by the character Ondore, who also functions as a narrator upon the larger plot of the game. This also extends to its setting prequel, Final Fantasy Tactics, which feature quotes from a Saint Ajora Glabados, the inspiration for the game's Corrupt Church.
- The Fountain opens with a quote from Ode to Aphrodite by Sappho:
"I beg you, do not break my spirit, with pain or sorrow, but come — if ever before from far away you heard my voice and listened."
- God of War III: The game opens with a quote by Greek philosopher Plato: "The measure of a man is what he does with power".
- Higurashi: When They Cry contains one or several poems signed Frederica Bernkastel in the beginning, the middle or the end of the arc. They are cryptic but often contains clues or show the emotions that Rika, the true protagonist goes through. Sadly, they were not present in the anime version but the ones found in the novels and the manga can be found here.
- Hollow Knight begins with a quote from an in-universe poem, Monomon the Teacher's Elegy for Hallownest:
In wilds beyond they speak your name with reverence and regret,
For none could tame our savage souls yet you the challenge met,
Under palest watch, you taught, we changed, base instincts were redeemed,
A world you gave to bug and beast as they had never dreamed. - Hollow Knight: Silksong does the same thing, this time from the Conductor Romino's Pharloom's Folly:
They see your beauty, so frail and fine,
They see your peace, woven of faith and toil,
They forget your heart, bound in slumber and servitude,
When you wake they shall see your truth,
A beast's nature bare to all. - inFAMOUS has these on loading screens that come up, usually when the day changes. The themes are on the (potentially destructive) nature of power. For example:
"If you want to test a man's character, give him power."
- Beating The King of Fighters XIII with Ash Crimson ends with the Pippa Passes poem by Robert Browning, which was also used as Arc Words in Neon Genesis Evangelion: "God's in His Heaven, All's right with the world!"
- Layers of Fear starts with an excerpt from The Picture of Dorian Gray,
Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a painting of the artist, not of the sitter.
- The Long Dark: Each time you start a new survival run, an epigraph appears on the black screen before your character spawns. The quotes are generally apposite to survival and the outdoors.
"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage."
- Medal of Honor: Vanguard, a game about the US Paratroopers in World War Two, opens with this quote from General Dwight D. Eisenhower: 'I do not believe in the Airborne Division.'
- Mega Man X8 ends with a quote from Dr. Light: "Humans and robots living together in harmony and equality. That was my ultimate wish."
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain follows up its audio-only introduction of the Third Boy at the start of the game with a quote from Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran:
It is no nation we inhabit, but a language. Make no mistake; our native tongue is our true fatherland.
- The Stinger in Metal Slug 3D ends with the words, "In history, there is no end."
- Some of Graham Nelson's works start with a quote from another work.
- Curses begins by quoting Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.
- Jigsaw begins by quoting T. S. Eliot's "Gerontion".
- The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet begins by quoting the final paragraph of "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.
- Ruins begins by quoting the Popol Vuh.
- Mortal Kombat 3 opens with a Ralph Waldo Emerson quotation:
There is no knowledge that is not power.
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri:
- It uses Genesis 3:24 over the opening movie to great effect:
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden. He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
— Conclave Bible, Datalinks - There's a video here.
- Alpha Centauri also has quotes for each tech and facility. Most of them are fictional quotes from the faction leaders, while there are literary or other references sprinkled in.
- It uses Genesis 3:24 over the opening movie to great effect:
- Silicon Knights used this in at least two of their games:
- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain properly sets the tone for the game (and the series, by proxy) by including a passage from Aleister Crowley's Magick in Theory and Practice, read by Neil Ross as an In-Universe prophecy foretelling of Kain's arrival.
"There is a Magical operation of maximum importance; the Initiation of a New Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter a Word, the whole Planet must be bathed in blood..."- Before the title screen, Eternal Darkness has the first stanza from "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.
- SOMA opens with a quote from Philip K. Dick.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
- Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion opens with this cryptic poem:
Pale summer moonlight shimmers on the seafloor.
An octopus, unaware that dawn will bring capture,
Rests within a trap, dreaming fleeting dreams... - Every campaign in Suzerain starts with a different quote from a famous writer. For example, the original Suzerain: Republic of Sordland begins with Nâzım Hikmet Ran's short poem titled "You":
You are my enslavement and my freedom.
You are my flesh burning like a raw summer night.
You are my country. - Tales Series:
- Tales of Phantasia: "If there is evil in this world, it lurks in the hearts of men."
- Tales of Hearts opens with the in-universe "Sleeping Beauty" nursery rhyme.
- The Total War series tends to feature epigraphs in its loading screens.
- The Stinger of Turovero: The Celestial Tower ends with a quote from The Book of John — "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
- Most Uncharted games begin with a quote from a famous real-life explorer, whose historical adventures are relevant to the respective game's storyline. Click to open each article to read the quotes:
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune opens with a quote from Sir Francis Drake.
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves continues the tradition with a quote from Marco Polo.
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception has a quote attributed to T. E. Lawrence's portrayal in Lawrence of Arabia.
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End features a quote from the pirate Henry Avery.
- Uncharted: Golden Abyss contains a line from a letter by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado about Marcos de Niza.
- Every chapter of Venba opens with a couplet from the Thirukkural, shown on screen in both Tamil and English.
''Think well before you dare, and never ruminate once in action.
- XenoGears: The opening recites a passage from Revelation 22:13; "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last".
- Every time you boot up an X-Universe game, you're treated to a quote from somebody like Arthur C. Clarke or Albert Einstein.
- X-COM:
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown opens with an Arthur C. Clarke quote:
Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
- The expansion pack XCOM: Enemy Within replaces it with a quote by R. Buckminster Fuller:
Those who play with the devil's toys will by degrees be brought to wield his sword.
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown opens with an Arthur C. Clarke quote:
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom starts with a quote attributed to the philosopher Alexander Irvine. At the end of the game, the Big Bad Scott Irvine's last words tie back to the epigraph.
Web Animation
- Broken Saints has an apropos quote at the beginning and end of each of the 24 chapters. The exception is in Chapter 24, which also has one at the beginning of each act.
- Red vs. Blue: Season 6 starts with a quote by The Director, which he repeats later in an episode intro:
It is an undeniable, and may I say fundamental quality of man, that when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable.
Webcomics
- Kill Six Billion Demons includes “Liturgies” after most pages. These can be single words, quotes from figures in-universe, pages from in-universe documents, or even in-universe myths told alongside the plot of the webcomic.
- Every chapter of Star Impact ends with a fictional in-universe quote, each of which Title Drops the chapter's name (emphasis included):
Chapter 1: If it makes impact, then it's a meteorite.
Chapter 2: It can exist without either, but without the moon and stars, the night sky is incomplete.
Chapter 3: A dragon is not evil. No, to devour heroes and kings its but its nature. A reality.
Chapter 4: A flower in bloom is an exclamation. Hello world. This is me. Here I am.
- The Ten Tailors Of Weston Court opens with a quote from George "Beau" Brummell regarding the tailor John Weston:
"That fellow Weston is an inimitable fellow - a little defective perhaps in his linings, but irreproachable for principle and button-holes. He came to London, sir, without a shilling; and he counts more realized thousands than our fat friend does frogs on his Brandenburg. He is not only rich, but brave; not only brave, but courteous; and not alone courteous, but candid."
Web Original
- AMV Hell 3 parodies the then-recent Kill Bill epigraph with "At Least I Have Chicken"... still credited as an old Klingon proverb. Future installments would have epigraphs of their own, presented in the same style.
- The chapters from Robert J. Defendi's podcast Death by Cliché are all prefaced by gag quotes attributed to the author, often mocking the action of the chapter they precede, (particularly those with many SaidBookisms), or complaining about having to do so many chapter quotes.
- IT-HE Software has these on the pages for Thief and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion walkthroughs. Quotes from various sources also pop up frequently in the middle.
- Sailor Nothing uses quotes from The Hagakure.
- TV Tropes, of course, includes quotes at the beginning of most articles.
Western Animation
- Parodied in Adventure Time, where the episode "Ocean of Fear" Bookends with omninous epigraph-style quotes about fear from Pat McHale... one of the show's staff members, effectively giving the show an epigraph from itself.
- The Boondocks:
- "Return of the King" starts with an epigraph quoting Martin Luther King Jr., which is about how he wanted the next generation of black Americans to understand that the privileges they'll have in the future, did not come without sacrifice; but only to be followed by a dismissive anonymous reply of "Whatever, nigga". It's pretty important to the overall message.
- "Stinkmeaner: Begun the Clone War Has" opens with the famous "He who fights monsters" quote from Friedrich Nietzsche's book Beyond Good and Evil. Likewise it's also relevant to the episode's theme, which involves our protagonist Robert almost becoming exactly like his Arch-Nemesis Stinkmeaner.
- Hazbin Hotel: The pilot ends by showing a quote from Lotte Reiniger:
"Animation is basically not so much a technical implement as the expression of the spirit behind it. To see that that spirit goes into your shooting must be your overriding ambition."
- Rick and Morty: The episode "Night Family" begins with a passage from "Fragment of an Agon" by T. S. Eliot:
When you’re alone in the middle of the night and you wake in a sweat and a hell of a frightWhen you’re alone in the middle of the bed and you wake like someone hit you on the headYou’ve had a cream of a nightmare dream and you’ve got the hoo-ha’s...
- Every episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars starts with an epigraph relating to the moral the characters will need to learn in the style of the "a-galaxy-far-far-away font" used in the films. Though, a lot of the time, it's just flowery-sounding nonsense. (The exception is the four-part "Siege of Mandalore" finale arc.)