Anime & Manga
"Humans may gather together, help each other, and accomplish many things, but their civilization could be easily destroyed by dragons. So I think dragons are better."
— Tohru, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
Comic Books
"Are you the creatures that live in this place? So fragile. So squishy. So pathetic."
— Starscream as he squishes a human to death, Transformers (2023)
Comic Strips
"A hatch opened up and the aliens said,
"We're sorry to learn that you soon will be dead
But though you may find this slightly macabre,
We prefer your extinction to the loss of our job"
"We're sorry to learn that you soon will be dead
But though you may find this slightly macabre,
We prefer your extinction to the loss of our job"
Films — Animated
"Then what shall save you, little smear of flesh?"
— Demon, Constantine: City of Demons
Appa Ali Apsa: I'm afraid the human race of Earth does not have the most stellar reputation.
Ranakar: The fact is humans are crude, base, fearful and untrustworthy.
Guardian: And then there's the smell.
Ranakar: The fact is humans are crude, base, fearful and untrustworthy.
Guardian: And then there's the smell.
Films — Live-action
"I want you to release all the monsters. I want the earthlings to see they're infants. They are nothing more than livestock. We shall destroy their civilization. Their long chair of civilization is about to be wiped out. The poor humans. It's almost sad."
— "Controller X", Godzilla: Final Wars
In the silent void of Outer Space, puny Man matches his cunning against a monster from Mars, running rampant!
— Trailer for It! The Terror from Beyond Space
"Y'know, I've noticed an 'infestation' here. Everywhere I look, in fact. Nothing but undeveloped, unevolved, barely conscious pond scum, totally convinced of their own superiority as they scurry about in their short, pointless lives."
— "Edgar", Men in Black (1997)
"Because all you of Earth are idiots!"
— Eros, Plan 9 from Outer Space
General Zod: This "Super"-Man is nothing of the kind! He cares. He actually cares for these Earth people.
Ursa: Like pets?
Zod: I suppose so.
Ursa: Like pets?
Zod: I suppose so.
Loki: The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I mean to rule them, and why should I not?
Thor: You think yourself above them?
Loki: Well, yes.
Thor: You think yourself above them?
Loki: Well, yes.
"They're only monkey-boys. We can crush them here on Earth, Lord Whorfin."
—John O'Connor, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
"We all know what gutless cowards humans are, don't you?"
—Redeye, Oblivion (1994)
Sander Vanocur: Just for the sake of argument, say it was possible [for extraterrestrial life to reach Earth].
Arthur C. Clarke: All right, then the question is why bother to come here. For the Earth to be chosen, we must assume we're rather special. But looking at the primitive state of our civilization, I think that's very conceited.
Arthur C. Clarke: All right, then the question is why bother to come here. For the Earth to be chosen, we must assume we're rather special. But looking at the primitive state of our civilization, I think that's very conceited.
Literature
"They're going to have such a surprise when Orostron reaches them—I expect it will be rather a blow to their pride. It's funny how all isolated races think they're the only people in the Universe. But they should be grateful to us; we're going to save them a good many hundred years of travel."
— Arthur C. Clarke, "Rescue Party"
"Obviously, people from other planets are going to have extra powers that Earth people don't have. Anybody who has ever watched television knows that."
— The Venusian Clarence Yojimbo in Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars
Judy: Because I'm a monkey.
Chester: I never said that.
Judy: But you were thinking it.
Chester: I don't judge. I rather like you lower entities. You've done quite well for transient globs of possibly sentient protoplasm.
Judy: Possibly sentient?
Chester: The jury is still out.
Chester: The jury is still out.
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same.
—The Narrator, The War of the Worlds (1898)
Lord Ombra: You humans believe you are unique. And in a sense, you are correct. Because of all those untold millions of planets, yours alone is located near the flaw.
Leonard Aster: What flaw?
Ombra' In the starstuff conduit. It passes very close to Earth. You cannot see it. It does not exist in the same way that ordinary matter exists. But it is there nonetheless, carrying starstuff from the Beginning to the remote reaches of the universe, as an aqueduct carries water. This is known as a Disruption, and when it occurs, a tiny quantity of starstuff escapes and enters your reality.
Bakari: A starstuff fall.
Ombra: Yes. It has been falling here for quite some time. This is the reason life came to exist on this barren rock in the first place. That is the reason this life acquired intelligence. You humans, and what you call your civilization, are here because of a leak in the plumbing of the universe.
Leonard Aster: What flaw?
Ombra' In the starstuff conduit. It passes very close to Earth. You cannot see it. It does not exist in the same way that ordinary matter exists. But it is there nonetheless, carrying starstuff from the Beginning to the remote reaches of the universe, as an aqueduct carries water. This is known as a Disruption, and when it occurs, a tiny quantity of starstuff escapes and enters your reality.
Bakari: A starstuff fall.
Ombra: Yes. It has been falling here for quite some time. This is the reason life came to exist on this barren rock in the first place. That is the reason this life acquired intelligence. You humans, and what you call your civilization, are here because of a leak in the plumbing of the universe.
— Lord Ombra, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon
And we men, the creatures who inhabit this earth, must be to them at least as alien and lowly as are the monkeys and lemurs to us.
—The Narrator, The War of the Worlds (1898)
"My point, fellow representatives, is that Humans are a fractured, limping, adolescent species that has branched out into interstellar life not by merit, but by luck. They have not moved beyond intraspecies chaos. They have skipped the vital step the rest of us had to make on our own. By granting them membership in the Galactic Commons, we would be providing them not with a new life, but with a crutch. What meager resources they have to offer us are not worth the risk posed by allowing such an unstable element into our shared space. The GC has already spent too much on helping this minor species to escape the hardships they brought upon themselves. I ask you, what benefit is there in making Humans one of us? If not resources, or knowledge, or military strength... Then what?"
—GC Quelin Representative, Wayfarers
"We knew them, the humans. They were our embarrassing cousins, our incapable undesirables. That's what we thought."
Live-Action TV
"That's what they are: savages. Just plumbing on two legs."
— Uriel, Supernatural ("It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester")
"What do you all have for brains? Pudding? Look at you. Why can't I get a decent species? Planet of the pudding-brains!"
— Twelfth Doctor, Doctor Who ("Deep Breath")
"The earth's a big and scary place,
With wars and crime and death
They listen to Shawn Mullins
And Alanis Morissette"
With wars and crime and death
They listen to Shawn Mullins
And Alanis Morissette"
— Crow, "To Earth" (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Dalek: THE INFERIOR HUMAN IS CORRECT.
Dan: Oi! Who are you calling inferior?
Dalek: YOU. ASSESSMENT HAS BEEN MADE.
Yasmin: Pretty smart, Daleks.
— Doctor Who, "Eve of the Daleks"
"When your Captain first approached us, we suspected that an agreement with humans would prove impossible to maintain. You are erratic, conflicted, disorganised. Every decision is debated, every action questioned. Every individual entitled to their own small opinion. You lack harmony, cohesion... greatness. It will be your undoing."
— Seven of Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, "Scorpion, Part II"
Mestral: It’s unfortunate that you’ll be leaving these people without experiencing one thing they have to offer.
Stron: Such as alcohol, frozen fish sticks, the constant threat of nuclear annihilation?
Stron: Such as alcohol, frozen fish sticks, the constant threat of nuclear annihilation?
— Star Trek: Enterprise, "Carbon Creek"
Pilot: How do humans make it through a cycle — or even half a cycle without killing each other? You have no special abilities. You're not particularly smart, can hardly smell, can barely see, and you're not even vaguely physically or spiritually imposing. Is there anything you do well?
John: Watch football.
— Farscape, "Crackers Don't Matter"
Sakai: While I was out there...I saw something. What was it?
G'kar (indicating a bouquet of flowers) What is this?
Sakai:An ant...So much gets shipped from Earth on commercial transports it's hard to keep them out.
G'kar: I have just picked it up on the tip of my glove. If I put it down again, and it asks another ant "What was that?!" how would it explain? There are things in the universe billions of years older than either of our races. They are vast, timeless, and if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants, and we have as much a chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know. We've tried.
G'kar (indicating a bouquet of flowers) What is this?
Sakai:An ant...So much gets shipped from Earth on commercial transports it's hard to keep them out.
G'kar: I have just picked it up on the tip of my glove. If I put it down again, and it asks another ant "What was that?!" how would it explain? There are things in the universe billions of years older than either of our races. They are vast, timeless, and if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants, and we have as much a chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know. We've tried.
— Babylon 5, "Mind War."
Music
"Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?"
Oh man! look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?"
— "Life On Mars?", David Bowie
Tabletop Games
"The greatest gift Mankind is blessed with is an inability to conceive of its true place in the universe—that of a pitiable shred of matter lost in an endless sea of crushing darkness—a gift without which the entire species would have slit its collective throat at birth."
—The Arch-Heretic Elak Sarda, Deathwatch Core Rulebook
"You think to challenge me, pitiful human? I, the bane of empires, the father of pain? Let me educate you..."
Video Games
Okay, fine. Let's all act like humans. Look at me. Boy, do I love sweating. Let's convert beef and leaves into energy and excrete them later and go shopping.
— GLaDOS, Portal 2 co-op mode
Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal, the pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing.
— Sovereign, Mass Effect 1
Less than a finger deep to sever your spine. You're soft. Humans, asari, salarians, all soft. Quarians, not so much. Turians, you have to work the blade, I guess.
— Grunt to Commander Shepard, Mass Effect 2
"You will regret being born useless and human!"
—Urizen to Nero, Devil May Cry 5
None have possessed the strength in previous Cycles. Your own species could be destroyed with a single thought. But you are different. I have witnessed your actions in this Cycle: the destruction of Sovereign; the fall of the Collectors. The Reapers perceive you as a threat. And I must understand why?!
— Leviathan, Mass Effect 3
[Pit asks how staff weapons work]
Viridi: All of your weapons have been imbued with the power of the gods.
Pit: So are humans able to use them?
Viridi: No, but they miss out on a lot of stuff. You know the saying about humans.
Pit and Viridi: Born crying, soon they're dying.
Pit: That's kind of mean, isn't it?
Viridi: Well, I've always liked the saying about the gods better.
Pit and Viridi: Powerful and frightening, spite everything with lightning!
Viridi: All of your weapons have been imbued with the power of the gods.
Pit: So are humans able to use them?
Viridi: No, but they miss out on a lot of stuff. You know the saying about humans.
Pit and Viridi: Born crying, soon they're dying.
Pit: That's kind of mean, isn't it?
Viridi: Well, I've always liked the saying about the gods better.
Pit and Viridi: Powerful and frightening, spite everything with lightning!
"You are, all of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt thinking... what? That you might escape the coming fire? Your world will burn until its surface is but glass!"
— Prophet of Truth, Halo 3
"Like the rest of your race, weak and undisciplined."
— Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee, Halo Wars
"As I suspected... nothing but a man."
— Atriox, Halo Wars 2
"For the Banished, victory is our shared cry. A refusal to cower, to bend. Our weaknesses beaten from us. Banished. It makes us strong! Your humanity makes you weak. Vulnerable. Defeatable."
— Escharum, Halo Infinite
Brainiac: I will master the Speed Force.
The Flash: Yeah, I don't think so!
Brainiac: Humans barely think at all.
The Flash: Yeah, I don't think so!
Brainiac: Humans barely think at all.
"A massive, tentacled Daemon is tearing through from another plane as the helpless citizens of Gotham confront the insignificance of their pitiful human existences."
— Description of Justice League Dark episode, DC Universe Online
"Long have my people hunted yours for sport. Do you imagine us equals?!"
— Wood Elf Gladelord, during negative diplomatic exchanges with the Empire, Total War: Warhammer
"Flesh isn't life! Servos, gyros, and fuel — this is where life comes from! You're defending by-product at best!"
— Megatron to Optimus Prime, Transformers: Devastation
Webcomics
"Swans eat, crap and have sex. What else is left?"
"THEY'RE A MISERABLE POINTLESS CROP OF LIFEFORMS FROM A MEANINGLESS BORING PUSTULE OF A PLANET."
— Karkat Vantas on the Beta Kids, Homestuck
"Charming. Really charming. Sigh. I really don't want us to screw up this little world. It's so fragile and cute."
— Princess Voluptua, The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!
Roy: What? What's wrong with human senses?
Belkar: Nothing. I'm sure it's very relaxing to be oblivious like that. Like living in a spa.
Vaarsuvius: To be fair, you are quite bad at seeing in starlight.
Durkon: Or total darkness.
Vaarsuvius: Or noticing secret doors.
Durkon: Or yer depth underground.
Vaarsuvius: Or hearing things.
Belkar: Nothing. I'm sure it's very relaxing to be oblivious like that. Like living in a spa.
Vaarsuvius: To be fair, you are quite bad at seeing in starlight.
Durkon: Or total darkness.
Vaarsuvius: Or noticing secret doors.
Durkon: Or yer depth underground.
Vaarsuvius: Or hearing things.
Web Original
"Long, long ago, the Kree tried to turn humans into super-soldiers, but humans are a difficult bunch, so the effort was abandoned. (We're very special, as all sci-fi likes to reassure us. What makes us special is how needy we are.)"
— Andrew Wheeler, ComicsAlliance
Cell: Come on, buddy, you can't be serious... With your power level? You're no android... You're no Namekian... And you're certainly no Super Saiyan! You're just human...
Tien: Yeah...? Well, you know what? F**k power levels! F**k Super Saiyans! AND F**K YOU! SHIN! KIKOHO!!!
Cell: Oh, that's adorab-SHIIIIIIIIIIIT!!! [blown up]
Tien: Yeah...? Well, you know what? F**k power levels! F**k Super Saiyans! AND F**K YOU! SHIN! KIKOHO!!!
Cell: Oh, that's adorab-SHIIIIIIIIIIIT!!! [blown up]
"You have referred to yourself and your fellow mortals as our children. You are not our children. You are... a bad first draft."
— Asmodeus, Critical Role: Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, "Episode 4: Fire and Ruin"
Western Animation
Ziard: You just expect humans to go back to the way things were before we had magic? When humans were starved, helpless and pathetic! Back in a time when we were... lesser beings?
Sol Regem: You are lesser beings.
Sol Regem: You are lesser beings.
— The Dragon Prince, "Sol Regem"
So scheme all you want, Mr. TV-Head Man
I'm nearly a god, who are you?
Just a DEAD man!
I'm nearly a god, who are you?
Just a DEAD man!
"You aren't listening, Mark. My time here has been a speck in the span of my life. You don't know me. I will burn. This. Planet. Down. Before I spend another MINUTE living among these animals."
— Omni-Man, Invincible (2021), "Where I Really Come From"
"Humans just live short, boring, insignificant lives, so they make up stories to feel like they’re part of something bigger. They want to blame all the world’s problems on a single enemy they can fight, instead of a complex network of interrelated forces beyond anyone’s control."
— Pearl, Steven Universe, "Keep Beach City Weird" (specifically talking about Ronaldo)
Real Life
"Since scientists are people, it is not surprising that comparable pretensions have insinuated themselves into the scientific worldview. Indeed, many of the central debates in the history of science seem to be, in part at least, contests over whether Humans Are Special. Almost always, the going-in assumption is that we are special. After the premise is closely examined, it turns out - in dishearteningly many cases - that we are not."
— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot
"Now all my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large."