Context

This line is spoken by Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart, in the film The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan (2008).

Harvey Dent says this at dinner, after Bruce Wayne and his hot date saunter in and sit with him and his girlfriend, who just so happens to be Bruce's true love, Rachel. They start talking about politics and leadership, comparing Batman's role of protecting the city to that of Caesar and Rome. What everyone wants to know is whether Batman is a hero or a villain, but Dent believes in him and his stand against the bad guys of Gotham.

Dent's discussing a theme that's brought up again and again in the film, and among heroes in general, which is how far can someone go before the line between hero and villain gets blurred? It's what we'd call a Catch-22: heroism gets pretty complicated when saving someone means hurting someone else.

Where you've heard it

If you're a Kanye fan, you might have noticed this line dropped in Jay-Z's verse of "So Appalled." There are of course a million memes too, from Breaking Bad to Star Trek.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

If you're waxing poetic at the dinner table, toss this phrase in anytime politics or heroics comes up. Even the most saintly of humans is susceptible to fall.