Stable Time Loop/Quotes

Time Agent 1: Captain, why did you take the Defiant back in time?
Sisko: It was an accident.
Time Agent 1: So you're not contending it was a predestination paradox?
Time Agent 2: A time loop - that you were meant to go back into the past?
Sisko: No.
Time Agent 1: Good.

Time Agent 2: We hate those.

—Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Trials and Tribble-ations"

Vanderbeam: Wait! Where did you get this? I was too late to steal it!

Vanderbeam: I used this suit to steal the one I just gave to you.

Vanderbeam: But...then where did you get the one you're wearing?

Vanderbeam: My future self handed it to me two decades ago.

—Starslip

Nagato: Since there's no conclusion to the paradox theory, there's no way to prove there's no paradox.

Kyon: Maybe that's a good enough explanation for you...

—Suzumiya Haruhi: Bamboo Rhapsody

The idea here is that you can travel back in time, but you can't actually change history. So if you go back and try to prevent the assassination of President McKinley, it turns out that you killed him yourself. Or if you go back and try and prevent the Black Plague, it turns out that you are a flea-ridden diseased rat.

—Lore Sjöberg, "Alt Text"

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1. 008282;">gallowsCalibrator/Terezi Pyrope, Homestuck

In fact that was even more puzzling, when Harry thought about it. Time had presented him with the finished Prank as a fait accompli, and yet it was, quite clearly, his own handiwork. Concept and execution and writing style. Every last part, even the ones he still didn't understand.

—Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

Idris: House eats TARDISes.
The Doctor: House what? What do you mean?
Idris: I don't know, something I heard you say.
The Doctor: When?
Idris: In the future.
The Doctor: "House eats TARDISes"?

Idris: Oh! There you go.

—Doctor Who, "The Doctor's Wife"

I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words...I scatter them. Across time and space. My message to lead myself here.

—Rose Tyler / The TARDIS, "The Parting of the Ways"

The Archmage: Are you certain you know what to do?
The Archmage: I should. I watched you do it. (disappears)

The Archmage: Finally. I thought he'd never leave.

—Gargoyles

Pierce: "I don't believe you, causality is--"

Volair: "Pick a number between ten and oh, sixteen."

Pierce: "Uh, twelve. Now--"

Volair: "How old were you when I suddenly decided to paint the kitchen green?"

Pierce: "Twel-- (look of sudden realization). Urk. Uh. muhh.. fuh.."

Rhonda: "Told ya."

—Umlaut House

"Don't do anything that affects anything, unless it turns out you were supposed to do it, in which case, for the love of God, don't not do it!"

—Professor Farnsworth, Futurama, "Roswell That Ends Well"

1971 Robo: You're going to learn the hell out of hyperdimensional mathematics when you get back. Focus on electrodynamics.
1926 Robo: Why?
1957 Robo: So we'll know how to convert these burnt out powerpacks into a hyper-dimensional bomb to blow up the monster across multiple simultaneous points in space-time.
1926 Robo: How'd you know they burned out?

2009 Robo: Because we just told you, so you'll remember they are, so we can tell you they are. Dah! Study temporal mechanics while you're at it. Short version: when your future self tells you to do something, you do it.

—Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time

"No one can unmake the past. It's already happened, there's no 'undo'. Similarly, the future already happened. we just haven't reached it yet."

—Sarda The Wizard Who Did It, Eight Bit Theater, "That Is Not A Predictive Model"