Doctor Who: Eleven’s Wisest Quotes

Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor had big shoes to fill after David Tennant’s stellar performance in Doctor Who, but the actor left audiences stunned in a spectacular display of playfulness, ebullience, and childlike wonder combined with the wisdom a creature as old as the Doctor should have, all in one.

Many viewers mistake Smith’s take on the Doctor as a frivolous one, but the Eleventh Doctor was, in fact, one of the most intelligent, insightful, and sagacious regenerations of the Time Lord. Through his years as the owner of the TARDIS, Eleven dropped some gems of wisdom through Steven Moffat’s nuanced writing.

8 “The Way I See It, Life Is A Pile Of Good Things And Bad Things. The Good Things Don’t Always Soften The Bad Things, But Vice Versa, The Bad Things Don’t Always Spoil The Good Things Or Make Them Unimportant.”

When the Eleventh Doctor and his companion Amy Pond went back in time to meet the great Vincent Van Gogh, they attempted two things: to slay a rogue, abandoned alien and help Vincent live just a little longer and not end his life.

When they returned to the Museé D’Orsay, Amy saw no new paintings, which meant that Van Gogh’s life had not changed course. Eleven said this beautiful quote to a disappointed Amy, trying to make her understand that life is full of good and bad, and striking a balance can be tough, like it was for Vincent. The Doctor and Amy were definitely one of the good things in the painter’s life, and they left their mark on him.

7 “Everything’s Got To End Sometime. Otherwise, Nothing Would Ever Get Started.”

Doctor Who‘s Christmas episodes are usually great standalone stories, and season 6’s “A Christmas Carol” was a sweet story that brought a bitter Kazran together with his lady love Abigail, whom he had frozen in time as she only had a day to live.

Despite the limited time, Eleven convinced Kazran to unfreeze Abigail so they could spend Christmas together, even if it was her last day. When Amy reconfirms this fact, the Doctor says these wise words, which meant that one must make room for something new, which could often mean the end of certain things in one’s life.

6 “Never Run When You’re Scared.”

In “Let’s Kill Hitler”, Eleven, Amy, and Rory find that Melody Pond is actually River Song, the woman destined to kill the Doctor. As Amy rescues River from a certain death, the Doctor, poisoned and dying, reads out his 7th rule: to not run when scared.

This quote made a newly regenerated River Song stop in her steps and help her parents by flying the TARDIS to them, but in this small quote, the Doctor gave hope to everyone facing a difficult situation — to not flee but face the scary situation and deal with it.

5 “I’ll Be A Story In Your Head. But That’s OK. We’re All Stories, In The End. Just Make It A Good One, Eh? Because It Was, You Know; It Was The Best.”

In season 5, episode 13, the Doctor bids his final goodbye to a sleeping Amelia Pond, kissing her on her forehead and citing this missive to the sleeping girl.

This one is particularly insightful because the Doctor knew that everyone’s time on the planet was limited, but especially his, with this being his seemingly last regeneration. At the end, when lives are over, people are known by the stories of what they did and didn’t do, so it is entirely up to them to make their stories meaningful.

4 “Every Life I Save Is A Victory. Every Single One.”

The Doctor was one of Matt Smith’s best roles, and his version of the Time Lord cared deeply for every living being, no matter how big or small. In “The Time Of The Doctor”, he proclaims that every single life he saves is a victory for him, which showed audiences how Eleven could look at the bigger picture but also care for the smaller people who comprised it.

Eleven was a protector from the very beginning, and his genuine kindness shone through in moments like these in Doctor Who.

3 “We All Change, When You Think About It. We’re All Different People All Through Our Lives. And That’s OK, That’s Good, You Gotta Keep Moving, So Long As You Remember All The People That You Used To Be.”

Every Doctor’s regeneration is a painful moment to watch for viewers, especially when it’s their favorite version of the Time Lord going away for good. Eleven’s regeneration was emotional, but resigned, unlike Ten’s, who fought it long and hard.

Instead, Matt Smith’s Doctor let go of his time as the Doctor gracefully, with these lines to console himself — everybody changes through their lives, and instead of grieving for our past selves, it’s important to keep marching on as long as we learn from our histories. He said these words to his fashionable companion Clara before he turned into Peter Capaldi’s Twelve.

2 “900 Years Of Time And Space And I’ve Never Met Someone Who Wasn’t Important.”

In another quote from “A Christmas Carol”, Eleven said these kind words to Amy, explaining to her that there was no priority list of important people, every single human or alien entity was important, which was a lesson he learned after nearly a thousand years of traveling through time and space.

The Doctor was a self-appointed superhero for planet Earth and any other planet that put out a distress call. Eleven made sure he could give his help to whomever he could because every soul mattered.

1 “You Should Always Waste Time When You Don’t Have Any. Time Is Not The Boss Of You. Rule 408.”

Even while dying, the Doctor was well enough to spew words of wisdom, and these words resonate particularly in the fast-paced world that people live in nowadays. In “Let’s Kill Hitler”, River is in awe that he managed to change into white tie despite being short on time, to which the Doctor snappily says this line to her.

These words are good to remember for times when people immerse themselves in work, or cut down on simple pleasures at the behest of time. Time is a construct and everyone can decide what they want to do with it, without pressure.

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