Which quotes from Attack on Titan are the most famous?

The most remembered are the Survey Corps oath "心臓を捧げよ" ("dedicate your heart"), Eren's vow to exterminate the titans "駆逐してやる," and Mikasa's words about a world that is cruel and beautiful at the same time. Less often, Levi's line about choosing without regret.

What does 「心臓を捧げよ」 — the Survey Corps oath — mean?

Literally, "Dedicate your heart!" This is the formal salute of the Survey Corps soldiers: right fist to the left side of the chest, left hand behind the back. The verb is in the old imperative form ending in よ, more solemn than the usual ろ form.

How does Eren's vow to exterminate the titans sound in Japanese?

駆逐してやる!! この世から…一匹残らず!! — "I will exterminate them, not a single one left in this world." Eren Yeager says this vow as a child, and it runs through the entire plot. てやる at the end adds a nuance of anger and personal determination, rather than simply describing a future action.

What does Levi say about choosing without regret?

悔いが残らない方を自分で選べ — "choose for yourself the option you won't regret." Levi says this to Eren when the outcome of any decision is unpredictable. The word 方 here means "one of two options," and the short form 選べ is a direct, unmitigated command.

How is the title of Attack on Titan translated from Japanese?

進撃の巨人 literally means "advancing giant," in the singular. The English title Attack on Titan replaced "giant" with "titan," and the English release follows this rather than the literal Japanese meaning.

What does "tatakae" mean in Attack on Titan?

戦え (tatakae) is the imperative form of the verb 戦う, "to fight": "Fight!" The word is heard in a key scene of the later manga chapters, where the hero repeats it twice in a row, and it became famous far beyond the fandom as a standalone quote.

Quotes from Attack on Titan in Japanese: original, reading, translation

Quotes from Attack on Titan in Japanese are short lines that fans know by heart: the Survey Corps oath "心臓を捧げよ" (shinzō o sasageyo, "dedicate your heart"), Eren's vow to exterminate the titans, and Levi's words about choosing without regret. The manga's title 進撃の巨人 literally means "advancing giant," though the English release uses "titans."

Lines from Attack on Titan are often memorized as slogans without looking at the original. Let's break down six quotes in Japanese: who says them, how they sound in the original, and what grammar makes them so sharp — from the old imperative in the Survey Corps oath to the short command in Levi's harsh words.

Main quotes from Attack on Titan in the original

The most quoted lines are the Survey Corps oath, Eren's vow to exterminate the titans, and Mikasa's words about the world's cruelty. Here they are in Japanese, with reading and translation.

Japanese	Reading	Translation
駆逐してやる!!この世から…一匹残らず!!	kuchiku shite yaru, kono yo kara... ippiki nokorazu · kuchiku shite yaru, kono yo kara... ippiki nokorazu	I will exterminate them — not a single one left in this world (Eren Yeager; てやる adds a nuance of anger and determination to the verb, "I'll do it no matter what")
この世界は残酷だ…そしてとても美しい	kono sekai wa zankoku da, soshite totemo utsukushii · kono sekai wa zankoku da, soshite totemo utsukushii	This world is cruel... and yet it is beautiful (Mikasa Ackerman; だ at the end is a blunt copula instead of です, common in inner thoughts)
何も捨てることができない人には、何も変えることはできないだろう	nani mo suteru koto ga dekinai hito ni wa, nani mo kaeru koto wa dekinai darō · nani mo suteru koto ga dekinai hito ni wa, nani mo kaeru koto wa dekinai darō	Those who cannot sacrifice anything can change nothing (Armin Arlert; だろう — a conjecture, "probably so")
心臓を捧げよ!	shinzō o sasageyo · shinzō o sasageyo	Dedicate your heart! (the Survey Corps salute; sasageyo is an old imperative form ending in よ instead of the modern ろ)

How to read lines with ellipses and "!!"

Manga has almost no familiar commas: pauses and interrupted thoughts are shown with ellipses, and shouting with double exclamation marks. The same line may be printed with or without an ellipsis in different editions — this is not a copyist's error but a feature of the layout of a particular volume.

Levi's quotes: short and commanding

Levi speaks in short, clipped phrases, almost without polite forms: the pronoun 俺, the copula だ, and verbs in imperative form. This is the speech of a man who doesn't explain twice.

Japanese	Reading	Translation
悔いが残らない方を自分で選べ	kui ga nokoranai hō o jibun de erabe · kui ga nokoranai hō o jibun de erabe	Choose for yourself the option you won't regret (方 (hō) here means "one of two options," not "direction")
死にたくなきゃ必死に頭回せ	shinitaku nakya hisshi ni atama mawase · shinitaku nakya hisshi ni atama mawase	If you don't want to die, think with all your might (nakya is a colloquial contraction of "if not," rougher than the full なければ; the particle を is dropped — as in real speech)

Rough male speech: 俺, だ, 〜ろ

Three markers of such speech: the pronoun 俺 (ore) instead of the neutral 私, the copula だ at the end of a sentence instead of です, and verbs in the shortest imperative form. In Levi's case this is further intensified by pauses — he speaks in clipped fragments, as if saving words.

進撃の巨人: what the title means

巨 — значение: huge, gigantic, great — онъёми: キョ — 5 штрих(ов). 巨 — "huge": this character is in the second word of the title, 巨人, "giant." In the series itself, this is what the humanoid giants are called, which in English are usually called titans.

進撃の巨人 literally consists of three parts: 進撃 "advance, charge," the possessive marker の, and 巨人 "giant." The literal meaning of the title is "advancing giant," in the singular: the title points to one specific giant, and the plot doesn't reveal who that is right away.

Words from the title and the world of Attack on Titan
Japanese	Reading	Translation
進撃	shingeki · shingeki	Advance, charge
巨人	kyojin · kyojin	Giant
調査兵団	chōsa heidan · chōsa heidan	Survey Corps — the squad that goes beyond the wall
壁	kabe · kabe	Wall — the three rings of walls where humanity lives
心臓	shinzō · shinzō	Heart — the word from the Survey Corps oath

Why not "Advance of the Giants"

The official English title is Attack on Titan, using "titan" instead of the more accurate "giant": in the singular and without an article, which is unusual for English. The English release follows this title rather than the Japanese original, so "titans" became established instead of the literal "giants."

Write 巨 along the guides — "huge," the second character in 巨人, "giant."

What these lines teach: てやる, よ, and 方

Three constructions from the quotes on this page rarely appear in beginner textbooks, though they occur in real speech. てやる in 駆逐してやる adds a challenge or anger to the action — "I'll do it out of spite, no matter what." 方 in Levi's line is not "direction" but one of two options when choosing. And よ in 捧げよ is an old imperative marker that in modern language has almost been replaced by the ろ form.

Old-style command: 捧げよ

For verbs ending in ~える/~いる (捧げる, 食べる), the modern imperative is formed with ろ: 捧げろ, 食べろ.
The よ form is older and more literary; it is almost never used in real speech, but it survives in set phrases, songs, and solemn slogans.
The Survey Corps oath is just such a case: 捧げよ sounds more official and weighty than the usual 捧げろ.
The same ろ/よ alternation exists for the verb 見る: 見ろ (usual) and 見よ (literary, as in old texts).

FAQ

Which quotes from Attack on Titan are the most famous?: The most remembered are the Survey Corps oath "心臓を捧げよ" ("dedicate your heart"), Eren's vow to exterminate the titans "駆逐してやる," and Mikasa's words about a world that is cruel and beautiful at the same time. Less often, Levi's line about choosing without regret.
What does 「心臓を捧げよ」 — the Survey Corps oath — mean?: Literally, "Dedicate your heart!" This is the formal salute of the Survey Corps soldiers: right fist to the left side of the chest, left hand behind the back. The verb is in the old imperative form ending in よ, more solemn than the usual ろ form.
How does Eren's vow to exterminate the titans sound in Japanese?: 駆逐してやる!! この世から…一匹残らず!! — "I will exterminate them, not a single one left in this world." Eren Yeager says this vow as a child, and it runs through the entire plot. てやる at the end adds a nuance of anger and personal determination, rather than simply describing a future action.
What does Levi say about choosing without regret?: 悔いが残らない方を自分で選べ — "choose for yourself the option you won't regret." Levi says this to Eren when the outcome of any decision is unpredictable. The word 方 here means "one of two options," and the short form 選べ is a direct, unmitigated command.
How is the title of Attack on Titan translated from Japanese?: 進撃の巨人 literally means "advancing giant," in the singular. The English title Attack on Titan replaced "giant" with "titan," and the English release follows this rather than the literal Japanese meaning.
What does "tatakae" mean in Attack on Titan?: 戦え (tatakae) is the imperative form of the verb 戦う, "to fight": "Fight!" The word is heard in a key scene of the later manga chapters, where the hero repeats it twice in a row, and it became famous far beyond the fandom as a standalone quote.

Sources

Updated: 2026-09-24