Buffy Slays 20: Wittiest Quotes From The Vampire Slayer And Pop Culture Icon

On March 10, 1997, a teenager named Buffy Summers first appeared on TV screens across the country, combining wit with her impressive demon-killing skills. Supernatural drama "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" aired on the WB Television Network and UPN for 144 episodes from 1997 to 2003, to a cult audience and earning praise from Entertainment Weekly as the No. 8 best show of all-time.

“Buffy the Vampire” was as campy as it was profound. Buffy — the protagonist role played by Sarah Michelle Gellar — taught young women that they didn’t have to choose between being brave, smart, witty, strong, fashionable and pretty. Women could be all of those things.

Read: ‘Buffy’ 20th Anniversary: Where Is The Cast Now?

To celebrate Buffy’s 20th anniversary, here are some of Buffy’s best quotes that are funny, witty, clever and even inspirational:

1. “I may be dead, but I’m still pretty.”

2. “I always find a way. I’m the thing that monsters have nightmares about.”

3. “Power. I have it. They don’t. This bothers them.”

4. Buffy’s friend Xander: “Well, the Hellmouth, the center of mystical convergence, supernatural monsters: been there.”

Buffy: “Little blasé there, aren't you?”

Xander: “I'm not worried. If there's something bad out there we'll find, you'll slay, we'll party!”

Buffy: “Thanks for having confidence in me.”

Xander: “You da man, Buff! ”

5. Before accepting her role as Slayer: “I never said I'm not going to ever slay another vampire. It's not like I have any fluffy bunny feelings for them, I'm just not going to get real extracurricular about it.”

6. A quote that made a lot more sense in 1997: “If the apocalypse comes, beep me!”

7. "So, what I'm wondering is, does this always happen? Sleep with a guy and he goes all evil?"

8. Giles, Buffy’s mentor: “Um, a medical transport is delivering the monthly supply of blood to the hospital.”

Buffy: "Mmm. Vampire Meals-On-Wheels. ”

9. "Any apocalypse I avert without dying? Those are the easy ones."

10. “Strong is fighting. It’s hard and it’s painful and it’s every day. It’s what we have to do, and we can do it together, but if you’re too much of a coward for that, then burn.”

11. Giles: “God, every day here is the same.”

Buffy: “Bright, sunny, beautiful. However can we escape this torment?”

12. When Buffy drove a stake through a vampire’s heart: “You know very well, you eat this late…” (she stabs him) “... you’re gonna get heartburn.” And then, after the vampire fails to appreciate her burn: “Get it? Heartburn? That’s it? That’s all I get? One lame-ass vamp with no appreciation for my painstakingly thought-out pun.”

13. “We saved the world. I say we party!”

14. Angel, a good vampire: “The elders conjured the most perfect punishment for me. They restored my soul.”

Buffy: “What, they were all out of boils and blinding torment?”

15. “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live.”

16: The Master, season one's big bad villain: “You were destined to die! It was written!”

Buffy: “What can I say? I flunked the written.”

17: Frenemy Cordelia: “Buffy. You're really campaigning for bitch-of-the-year, aren't you?”

Buffy: “As defending champion, you nervous?”

18: Angel: “We need to distract the vampires.”

Buffy: “Right.”

Angel: “What are you gonna do?”

Buffy: “I'm gonna kill them all. That oughta distract 'em.”

19: "Giles, there are two things that I don't believe in: coincidence and leprechauns."

20. Angelus, aka Angel without a soul, to Buffy: “No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away and what’s left?”

Buffy: “Me.”