Context

This sage wisdom is spoken by Uncle Ben Parker, played by Cliff Robertson, in Spider-Man (directed by Sam Raimi, 2002).

After Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) uses his Spidey senses to beat up school bully Flash Thompson (a shockingly hairless and scrawny Joe Manganiello), Peter's Uncle Ben (not the dude on the rice box) gives him a little chat.

While he concedes that Flash probably deserved what happened—and his name is Flash, so yes, yes he did—Uncle Ben tells Peter that just because he can beat someone up doesn't mean he should. "With great power comes great responsibility."

Where you've heard it

This little nugget of wisdom is a good counterpoint to another meme: "Knowledge is power, power corrupts, study hard and be evil." This is a good line to include in a pep talk to any potential good guy.

Additional Notable References

• Retro-reference #1: In the Spider-Man comic book, Uncle Ben didn't say this quote—the narrator did.
• Retro-reference #2: FDR used a similar line ("great power involves great responsibility") in 1945. We guess maybe we should attribute the line to him?
• This quote is used in the title of an academic article called "Cold War Culture and the Birth of Marvel Comics."

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.

Uncle Ben doesn't want his nephew to become a bully, like Flash. This is a phrase everyone could learn to live by.