The strongest antagonist in The Legend Of Korra is Book 3's Big Bad, the Airbending Anarchist Zaheer. Along with his compatriots in the Red Lotus, Zaheer is the series' most ideologically compelling villain in a series filled with them. As such, his dialogue is filled with poetic, proactively political quotes.
Since there are plenty of great quotes by Zaheer to choose from, pruning them down was no easy task. Quotes range from philosophical to powerful and everything in between.
10 “The natural order is disorder.”
Though the most straw-man argument in the show’s otherwise relatively nuanced portrayal of Anarchism, it does succinctly illustrate the heart of Zaheer's beliefs. To him, chaos is the natural way of things and any attempt at organizing a government is a slippery slope to tyranny.
Thus, to him, the only way to maintain freedom is through a world run by chaos. The Red Lotus initially intended to bring about this world by unleashing Vaatu, the spirit of darkness, but Korra defeated Vaatu while they were imprisoned.
9 “True freedom can only be achieved when oppressive governments are torn down.''
With freeing Vaatu off the table after Harmonic Convergence, Zaheer and the Red Lotus instead decide to settle for assassinating all world leaders. In Book 3's ninth episode, "The Stakeout," while Zaheer converses with Korra in the spirit world, he rattles off examples of tyrannical or inept leaders who've broken the world's balance: Fire Lord Ozai and his forefathers, the incompetent President Raiko of the United Republic of Nations, and the tyrannical Earth Queen Hou-Ting.
With viewers having seen firsthand the harm these leaders have brought, it's hard to completely disagree with Zaheer.
8 “Maybe I forgot to mention something to you... I don't believe in Queens.”
The Red Lotus' first mark for assassination is Hou-Ting. Between the Earth Queen's tyranny (over-taxing her impoverished citizens to fund her own exorbitance, conscripting the newly created Airbenders in her Kingdom, etc.) and her personal unpleasantness, they couldn't have chosen a better target.
When the Red Lotus overwhelms her guards and corner her, Hou-Ting attempts to flaunt her royal stature as a last-ditch effort to save herself. Unfortunately for her, Zaheer shows her how little that stature means to someone who doesn't believe it in the first place.
7 “I thought I’d never see you again.” “I never doubted.”
The Red Lotus are the most humanized villains in TLOK, and the foremost example is Zaheer's relationship with the Firebending P'Li. After the rest of the team free her in Book 3's 4th installment, "In Harm's Way," the two lovers, reunited after 13 years imprisoned and apart, embrace with a passionate kiss, to the consternation of their friends Ghazan and Ming-Hua.
The relationship ends tragically when P'Li's combustion-bending backfires on her, but her death, and the loss of his "earthly tether," enables Zaheer to unlock the power of "weightlessness," i.e. flight.
6 ''So, we lucky few. This band of brothers and sisters of anarchy, are witnessing the beginning of an era of true freedom..."
Full quote: ''So, we lucky few. This band of brothers and sisters of anarchy, are witnessing the beginning of an era of true freedom. Together, we will forge a world without Kings or Queens, without borders or nations, where man's only allegiance is to himself and those he loves. We will return to the true balance of natural order.''
Zaheer's ultimate plan turns out to be kill the Avatar; not just Korra, but the Avatar itself, seeing Raava's reincarnation cycle as a symbol of the orders in which he intends to tear down. To do so, Zaheer kidnaps Korra then has a Red Lotus member use Metalbending to force liquid Mercury into her body.
As the poison runs through Korra's veins, her body and spirit sense the danger and trigger the Avatar State; this is exactly what Zaheer wants, as only by killing Korra in the Avatar State can he end the Avatar cycle once and for all. However, Korra's reaction shows why, for someone trying to kill a demi-god, forcing her into her most powerful state isn't the wisest idea.
5 "Neither of us are the same as before. I learned to fly, but now I'm bound in chains..."
Full quote: "Neither of us are the same as before. I learned to fly, but now I'm bound in chains. You have all the power in the world and the freedom to use it, but you choose to hold yourself down."
Spared following his defeat in Book 3's finale, Zaheer returns for a brief appearance in Book 4's ninth episode, "Beyond The Wilds." Shackled in a cell outside Republic City, Zaheer is immobilized despite his new abilities. Korra, while physically free, remains haunted by the torture he puts her through and has since been unable to connect with her spiritual half. Zaheer's quote above quite nicely sums up their respective situations.
4 “Accept what happened to you. Don't fear what might have been.”
Believing that Kuvira and her fascist regime, the Earth Empire, must be stopped, Zaheer allies with the young woman he once attempted to kill. To help Korra regain her connection to the spirit world, Zaheer and the Avatar decide that he will guide her there.
Once Korra's attempts to enter the realm are blocked by memories of her near death in Book 3's finale, Zaheer urges not to run but let the event play out; she survived, and thus has nothing to fear from the memory. Once Korra accepts that, she finds herself in the spirit realm; in the ultimate irony, it's Zaheer who healed the trauma he himself inflicted on her.
3 “You think freedom is something you can take or give on a whim. But to your people freedom is just as essential as... Air. And without it, there is no life. There is only... Darkness.”
After cornering the Earth Queen, Zaheer wastes no time in permanently freeing the people of Ba Sing Se from her tyranny. To do so, he demonstrates the heretofore unseen lethality of Airbending by pulling the air from her lungs, suffocating her to death.
All the while, Zaheer illustrates the poetic justice of his murder method; just as the queen stole from her citizens that which sustained them, he now does the same to her.
2 “When you base your expectations only on what you see, you blind yourself to the possibilities of a new reality.”
Zaheer's introductory scene in Book 3's opening, "A Breath Of Fresh Air," is one of the most impressive in either Avatar series. Imprisoned by the White Lotus, Zaheer offers the guards his interpretation of a haiku written by his philosophical idol, the Airbending Guru Laghima: “Instinct is a lie, told by a fearful body, hoping to be wrong.”
Just as he does so, he reveals his newly-acquired Airbending and quickly escapes, locking the Guards in the cell which had held him. The quote speaks not only to Zaheer's philosophy but that of several real-life revolutionaries as well; the material conditions in which we dwell should not limit the scope of how we seek to change the world.
1 “Nature is constantly changing - like the wind.”
TLOK's third Book is subtitled "Change," reflective of both the return of Airbenders to the world (such as Zaheer himself), and the Red Lotus' motives. Unlike previous villains Amon & Unalaq, whose goals (the elimination of bending and the rejoining of the physical realm with the spirit world) were only allegorical for real-life movements, Zaheer's anarchism, the elimination of class and governments, is one with direct bearing on the real world.
This quote summarizes his belief that change is a beneficial thing that should not be fought, and connects his power to his goals; air is the element of freedom, after all, so it's only fitting that it's an Airbending antagonist attempting to deliver that freedom unto the masses.