Homer’s best quote perfectly explains why ‘The Simpsons’ is an all-time great

There are shows that are endlessly quotable — Seinfeld and The Office, for two — and then there's The Simpsons, a series that is endlessly quotable andseemingly endless. Whether it's the casual observations of Ralph Wiggum ("My cat's breath smells like cat food"), stupid sexy Flanders' "Hi-diddly-ho, neighborino!," or the immortal "D'OH!," every character has their own, and every season seems to bring with it a new quote that makes its way into the lexicon. Yet there are only a handful of quotes that actually place The Simpsons in context, a throwaway line that speaks not only to the situation at hand, but to the series as a whole. And one of Homer's best lines is one that defines The Simpsons.perfectly: "Iguess some people never change. Or, they quickly change and then quickly change back."

Homer's Perfect Quote Originates from This Classic Season 7 Episode of 'The Simpsons'

The quote originates from Season 7's "Team Homer," in which Homer (Dan Castellaneta) approaches Mr. Burns (Harry Shearer) about sponsoring the Pin Pals, Homer's bowling team. It's a long shot, but since no one on the team has the $500 application fee, it's one he has to take. Fortune, however, favors the bold, as Homer's request is granted by Burns, who is on an ether high and believes Homer is Poppin' Fresh, aka the Pillsbury Doughboy, parting with the money after giving Homer a belly poke or two.

The team is surprisingly good, and well on their way to the championship trophy. Bad news: Burns awakens from his ether-induced state and realizes he's given money away. Good news: Burns doesn't make Homer pay it back, and instead joins the team. Bad news, part II: Otto's out, Burns is in, but his frailty and inability to roll the ball have a detrimental effect on their championship pursuits. Moe (Hank Azaria) and Apu (Azaria) insist Homer tell Burns he's off the team, but change their minds after Burns reveals their now-iconic Pin Pals bowling shirts he had made for them.

Burns' earnest altruism seems almost too good to be true, and, as they find out, it is. Despite the handicap of having Burns on the team, the Pin Pals make it to the championship, where they are up against five-time champions Ned Flanders (Shearer) and his team, The Holy Rollers. It all comes down to one player, Burns, who miraculously wins the game for the Pin Pals, thanks to a well-timed brouhaha between Otto and an arcade claw machine. But a leopard can't change his spots, they say, and Burns promptly takes the trophy for himself, leading Homer to say, "I guess some people never change. Or they quickly change and then quickly change back."

Homer's Perfect Quote Defines the One Constant of 'The Simpsons'

The Simpsons' "Team Homer" isn't the first time Burns has flipped the switch on people, something he acknowledges himself when he says, "I'm afraid I've had one of my unpredictable changes of heart." Examples include "Treehouse of Horror XXXV," with Burns leaving his fortune to his employees upon his death, only to emerge and berate them for believing him; and again in "Homer's Triple Bypass," a back-and-forth series of such changes where Burns compliments then condemns Homer, leading to Homer's first heart attack. But where Burns' quote is specific to himself, and Homer's, in turn, is certainly true of him, Homer's points to an element that is true of the series as a whole.

That element is a complete indifference to continuity, utilizing a so-called "floating timeline" to make sense of where the show is in the present. Previous events in the series' history are consistently disregarded in favor of the story being told. The family is as the family always has been, a dysfunctional suburban family that learns nothing from episode to episode, wearing the same clothes, staying the same age, and generally reacting to situations now as they did back in 1989, when the series premiered. Likewise, the people of Springfield haven't changed either, so the "some people" that never change are everyone in Springfield.

The back half of Homer's quote is best exemplified, and actually even referenced, by Season 5's "Homer Loves Flanders," in which Homer and Ned develop a friendship. Despite Lisa's (Yeardley Smith) assertion that these weird things happen every week, and if they just ride it out with an occasional smart aleck quip, everything will be back to normal, Homer and Ned are still friends at the end. It's a perplexing development that flies in the face of Lisa's theory. The episode flash-forwards a week, though, and sure enough, Homer tells Ned to get lost as the family prepares for a new adventure.

There are exceptions, of course: Lisa's turn to vegetarianism, for one, has been one change that hasn't changed back; the death of Maude Flanders (Maggie Roswell) is another. But by and large, any change that befalls a character in an episode is quickly reverted to the status quo by the next episode, if not by the end of the episode itself. The same is true of any change in The Simpsons as well. After all, there's no evidence that the monorail from the classic "Marge vs. The Monorail" ever existed, nor is there any evidence of the wall that split the town in half in "A Tale of Two Springfields." So, Homer's line isn't just perfect in context; it's a far deeper and more astute reference to the series. For it to come from Homer? One word: "D'OH!"