Badass

A survival tactic I learned on the psych ward was how to quickly size up potential enemies or garden-variety badasses.

You're a badass but you ain't no criminal.

They flew the Jolly Roger to signal their reputation for mayhem but, in fact, the pirates didn't actually want a fight, because fighting is costly and dangerous and might result in economic loss. […] Of course, to maintain a reputation that you are a badass, you actually have to occasionally be a badass, so pirates intermittently engaged in violence, reports of which they happily provided to newspaper editors, who duly published them in gory and exaggerated detail.

"I'm a badass." (Jack Nicholson to a New York friend, early 1973.)

The Oakland Raiders are one of the few teams that I have any feelings for besides the Steelers. Nowadays they're a bunch of wannabe badasses, but back in the day they were something to behold.

Men and women from the CIA's Directorate of Operations (DO) would return from Afghanistan and tell stories about Task Force 11, an amalgamation of Special Forces bad-asses from the various branches of the U.S. military.

The Rani of Jhansi […]The Rani, also known as Lakshmibai, eventually joined in, and won a few stunning battles. She perished, according to lore, while fighting the British on horseback in full armored splendor. She was only 22.

Known throughout the Spec-Ops community as the best of the best, they were the go-to badasses in the air for the go-to badasses on the ground, and Sandra was the first female pilot to be made a member.

I walked out of the mall like I was a real bad ass. Once I was in my truck, I slammed the door starting the engine peeling away from my parkin spot.

[Charlize] Theron is an absolute badass in the role: hard, intense, quietly vulnerable, in charge at almost every moment. She fights Mad Max to a standstill even though she’s only got one arm. She takes his rifle and shoots out the light of the Bullet Farmer’s car when Max can’t do it.

Uncle Jr. was really quiet. Probably because he was a junior high school teacher and was around badass, hollerin' kids all day.

[There were] lots of really, really bad, badass people … I did not want to be a part of it.

I worked at one bar on the Upper East Side that was owned by a famous Irish badass thug everyone was scared of.

That tough guy looks badass.

"FAIRY WING GLITTER!!!" / *sparkle* / "It's hard to look bad-ass when using fairy powers..." *sigh*

"Nice coat, lady!" he said. / I sat down across from him. "Not a good moment to start with me about it," I said. / "Who's starting with you? It's badass." It took me only half a second to see that he was serious. "Completely badass."

I took another deep breath and plunged under the white caps again safe in the knowledge that these bad ass Thai boys weren't going to follow me anytime soon, out into the storm affected seas; […]

She's dressed in badass black and the barest amount of chrome that is acceptable. I love her, but she [a car] is not easy to drive.

Yeah. So stop with the pity party. You really are pretty badass right about now.