I was watching Warehouse 13 this morning (season 1, episode 7: “Implosion”) and Artie said something along the lines of:

Do you know what the Talmud says? It says, “If someone’s coming to kill you, get up early and kill them first.”

I was amused. It’s so flip about a serious subject. Of course I had to find out if the citation is accurate.

While the Talmud does indeed say something along those lines, it’s not so delightfully irreverent. According to WikiAnswers, Deuteronomy 22:26 states, “Habah l’hargecha hashkem l’hargo,” or “If someone is coming to kill you, rise against him and kill him first. However, it should never be done with glee.”