All Quotes

"Our mission is to go forward, and it's just begun. […] There's still much to do. There's still so much to learn."

":[An alien is impersonating Data.]"

":Alien (as Data): What is death?"

":Jean-Luc Picard: Oh, is that all. Data, you're asking probably the most difficult of all questions. Some see it as a changing into an indestructible form, forever unchanging. They believe that the purpose of the entire universe is to then maintain that form in an Earth-like garden which will give delight and pleasure through all eternity. On the other hand there are those who hold to the idea of our blinking into nothingness with all of our experiences and hopes and dreams merely a delusion."

":Alien (as Data): Which do you believe sir?"

":Jean-Luc Picard: Considering the marvelous complexity of the universe, its clockwork perfection, its balances of this against that... matter, energy, gravitation, time, dimension, I believe that our existence must be more than either of these philosophies. That what we are goes beyond euclidean or other 'practical' measuring systems... and that our existence is part of a reality beyond what we understand now as reality."

"He is different, yes. But that does not make him expendable, or any less significant. No being is so important that he can usurp the rights of another."

"Your Honour, the courtroom is a crucible. In it we burn away irrelevancies until we are left with a pure product, the truth for all time."

"Are you prepared to condemn him and all who come after him to servitude and slavery?"

"Your Honour, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life. Well, there it sits! Waiting. You wanted a chance to make law. Well, here it is. Make a good one."

"Wesley: It's the Yamato, Captain. I can't stop thinking about her. All those people dead. I don't know how you and Commander Riker and Geordi, how you handle it so easily."

"Mr. La Forge, time is one thing we do not have in abundance."

"These officers are here to assist you. Not judge, help you. You should make use of them. They are a valuable resource. And by the way, I respect an officer who is prepared to admit ignorance and ask a question, rather than one who out of pride will blunder blindly forward."

"There is a loneliness inherent in that whisper from the darkness."

"Remembrance and regrets, they too are a part of friendship."

":Q: What justifies that smugness?"

":Jean-Luc Picard: Not smugness, not arrogance. But we are resolute, we are determined, and your help is not required."

"Well, perhaps what we most needed was a kick in our complacency, to prepare us ready for what lies ahead."

"I'm pleased to report that Ensign Crusher's Starfleet exam results permit him to continue his studies on board the Enterprise. Furthermore, any rumours of my brush with death are greatly exaggerated."

"Sometimes, Number One, you just have to bow to the absurd."

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life."

":Beverly Crusher: Data, telling us why you're going to fail before you make the attempt is never wise."

":Jean-Luc Picard: Knowing your limitations is one thing. Advertising them to a crew can damage your credibility as a leader."

":William Riker: You enjoyed that."

":Jean-Luc Picard: You're damned right."

"Brinksmanship is a dangerous game."

"We're not qualified to be your judges. We have no law to fit your crime."

"We leave behind a being of extraordinary power and conscience. I am not certain if he should be praised or condemned. Only that he should be left alone."

":Tomalak: I urge you, Captain Picard, surrender. Consider the men and women you would lead into a lost cause."

":Jean-Luc Picard: If the cause is just and honourable, they are prepared to give their lives. Are you prepared to die today, Tomalak?"

"'A matter of internal security.' The age-old cry of the oppressor."

"History has shown us that strength may be useless when faced with terrorism."

":Lt Cmdr. Data: But if that is so, Captain, why are their methods so often successful? I've been reviewing the history of armed rebellion, and it appears that terrorism is an effective way to promote political change."

":Capt. Jean-Luc Picard: Yes, it can be. But I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows from the barrel of a gun."

"Being first at any cost is not always the point."

"Let's make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise."

"There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders. You acknowledge their sentience, but ignore their personal liberties and freedom. Order a man to turn his child over to the state? Not while I'm his captain."

"You may test that assumption at your convenience."

"Imprisonment is an injury, regardless of how you justify it."

"Picard: It's something of a tradition, Guinan - Captain touring the ship before a battle."

"The Borg: Captain Jean-Luc Picard. You lead the strongest ship of the Federation Starfleet. You speak for your people."

"I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been… is over. From this time forward, you will service… us."

"The knowledge and experience of the human Picard is part of us now. It has prepared us for all possible courses of action. Your resistance is hopeless... Number One."

"Jean-Luc Picard: They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy and I couldn't stop them. I should have been able to stop them. I tried. I tried so hard. But I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't good enough! I should have been able to stop them. I should... I should..."

"Captain Benjamin Maxwell: You're a fool, Picard. History will look at you and say this man was a fool."

"I think when one has been angry for a very long time, one gets used to it. And it becomes comfortable, like old leather. And, finally, it becomes so familiar that one can't ever remember feeling any other way."

"Trust requires time and experience."

"I am deeply concerned by what is happening here. It began when we apprehended a spy, a man who admitted his guilt and who will answer for his crime. But the hunt didn't end there. Another man, Mister Simon Tarses, was brought to trial and it was a trial, no matter what others choose to call it. A trial based on insinuation and innuendo. Nothing substantive offered against Mister Tarses, much less proven. Mister Tarses' grandfather is Romulan, and for that reason his career now stands in ruins. Have we become so fearful? Have we become so cowardly that we must extinguish a man because he carries the blood of a current enemy? Admiral, let us not condemn Simon Tarses, or anyone else, because of their bloodlines, or investigate others for their innocent associations."

"You know, there are some words I've known since I was a schoolboy. "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie as wisdom and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged."

"The road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think."