Star Trek: The Next Generation Quotations

Star Trek: The Next Generation was a science fiction television series that aired from 1987 to 1994. It follows the crew of the USS Enterprise-D, with the events set 78 years after those in Star Trek: The Original Series. Four feature films with the show's cast were also produced.

Season 1	Season 2	Season 3	Season 4
Encounter at Farpoint	The Child	Evolution	The Best of Both Worlds, Part II
The Naked Now	Where Silence Has Lease	The Ensigns of Command	Family
Code of Honor	Elementary, Dear Data	The Survivors	Brothers
The Last Outpost	The Outrageous Okona	Who Watches The Watchers?	Suddenly Human
Where No One Has Gone Before	Loud as a Whisper	The Bonding	Remember Me
Lonely Among Us	The Schizoid Man	Booby Trap	Legacy
Justice	Unnatural Selection	The Enemy	Reunion
The Battle	A Matter of Honor	The Price	Future Imperfect
Hide and Q	The Measure of a Man	The Vengeance Factor	Final Mission
Haven	The Dauphin	The Defector	The Loss
The Big Goodbye	Contagion	The Hunted	Data's Day
Datalore	The Royale	The High Ground	The Wounded
Angel One	Time Squared	Déjà Q	Devil's Due
11001001	The Icarus Factor	A Matter of Perspective	Clues
Too Short a Season	Pen Pals	Yesterday's Enterprise	First Contact
When the Bough Breaks	Q Who?	The Offspring	Galaxy's Child
Home Soil	Samaritan Snare	Sins of the Father	Night Terrors
Coming of Age	Up The Long Ladder	Allegiance	Identity Crisis
Heart of Glory	Manhunt	Captain's Holiday	The Nth Degree
The Arsenal of Freedom	The Emissary	Tin Man	Q-Pid
Symbiosis	Peak Performance	Hollow Pursuits	The Drumhead
Skin of Evil	Shades of Gray	The Most Toys	Half a Life
We'll Always Have Paris		Sarek	The Host
Conspiracy		Ménage à Troi	The Mind's Eye
The Neutral Zone		Transfigurations	In Theory
		The Best of Both Worlds, Part I	Redemption, Part I
Season 5	Season 6	Season 7
Redemption, Part II	Time's Arrow, Part II	Descent, Part II
Darmok	Realm of Fear	Liaisons
Ensign Ro	Man of the People	Interface
Silicon Avatar	Relics	Gambit, Part I
Disaster	Schisms	Gambit, Part II
The Game	True-Q	Phantasms
Unification, Part I	Rascals	Dark Page
Unification, Part II	A Fistful of Datas	Attached
A Matter of Time	The Quality of Life	Force of Nature
New Ground	Chain of Command, Part I	Inheritance
Hero Worship	Chain of Command, Part II	Parallels
Violations	Ship in a Bottle	The Pegasus
The Masterpiece Society	Aquiel	Homeward
Conundrum	Face of the Enemy	Sub Rosa
Power Play	Tapestry	Lower Decks
Ethics	Birthright, Part I	Thine Own Self
The Outcast	Birthright, Part II	Masks
Cause and Effect	Starship Mine	Eye of the Beholder
The First Duty	Lessons	Genesis
Cost of Living	The Chase	Journey's End
The Perfect Mate	Frame of Mind	Firstborn	Unidentified episode Repeated lines Miscellany Cast External links
Imaginary Friend	Suspicions	Bloodlines
I, Borg	Rightful Heir	Emergence
The Next Phase	Second Chances	Preemptive Strike
The Inner Light	Timescape	All Good Things...
Time's Arrow, Part I	Descent, Part I

Encounter at Farpoint [1.1]

Q: Thou art directed to return to thine own solar system immediately.

Q: Go back, or thou shalt most certainly die.

Q: But you can't deny that you're still a dangerous, savage child race.

Q: ...and 400 years before that, you were murdering each other in quarrels over tribal god images. Since then, there are no indications that humans will ever change.

Q: There are preparations to make, but when we next meet, Captain, we'll proceed exactly as you suggest.

Jean-Luc Picard: If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are.

Data: I am superior, sir, in many ways, but I would gladly give it up to be human.

William Riker: Nice to meet you... Pinocchio.

[Data stares at Riker]

William Riker: A joke.

Data: Ah! Intriguing.

William Riker: You're going to be an interesting companion, Mr. Data.

Q: It is an unknown, Captain. Isn't that enough?

Jean-Luc Picard: If you'd earned that uniform you're wearing you'd know that the unknown is what brings us out here.

The Naked Now [1.3]

Data: Indications of what humans would call... a wild party.

Data: "There was a young lady from Venus, whose body was shaped like a..."

Jean-Luc Picard: [frantically cutting off Data] Captain to Security, come in!

Data: Did I say something wrong?

Worf: I don't understand their humor, either.

Tasha Yar: Data. You are fully functional, aren't you?

Data: [intoxicated by the virus] We are more alike than unlike, my dear Captain. I have pores. Humans have pores. I have... fingerprints. Humans have fingerprints. My chemical nutrients are like your blood. If you prick me... do I not... leak?

Code of Honor [1.4]

Beverly Crusher: Where are the calluses we doctors are supposed to grow over our feelings?

Jean-Luc Picard: Perhaps the good ones never get them.

Data: For example, what Lutan did is similar to what certain American Indians once did called "counting coup." That is from an obscure language known as French. "Counting coup..."

Jean-Luc Picard: Mr. Data, the French language for centuries on Earth represented civilization.

Data: Indeed? But surely, sir...

William Riker: I suggest you drop it, Mr. Data.

Data: Yes, sir. "Counting coup" could be something as simple as touching an enemy with a stick in battle or taking something from him and escaping.

Lutan: I want Lieutenant Yar to become my first one.

Jean-Luc Picard: Did you have any idea, Lieutenant, that Lutan was suddenly going to announce that he wanted you for his first one?

Yareena: Lutan wants you to be his first one.

The Last Outpost [1.5]

Data: [his fingers in a Chinese finger trap] Apologies, Captain. I seem to have reached an odd functional impasse. I am, uh... stuck.

Jean-Luc Picard: Then get unstuck and continue with the briefing.

Data: Yes, sir. That is what I'm trying to do, sir, but the solution eludes me.

Jean-Luc Picard: Data, what does the legend say about the end of the Tkon Empire?

Portal 63: A guardian of the Tkon Empire.

Data: In the age of Makto, the central star of the Tkon Empire destabilized...

William Riker: "Fear is the true enemy, the only enemy."

[From Sun Tzu]

Where No One Has Gone Before [1.6]

Jean-Luc Picard: ...where is this place?

Data: Where none have gone before.

The Traveler: I am a traveler.

Jean-Luc Picard: A traveler?

Lonely Among Us [1.7]

Data: If the Enterprise were really this fragile, sir, she never would have left spacedock. Therefore, her systems' failures are not endemic to the ship, but are the result of the actions of an unknown adversary.

William Riker: We have a saboteur aboard.

Data: I believe I said that.

Data: It's elementary, my dear Riker. Sir.

Data: "We must fall back on the old axiom that when other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Justice [1.8]

Edo God: [booming voice] State... the... purpose. State the purpose of what you have done.

Jean-Luc Picard: I'm Captain Picard, commanding this Federation starship.

Edo God: State the purpose of your visit here.

Jean-Luc Picard: We have sent down what we call an away team, to make peaceful contact here.

Edo God: Do you plan to leave life-forms here?

Jean-Luc Picard: No. We are merely visiting here.

Edo God: But you did more at the world you just left. Why have you left your own life-forms there?

Data: The colony we just planted, sir.

Jean-Luc Picard: We found that world uninhabited. The life-forms we left there had... had sought the challenge-- at least, that is the basic reason-- had sought the challenge of creating a new lifestyle-- a new society there. Life on our world is driven to protect itself by seeding itself as widely as possible.

Edo God: Do not interfere with my children below.

Rivan: They are called mediators and they are needed only in one place each day.

Liator: The punishment zone, an area that's selected for a period of time.

Tasha Yar: It's a completely random selection?

Liator: No one but our mediators know what place or for how long. We're very proud of the wisdom of our ancestors. No person ever knows where or when a zone will be.

Rivan: And so no one risks death.

Worf: Death?

Rivan: By breaking any law.

Tasha Yar: Wait, explain this.

Liator: Only one punishment for any crime.

Worf: Anyone who commits any crime in the punishment zone dies?

Liator: So, we are not yet as advanced as they are. And since you are advanced in other ways, too, I suggest you use your superior powers to rescue the Wesley boy. We will record him as a convicted criminal out of our reach-- an advanced person who luckily escaped the barbarism of this backward little world.

Data: They were able to communicate with me quite... I was about to say quite easily but there was nothing easy about it. Fortunately, they stopped short of overloading my circuitry.

Jean-Luc Picard: You're saying they? So it is a vessel of some sort?

Data: Definitely not a single entity, if that's what you mean, sir, although they know the Edo worship them as a god thing.

Jean-Luc Picard: They know?

Data: They recognize that this is quite expected and harmless at the present Edo stage of evolution.

Jean-Luc Picard: What sort of vessel?

Data: It is perhaps not what we would understand as a vessel, sir. The dimensions this one occupies allows them to be... well, to be in several places at once, that they consider that this entire star cluster is theirs. It was probably unwise of us to attempt to place a human colony in this area. Of course, there are 3,004 other planets in this star cluster in which we could have colonized. The largest and closest...

Jean-Luc Picard: Data! Don't babble.

Data: Babble, sir? I am not aware that I ever babble, sir. It may be that from time to time I have considerable information to communicate, and you may question the way in which I organize it...

Jean-Luc Picard: Please, organize it into brief answers to my questions. We have very little time. Do they accept our presence at this planet?

Data: Undecided, sir.

Jean-Luc Picard: Data, please feel free to volunteer any important information.

Data: I volunteer that they are now observing us, sir.

Jean-Luc Picard: To judge what kind of life-forms we are?

Data: No. It is more curiosity. I doubt that they expect us to abide by their value systems.

Jean-Luc Picard: Do they know of our Prime Directive?

Data: They know everything I know, sir.

Jean-Luc Picard: And if we were to violate the Prime Directive...

Beverly Crusher: That's not a fair question.

Jean-Luc Picard: How would they react?

Data: That would be a case of judging us by our own rules, sir. If we violate our own Prime Directive they might consider us to be deceitful and untrustworthy. You do recall, they cautioned us not to interfere with their children below. What has happened?

Beverly Crusher: The Edo want to execute my son.

Tasha Yar: What of Justice to Wesley? Does he deserve to die?

Jean-Luc Picard: I'm truly sorry, Liator, but I must have justice for my people, too. Transporter Room, energize. Transporter Room, come in.

Transporter Officer: We can't energize the beam, sir. Everything checks out, but we're getting no results.

First Mediator: God has prevented your escape.

Beverly Crusher: Then your God is unfair. My son had no warning that his act was criminal.

Second Mediator: We cannot allow ignorance of the law to become a defense.

Jean-Luc Picard: I don't know how to communicate this, or even if it is possible, but the question of justice has concerned me greatly of late and I say to any creature who may be listening, there can be no justice so long as laws are absolute. Even life itself is an exercise in exceptions.

William Riker: When has justice ever been as simple as a rule book?

The Battle [1.9]

William T. Riker: Then, with your shields failing, sir...

Jean-Luc Picard: I improvised. With the other ship coming in for the kill, I ordered a sensor bearing, and when it went into its return arc...

Data: ... you performed what Starfleet textbooks now call "The Picard Maneuver."

Jean-Luc Picard: What any good helmsman could have done. I dropped into high warp, then stopped right off the target vessel's bow and fired everything I had.

William T. Riker: By blowing into warp speed, you appeared for an instant to be in two places at once...

Jean-Luc Picard: And our attacker fired on the wrong one.

Hide and Q [1.10]

Jean-Luc Picard: I know Hamlet. And what he might say with irony I say with conviction. "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form, in moving, how express and admirable. In action, how like an angel. In apprehension, how like a god..."

Q: Surely you don't see your speices like that!?

Haven [1.11]

Data: Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.

Tasha Yar: [Upon hearing about traditional Betazoid wedding ceremonies] The bride and groom go naked?!

The Big Goodbye [1.12]

Jean-Luc Picard: Earth... United States... San Francisco, California.

Computer: Time period?

Jean-Luc Picard: 1941 A.D.

Jessica Bradley: I need your help Mr. Hill. Someone is trying to kill me.

Jean-Luc Picard: [reading the San Francisco Herald] Hitler on the move, Roosevelt presses Congress for British aid, DiMaggio streak reaches thirty-seven.

Mack: Cleveland? They got no pitchers.

Lt. Dan Bell: Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in.

Data: Hiya, Doc. What's cooking?

Beverly Crusher: You know I had some trouble getting through? Where's Captain Picard?

Data: He's on ice.

Beverly Crusher: Pardon?

Data: He's being grilled.

Beverly Crusher: What is he, a fish?

Lt. Dan Bell: Spill it.

Jean-Luc Picard: I've told you everything I know.

Lt. Dan Bell: Well, you'll just have to tell us again. From the top.

Lt. Dan Bell: Yeah? Well you're going to have to tell me again.

Jean-Luc Picard: Look, fellows, this is no longer amusing.

Lt. McNary: Easy, Dan.

Lt. Dan Bell: You think you're tough, Hill but you're nothing.

Lt. McNary: Don't take him too seriously, Dix. His old lady's been giving him a hard time.

Felix Leech: You're not going anywhere. Not until we have a little chat.

Jean-Luc Picard: Computer, Exit! Data, try the other exit in the hall.

Data: Computer, identify exit.

Lt. McNary: Forget to take the trash out this morning?

Cyrus Redblock: [to Data] What have we here?

Cyrus Redblock: Kill the woman.

Lt. McNary: So... this is the big good-bye.

Data: It was raining in the city by the Bay — a hard rain. Hard enough to wash the slime...

Jean-Luc Picard: Mr. Data...

Data: Yes, Sir.

Datalore [1.13]

Data: If you had an off switch, Doctor, would you not keep it a secret?

Beverly Crusher: I guess I would.

Angel One [1.14]

Ramsey: You can't rescue a man from the place he calls his home.

11001001 [1.15]

Worf: If winning is not important, then Commander, why keep score?

William T. Riker: Keep notes. This project might turn out to be of interest to future scholars.

Geordi La Forge: Really?

William T. Riker: Think about it. A blind man teaching an android to paint? That's got to be worth a couple of pages in someone's book.

William T. Riker: What's a knock-out like you doing in a computer-generated gin joint like this?

Minuet: Waiting for you.

Too Short a Season [1.16]

Jean-Luc Picard: Age and wisdom have their graces.

William T. Riker: I wonder if one doesn't have to have age and wisdom to appreciate that, sir.

Jean-Luc Picard: I hope not, Number One. It would be such a waste of youth.

When the Bough Breaks [1.17]

Jean-Luc Picard: Data, find a way to defeat that shield.

Data: That may be impossible, sir.

Jean-Luc Picard: Data, things are only impossible until they're not.

Home Soil [1.18]

Microbrain: Ugly giant bags... of mostly water...

Coming of Age [1.19]

Data: Do Klingons observe birthdays, Worf?

Worf: Klingons are born, live as warriors, and die.

Data: Then how do you know how old you are?

Worf: I don't. Do you know?

Data: I have no age.

Heart of Glory [1.20]

Jean-Luc Picard: Can you filter out the extraneous information?

Geordi La Forge: No, I get it all simultaneously.

Jean-Luc Picard: It's a jumble. How can you make heads or tails of it?

Geordi La Forge: I select what I want to see and disregard the rest.

Jean-Luc Picard: How is that possible?

Geordi La Forge: In a noisy room, how can you pick out one specific voice or sound?

Worf: Why do you mock me? Why do you wish to anger me?

Korris: Only to see if it is still possible.

Worf: It is.

The Arsenal of Freedom [1.21]

Paul Rice: Tell me about your ship - the Enterprise, isn't it?

William T. Riker: No... The name of my ship is the Lollipop.

Paul Rice: I have no knowledge of that ship.

William T. Riker: It's just been commissioned. It's a good ship.

Symbiosis [1.22]

T'Jon: Everything's just kind of... you know... dead, I guess. It's all... you know... shut down.

Jean-Luc Picard: That's a little vague. What's the computer analysis?

T'Jon: Uh, the computer's not working very well.

Jean-Luc Picard: The Prime Directive is not just a set of rules; it is a philosophy... and a very correct one. History has proven again and again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed civilization, no matter how well intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous.

Skin of Evil [1.23]

Tasha Yar: Death is that state where one lives only in the memory of others, which is why it is not an end. No goodbyes—just good memories.

We'll Always Have Paris [1.24]

Unnamed Officer (Fencing with Picard): Interesting move. What technique was that?

Jean-Luc Picard: The technique of a desperate man.

Jenice Manheim: Well, so much for my dramatic exit.

Conspiracy [1.25]

Data: You are aware, Counselor, that the holodeck can be programmed to recreate an oceanic environment?

Deanna Troi: Data, it's just not the same. Have you ever gone for a real moonlight swim?

Data: One can swim in moonlight?

The Neutral Zone [1.26]

"Sonny" Clemonds: ...you and me can find us a couple of low-mileage pit woofies, and help 'em build a memory.

"Sonny" Clemonds: ...you're just about the prettiest lil' old doctor I've ever seen.

[Following their encounter with the Romulans]

Picard: Our lives just became a lot more complicated

Where Silence Has Lease [2.2]

[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 marvellous 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.

Computer: Ten seconds to auto-destruct.

William T. Riker: Captain?

Jean-Luc Picard: Abort auto-destruct sequence.

Computer: Riker, William T. Do you concur?

William T. Riker: Yes, absolute I do indeed concur, wholeheartedly!

Computer: Auto-destruct cancelled.

Jean-Luc Picard: A simple "yes" would have sufficed Number One.

The Schizoid Man [2.6]

Jean-Luc Picard: No being is so important that he can usurp the rights of another.

Unnatural Selection [2.7]

Kate Pulaski: Chief medical officer's log, supplemental...Scientists believe no experiment is a failure, that even a mistake advances the evolution of understanding. But all achievement has a price. For one brief glance at the mysterious blueprint of human evolution, the men and women of the U.S.S. Lantree paid with their lives. Their sacrifice is thus noted in this scientist's log.

The Measure of a Man [2.9]

Jean-Luc Picard: If we were not surrounded by all these people, you know what I would like to do?

Phillipa Louvois: Bust a chair across my teeth, probably.

Jean-Luc Picard: After that.

Phillipa Louvois: Oh, ain't love wonderful?

Phillipa Louvois: [to Picard] It brings a sense of order and stability to my universe to know that you're still a pompous ass...and a damn sexy man.

Guinan: Consider that in the history of many worlds there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do, because it's too difficult and too hazardous. With an army of Datas, all disposable, you don't have to think about their welfare, or you don't think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people.

Jean-Luc Picard: You're talking about slavery.

Guinan: I think that's a little harsh.

Jean-Luc Picard: I don't think that's a little harsh, I think that's the truth. That's the truth that we have obscured behind...a comfortable, easy euphemism. 'Property.' But that's not the issue at all, is it?

Jean-Luc Picard: Starfleet was founded to seek out new life. Well, there it sits...waiting!

Jean-Luc Picard: Now tell me, Commander, what is Data?

Bruce Maddox: I...I don't understand.

Jean-Luc Picard: [shouting] What is he?

Bruce Maddox: A machine.

Jean-Luc Picard: Are you sure?

Bruce Maddox: Yes.

Jean-Luc Picard: You see, he's already met two of your criteria for sentience, so what about the third? Consciousness, in even the smallest degree! What is he then? I don't know. [to Maddox] Do you? [to Riker] Do you? [to Louvois] Do you?

Phillipa Louvois: It sits there looking at me, and I don't know what it is. This case has dealt with metaphysics, with questions best left to saints and philosophers. I am neither competent nor qualified to answer those. I've got to make a ruling, to try to speak to the future. Is Data a machine? Yes. Is he the property of Starfleet? No. We have all been dancing around the basic issue. Does Data have a soul? I don't know that he has. I don't know that I have! But I have got to give him the freedom to explore that question himself. It is the ruling of this court that Lieutenant Commander Data has the freedom to choose.

Contagion [2.11]

William T. Riker: Fate. It protects fools, little children, and ships named "Enterprise."

William T. Riker: If it should become necessary to fight, can you arrange to find me some rocks to throw at them.

[Data accidentally activates an Iconian gateway]

Data: That was not manual override.

[Data is being rewritten by the Iconian computer]

Jean-Luc Picard: How do I override the doors?

Data: Blue, blue, blue

Jean-Luc Picard: I hope that is not a stutter.

Worf: Captain, you will be killed.

Jean-Luc Picard: I'll go through the gate.

Worf: But where will you end up?

Jean-Luc Picard: Very shortly anywhere will be preferable to this room.

[Picard ends up on a Romulan ship]

Sub commander Taris: I cannot deactivate the auto-destruct, but at least I have the satisfaction that you will die with us.

Jean-Luc Picard: [beaming out] Not, I think, today, Commander.

The Royale [2.12]

William Riker: But the probability of making a six is no greater than that of rolling a seven.

Data: There is a certain degree of random fortune involved. I believe that is why they call it 'gambling'.

[Data is at the craps table, about to roll]

Data: Commander, these cubes are improperly balanced. I believe their final resting position would be a-

Riker: Can you repair them?

Data: I believe so. I will make another attempt.

[Data adjusts the dice in his hand subtly]

Data: Baby needs new pair of shoes.

Time Squared [2.13]

William Riker: Flair is what marks the difference between artistry and mere competence.

Pen Pals [2.15]

William Riker: The game's not big enough unless it scares you a little.

Q Who? [2.16]

Q: You judge yourselves against the pitiful adversaries you have so far encountered -- the Klingons, the Romulans, are nothing compared to what's waiting. Picard, you are about to move into areas of the galaxy containing wonders more incredible than you can possibly imagine... and terrors to freeze your soul. I offer myself as guide -- only to be rejected out-of-hand.

Q: (to Worf) Micro-brain! Give me a growl! Let me know you still care!

Guinan: My people encountered them a century ago. They destroyed our cities, and scattered my people across the galaxy. They're called the Borg. Protect yourself, Captain, or they'll destroy you.

The Borg: We have analyzed your defensive capabilities as being unable to withstand us. If you defend yourselves, you will be punished.

Q: The Borg is essentially the ultimate user; they're unlike anything you've ever faced. They're not interested in political power, wealth or conquest, only your ship and its technology. They've identified it as something they can consume.

William T. Riker: You exposed us to it, and you cost us the lives of our ship-mates!

Q: Oh, please...

Jean-Luc Picard: Number One. Eighteen of our people have died. Please, Q; tell us that this is one of your illusions.

Q: Oh, no. This is as real as your so-called "life" gets. [disappears]

Q: If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid.

Manhunt [2.19]

Data: Judging a being by its physical appearance is the last major human prejudice, Wesley.

Troi: It seems Captain that you are the early favorite. (to become her mothers husband)

Riker: Congratulations Sir!

Picard: I'm not amused, Number One.

The Emissary [2.20]

Worf: You are late.

K'Ehleyr: Sorry, had to make myself beautiful.

Worf: I fail to see why.

K’Ehleyr: Worf, we’re alone now. You don’t have to act like a Klingon glacier, I don’t bite… actually, that’s not true, I do bite.

Troi: You’re upset.

K’Ehleyr: Your finely honed Betazoid sense tell you that?

Troi: Well… that and the table.

Picard: Lieutenant, I order you to relax.

Worf: I AM RELAXED!

Riker: How’d you like command?

Worf: Comfortable chair.

Peak Performance [2.21]

Jean-Luc Picard: It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.

Data: It is a matter of perspective, Doctor. In the strictest sense, I did not win… I busted him up.

Evolution [3.1]

Dr Stubbs: Now the burden is yours.

Wesley Crusher: Burden?

Dr Stubbs: To fulfil your potential. You will never come up against a greater adversary than your own potential, my young friend.

Wesley Crusher: It's just a science project.

Guinan: You know, a doctor friend once said the same thing to me. Frankenstein was his name.

Guinan: Wes, do you think you're gonna get a good grade?

Wesley Crusher: [sighs] I always get an A. [leaves Ten-Forward]

Guinan: So did Dr Frankenstein.

The Ensigns of Command [3.2]

Worf: This is hopeless. Fighting would be preferable.

--------------------------------------------------------

Alien Captain: This is intolerable! We carry the membership...

[Picard turns off screen]

William Riker: You enjoyed that.

Jean-Luc Picard: You're damn right.

The Survivors [3.3]

Q: Oh, very clever Worf. Eat any good books lately?

The Bonding [3.5]

William Riker: Maybe if we felt any human loss as keenly as we feel one of those close to us, human history would be far less bloody.

Booby Trap [3.6]

Picard: Didn’t any of you play with models when you were boys?

Worf: I did not have toys.

Data: I was never a boy.

The Enemy [3.7]

Dr. Beverly Crusher: Lieutenant, I understand your feelings about the Romulans, but this is not the time or the place.

Worf: If you had seen them kill your parents, you would understand, Doctor. It is always the time and the place for those feelings.

Beverly Crusher: This Romulan didn't kill your parents. And you are the only one who can save his life.

Worf: Then he will die.

Bochra: [referring to Geordi's blindness] How did this happen?

Geordi La Forge: I was born that way.

Bochra: And your parents let you live?

Geordi La Forge: What kind of question is that! Of course they let me live.

Bochra: No wonder your race is weak. You waste time and resources on defective children.

Bochra: I have no more wish to die than you do.

Geordi La Forge: Bochra, there are times when it is necessary to die for one's ideals... do you believe this is one of those times?

[Bochra thinks, then lowers his disruptor.]

Geordi La Forge: Let's go find that beacon.

Bochra: Do all humans give up so easily?

Geordi La Forge: Bochra, we're lost. Unless you've got something that can smell neutrinos.

Bochra: We have the sensor device you are carrying.

Geordi La Forge: Tricorder? It's not designed to detect neutrinos.

Bochra: Your eye device does. Connect them.

Geordi La Forge: That's crazy. The devices aren't compatible, it would be impossible to get an accurate reading... wait a minute. Wait a minute. I wouldn't need to get an accurate reading. I'd just need it to point us in the right direction, a neutrino geiger counter...! [sighs] It's still impossible.

Bochra: Why?

Geordi La Forge: Because I can't see! Adapting the devices is delicate work, you can't do it by hand.

Bochra: Then I will be your eyes.

The Price [3.8]

DaiMon Goss: My name is DaiMon Goss and these are my counsels, Kol and Dr Aridor. We'll need chairs.

Jean-Luc Picard: I'm Captain Picard of the Enterprise. I am serving as host for these proceedings.

DaiMon Goss: Good. Then see to it we get some chairs.

Picard: Let me explain.

DaiMon Goss: Fine, fine, just have your Klingon servant get us some chairs.

Worf: I am in charge of security!

DaiMon Goss: Then who gets the chairs?

Geordi La Forge: You know, if this doesn't work, the thought of spending the rest of my life in here is none too appealing.

Data: There is a bright side, Geordi. You will have me to talk to.

The Hunted [3.11]

[Picard reports that the Angosian fugitive has been captured.]

Prime Minister Nayrok: I implore you, Captain, do not underestimate him for a moment. He is completely ruthless... and very cunning, as you have seen.

Jean-Luc Picard: A matter of internal security: the age-old cry of the oppressor..

[Worf catches Danar in a clever head-fake scheme.]

Worf: Danar! You are cunning... you must have Klingon blood in you.

Jean-Luc Picard: We have everything we need for our report. Your prisoner has been returned to you. You have a decision to make... either try to force them back or welcome them home. In your own words, this is not our affair. We cannot interfere with the natural course of your society's development and I'd say it's likely to develop significantly during the next several minutes.

William T. Riker: Success, Captain?

Jean-Luc Picard: Number One, note in your report that if the government of Angosia survives the night, we will offer Federation assistance in the efforts to reprogram their veterans.

William T. Riker: And if the government doesn't survive?

Jean-Luc Picard: I have a feeling they will choose to.

The High Ground [3.12]

Kerrie Keane: In a world where children blow up children, everyone's a threat.

Finn: You added the chair, Captain, I am just making you sit in it.

Dr. Beverly Crusher: He's prepared to kill you.

Jean-Luc Picard: An excellent reason to escape.

Déjà Q [3.13]

Q: I can't disappear any more than you could win a beauty contest.

[After Q apears on the bridge naked]

Picard: Q!

Q: [playfully] Red alert!

Q: It's easy. Just change the gravitational constant of the universe.

Q: I'm not good in groups. It's hard to work in groups when you're omnipotent.

Jean-Luc Picard: Q, you exceed your own standards for self-preoccupation.

Q: What must I do to convince you I'm human?

Worf: Die!

Q: Oh, very clever, Worf. Eat any good books lately?

Q: Because in all the universe, you are the closest thing to a friend, Jean-Luc.

Q: I'll have 10 chocolate sundaes.

Data: I've never seen anyone eat 10 chocolate sundaes.

Q: I'm in a really bad mood. And since I've never eaten before, I should be very hungry.

Data: The Captain and many of the crew are not yet convinced he is truly human.

Guinan: Really?

[She picks up a fork and stabs Q's hand with it.]

Q: AAAAAHHHH!!!

Guinan: Seems human enough to me.

Q: I wasn't the one who misplaced the Deltivid Asteroid Belt!

Q: This is getting on my nerves, now that I have them!

Geordi: Q, get to the controls or get the hell out of here!

Picard: :[After Q stole a shuttle] This goes against my better judgement. Transporter Room 3, lock onto Shuttle 1 and beam it back into its bay.

Crewman: Aye, sir.

Picard: :[after Riker gives him a disaproving look] Its a perfectly good shuttlecraft!

Riker: [After Q gives him 2 attractive women] I don't need your fantasy women!

Q: Oh, you're so stolid! You weren't like that before the beard

Yesterday's Enterprise [3.15]

Guinan: All right, try this.

Worf: What is it?

Guinan: Just try it.

[Worf drinks.]

Guinan: You see? It's an Earth drink. Prune juice.

Worf: A warrior's drink.

Jean-Luc Picard: How can I ask them to sacrifice themselves based solely on your intuition?

Guinan: I don't know. But I do know that this is a mistake. Every fiber in my being says this is a mistake. I can't explain it to myself, so I can't explain it to you. I only know that I'm right.

Jean-Luc Picard: Who is to say that this history is any less proper than the other?

Guinan: I suppose I am.

Jean-Luc Picard: Not good enough, damn it, not good enough! I will not ask them to die!

Guinan: 40 billion people have already died. This war is not supposed to be happening. You've got to send those people back to correct this.

Jean-Luc Picard: And what is to guarantee that if they go back, they will succeed? Every instinct is telling me this is wrong, it is dangerous, it is futile!

Guinan: We've known each other a long time. You have never known me to impose myself on anyone, or take a stance based on trivial or whimsical perceptions. This timeline must not be allowed to continue. Now, I've told you what you must do. You have only your trust in me to help you decide to do it.

Rachel Garrett: To be honest with you, Picard... a significant number of my crew members have expressed the desire to return, even knowing the odds. Some because they can't bear to live without their loved ones; some because they don't like the idea of slipping out in the middle of a fight. But I have told them that, in the here and now the Federation needs another ship against the Klingons, and we'd better get used to being in the here and now.

Jean-Luc Picard: But, if you go back, it could be a great deal more helpful. The war is going very badly for the Federation... far worse than is generally known. Starfleet Command believes that defeat is inevitable. Within six months, we may have no choice but to surrender.

Rachel Garrett: And you're saying that all this may be a result of our arrival here?

Jean-Luc Picard: One more ship will make no difference in the here and now, but 22 years ago, one ship could have stopped this war before it started.

Rachel Garrett: Mr. Castillo.

Richard Castillo: Yes, Captain.

Rachel Garrett: Inform the crew we're going back.

Richard Castillo: Yes, Captain.

Rachel Garrett: The Romulans will get a good fight. We'll make it one for the history books.

Guinan: Tasha, you're not supposed to be here.

Tasha Yar: Where am I supposed to be?

Guinan: Dead.

Tasha Yar: Do you know how?

Guinan: No, but I do know it was an empty death —— a death without purpose.

Tasha Yar: Guinan says I died a senseless death in the other timeline. I didn't like the sound of that, Captain. I've always known the risks that come with a Starfleet uniform. If I'm to die in one...I'd like my death to count for something.

Jean-Luc Picard: Lieutenant… Permission granted.

Jean-Luc Picard: Let's make sure that history never forgets the name Enterprise.

Klingon: Federation Ship Enterprise. Surrender and prepare to be boarded.

Jean-Luc Picard: That will be the day.

The Offspring [3.16]

Data: Lal is my child. You ask that I volunteer to give her up. I cannot. It would violate every lesson I have learned about human parenting. I have brought a new life into this world, and it is my duty, not Starfleet's, to guide her through these difficult steps to maturity. To support her as she learns. To prepare her to be a contributing member of society. No one can relieve me from that obligation. And I cannot ignore it. I am... her father.

Data: Then he is questioning my ability as a parent.

Jean-Luc Picard: In a manner of speaking.

Data: Does the Admiral have children, sir?

Jean-Luc Picard: I believe he does. Why?

Data: I am forced to wonder how much experience he had as a parent when his first child was born.

Jean-Luc Picard: 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.

[A shaken Admiral Haftel exits Data's laboratory as Data is trying to save Lal.]

Admiral Haftel: His hands were moving faster than I could see, trying to stay ahead of each breakdown. He refused to give up. He was remarkable... It just wasn't meant to be.

Lal: I love you, father.

Data: I wish I could feel it with you.

Lal: Then I will feel it for both of us.

Lal: Thank you for my life.

Captain's Holiday [3.19]

Jean-Luc Picard: Is the entire crew aware of this little scheme to send me off on holiday?

William Riker: I believe there are two ensigns stationed on deck 39 who know nothing about it.

Hollow Pursuits [3.21]

Reginald Barclay: I mean I am the guy who writes down things to remember to say when there is a party. And then when he finally gets there he winds up alone, in the corner, trying to look... comfortable examining a potted plant.

Geordi La Forge: You're just shy.

Reginald Barclay: You make it sound as if it's nothing serious.

The Most Toys [3.22]

William Riker: For an android with no feelings, he sure managed to evoke them in others.

Fajo: That's all you have to do, go ahead. Fire. If only you could feel rage over Varria's death. If only you could feel a need for revenge, then maybe you could fire. But you're just an android. You can't feel anything, can you? It's just another interesting intellectual puzzle for you, another of life's curiosities.

Data: [to himself] I cannot permit this to continue.

[The transporter beam transports Data as he raises his weapon]

[As Commander Data is transported back aboard the Enterprise, a weapon is detected in a state of discharge and deactivated]

Data: [handing his weapon to Riker] A Varon-T disruptor. It belongs to Fajo.

Riker: Mr O'Brien says the weapon was in a state of discharge.

Data: Perhaps something occurred during transport, Commander.

[Data is speaking to Fajo, now being held in the brig]

Data: You have lost everything you value.

Fajo: It must give you great pleasure.

Data: No, sir, it does not. I do not feel pleasure. I am only an android.

Sarek [3.23]

William Riker: Is it my imagination, or have tempers become a little frayed on the ship lately?

Worf: I hadn't noticed.

[Riker and Worf walk into Ten-Forward, where a large bar fight is in progress.]

Worf: I see what you mean.

Menage a Troi [3.24]

Jean-Luc Picard: The Academy must make you wait- that's true. But upon reviewing your service to this ship, your crewmates, I cannot in good conscience make you wait for the Academy. You see, Wesley, in my eyes you are an acting Ensign in title only. I hereby grant you Field Promotion to Full Ensign with all the commensurate responsibilities and privileges of that rank. Congratulations. You're dismissed.

Transfigurations [3.25]

Worf: Less talk! More synthehol!

The Best of Both Worlds, Part I [3.26]

Data: Early bird gets the worm? I believe Commander Shelby erred. There is no evidence of avian or crawling vermicular lifeforms on Jouret IV.

Geordi: That's not what she meant, Data. But you are right. She erred.

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

Guinan: Hmm. Before a hopeless battle, if I remember the tradition correctly.

Picard: Not necessarily. Nelson toured the HMS Victory before Trafalgar.

Guinan: Yes, but Nelson never returned from Trafalgar, did he?

Picard: No, but the battle was won.

Picard: I wonder if the Emperor Honorious watching the Visigoths coming over the seventh hill could truly realize that the Roman Empire was about to fall. This is really just another page of history, isn't it? Will this be the end of our civilization? Turn the page.

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

Picard: I have nothing to say to you. And I will resist you with my last ounce of strength!

The Borg: Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. We wish to improve ourselves. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service ours.

Picard: Impossible! My culture is based on freedom and self-determination!

The Borg: Freedom is irrelevant. Self-determination is irrelevant. You must comply.

Picard: We would rather die.

The Borg: Death is irrelevant. Your archaic cultures are authority driven. To facilitate our introduction into your societies, it has been decided that a human voice will speak for us in all communications. You have been chosen to be that voice.

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

Riker: Mr. Worf... fire.

The Best of Both Worlds, Part II [4.1]

Locutus: [to Riker] 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.

William Riker: Now, how the hell do we defeat an enemy that knows us better than we know ourselves?

Worf: The Borg have neither honour nor courage. That is our greatest advantage.

Locutus: If you attempt to intervene, we will destroy you.

Riker: Then take your best shot, Locutus. 'Cause we're about to "intervene."

Family [4.2]

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...

Robert Picard: So... my brother is a human being after all. This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time.

Remember Me [4.5]

Beverly Crusher: If there's nothing wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe.

Beverly Crusher: We will start with the assumption that I am not crazy.

Beverly Crusher: Computer. Read the entire crew roster for the Enterprise.

Computer: Dr. Beverly Crusher.

Beverly Crusher: Have I always been the only member of the crew on the starship Enterprise?

Computer: Affirmative.

Beverly Crusher: If this were a bad dream, would you tell me?

Computer: That is not a valid question.

Beverly Crusher: Like hell it's not. What is the primary mission of the starship Enterprise?

Computer: To explore the galaxy.

Beverly Crusher: Do I have the necessary skills to complete that mission alone?

Computer: Negative.

Beverly Crusher: Then why am I the only crew member?

Computer: [confused beeping]

Beverly Crusher: Aha. Got you there.

Beverly Crusher: Computer. What is the nature of the universe?

Computer: The universe is a spheroid region 705 meters in diameter.

Legacy [4.6]

Data: [To Ishara Yar, on friendship] As I experience certain sensory input patterns, my mental pathways become accustomed to them. The inputs eventually are anticipated. And even missed when absent.

Ishara: You mean, you can become "used" to someone.

Data: Exactly.

Future Imperfect [4.8]

Captain Riker: Shut up!

Admiral Picard: I beg your pardon?!

Captain Riker: I said shut up! As in close your mouth and stop talking!

The Loss [4.10]

Beverly Crusher: Therapists are always the worst patients. Except for doctors, of course.

Data: A resumption of our present course at warp six will place us in the T'lli Beta system in six days, thirteen hours, forty-seven minutes.

William Riker: What, no seconds?

Data: I have discovered, sir, a certain level of impatience when I calculate a lengthy time interval to the nearest second. However, if you wish...

William Riker: No, no. Minutes is fine.

Deanna Troi: Is this how you handle all of your personnel problems?

William Riker: Sure. You'd be surprised how far a hug goes with Geordi, or Worf.

Data's Day [4.11]

Data: I could be pursuing an untamed ornithoid without cause.

Data: [experimenting with "friendly insults and jibes"] My hair does not require trimming, you lunkhead.

Beverly Crusher: They don't do a lot of tap-dancing at weddings.

Data: Why?

William Riker: Some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you.

The Wounded [4.12]

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

Jean-Luc Picard: I'll accept the judgment of history.

Miles O'Brien: It's not you I hate, Cardassian. I hate what I became because of you.

Jean-Luc Picard: The loyalty you would so quickly dismiss does not come easily to my people, Gul Macet. You have much to learn about us. Benjamin Maxwell earned the loyalty of those who served with him. In war, he was twice honored with the Federation's highest citation for his courage and valor. And if he could not find a role for himself in peace, we can pity him, but we shall not dismiss him.

Devil's Due [4.13]

Jean-Luc Picard: In the hands of a con artist, fear can be used to motivate obedience, capitulation, the exploitation of innocent people - and that is what I believe has happened here and I intend to prove that.

Jean-Luc Picard: I've encountered many who are more credibly to be called the devil than you.

[after Ardra transports Picard to the planet in his pajamas]

Geordi La Forge: Captain, I wasn't expecting you here.

Jean-Luc Picard: Neither was I.

Jean-Luc Picard: Never mind, Mr. Worf, just have Commander Data fetch me in a shuttle. And have him bring a uniform.

Worf: Did you say... uniform?

Data: The advocate will refrain from making her opponent disappear.

Data: [after Ardra becomes the Devil] Any more disruptions and I will rule you in contempt of court. Is that understood?

Data: I will draw my own conclusions, if you do not mind... Sir.

Night Terrors [4.17]

Beverly Crusher: We have to dream in order to survive.

[Guinan has just fired a large (very powerful) phaser rifle to break up a brawl.]

Gillespie: What is that?!

Guinan: Just a little souvenir I picked up on Makus III. That was setting number one. Anyone want to see setting number two?

Data: As my final duty as acting captain, I order you to bed.

The Nth Degree [4.19]

[Lt. Barclay has had his intelligence greatly increased by an alien probe and is attempting to interface with the computer.]

Reginald Barclay: Computer. Begin new program. Create as follows. Work station chair. Now, create a standard alphanumeric console positioned for the left hand. Now an iconic display console positioned for the right hand. Tie both consoles into the Enterprise main computer core utilizing neural scan interface.

Computer: There is no such device on file.

Reginald Barclay: No problem; here's how you build it.

Reginald Barclay: I perceive the entire universe as a singe equation and it's so simple.

Cytherian Alien: Emotive, electrochemical stimulus response; cranial plate; bipedal locomotion. Endoskeletal. Contiguous external integument.

Jean-Luc Picard: I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the Federation Starship Enterprise.

Cytherian Alien: Hierarchical collective command structure.

Jean-Luc Picard: Who are you?

Cytherian Alien: Interrogative!

Q-Pid [4.20]

Q: [To Picard] You are the most impossible person to buy a gift for!

Jean-Luc Picard: [describing Q] He's devious and amoral and unreliable and irresponsible and... and definitely not to be trusted.

[Q has dressed Worf as Will Scarlet.]

Worf: Sir, I protest! I am not a merry man!

[Worf smashes Geordi's lute against a tree.]

Worf: ...Sorry.

Jean-Luc Picard: I've just been paid a visit by Q.

William Riker: Q? Any idea what he's up to?

Jean-Luc Picard: He wants to do something nice for me.

William Riker: I'll alert the crew.

The Drumhead [4.21]

Worf: The Federation does have enemies, we must seek them out!

Jean-Luc Picard: Oh yes, that's how it starts, but the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think.

Jean-Luc Picard: 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 censored, 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.

Adm. Norah Satie: How dare you! You who consort with Romulans! Invoke my father's name in support of your traitorous arguments! It is an affront to everything I hold dear. And to hear his name used to subvert the United Federation of Planets. My father was a great man. His name stands for principle, and integrity! You dirty his name when you speak it! He loved the Federation! But you, Captain, corrupt it! You undermine our very way of life! I will expose you for what you are! I've brought down bigger men than you, Picard!

Jean-Luc Picard: We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, is all ancient history. Then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly, it threatens to start all over again.

Worf: I believed her. I... helped her. I did not see her for what she was.

Jean-Luc Picard: Mr. Worf, villains who twirl their moustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well-camouflaged.

Worf: I think... after yesterday people will not be so ready to trust her.

Jean-Luc Picard: Maybe. But she, or someone like her, will always be with us. Waiting for the right climate in which to flourish, spreading fear in the name of righteousness. [...] Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we must continually pay.

Half A Life [4.22]

Lwaxana Troi: We raise them, we care for them, we suffer for them, we keep them from harm their whole lives. Now eventually, it's their turn to take care of us.

Timicin: No parent should expect to be paid back for the love they have given their children.

Lwaxana Troi: Well, why the hell not?

In Theory [4.25]

Jenna D'Sora: I wish we were back there now, you and I.

Data: The unidirectional nature of the time continuum makes that an unlikely possibility.

Geordi La Forge: Listen, my advice is... ask somebody else for advice, at least someone who's got more experience at... giving advice.

Deanna Troi: Ultimately Jenna will care for you for who you are, not what you imitate out of a book.

Data: My programming may be inadequate to the task.

Worf: Klingons do not... pursue relationships. They conquer that which they desire.

Worf: However, Lieutenant D'Sora serves under my command. If she were.. mistreated, I would be very displeased... ...Sir.

Data: I understand.

Jean-Luc Picard: I'd be delighted to offer any advice I have on understanding women. When I have some, I'll let you know.

Data: Computer, decrease illumination level by 1/3 standard lux.

Jenna D'Sora: Eh, this is all part of a programme?

Data: Yes, one which I have just created for romantic relationships

Jenna D'Sora: So, I am just a small variable in one of you computational environments.

Data: You are much more than that, Jenna. I have written a subroutine specifically for you. A programme within the programme. I have devoted a considerable share of my internal resources to its development.

Jenna D'Sora: Data, that's the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.

Data: Jenna, are we no longer a couple?

Jenna D'Sora: No, we're not.

Data: Then I will delete the appropriate program.

Darmok [5.2]

Dathon: Rai and Jiri at Lungha. Ri of Luwani. Luwani under two moons. Jiri of Ubaya. Ubaya of crossed roads at Lungha. Lungha, her sky grey. [greeting]

Tamarian lst Officer: Kadir beneath Mo Moteh. [cluelessness, possibly unwillingness to understand]

Dathon: The river Temarc. In winter. [Stop, cease]

Dathon: Shaka. When the walls fell. [Failure]

Tamarian lst Officer: Mirab. His sails unfurled. [travel or departure]

[repeated line]

Dathon: Darmok and Jilad at Tenagra. [Two strangers uniting against a common adversary]

Dathon: Temba. His arms wide. [A gift, or to give]

Dathon: Uzani. His army with fist open.

Jean-Luc Picard: A strategy? With fist open? With fist open...

Dathon: His army with fist closed.

Jean-Luc Picard: With fist closed? An army with fist open... to lure the enemy. With fist closed... To attack? That's how you communicate, isn't it? By citing example. By metaphor! Uzani's army with... with fist open.

Dathon: Sokath! His eyes uncovered! [understanding, revealing truth]

Dathon: Darmok on the ocean. [Alone]

Dathon: Kiazi's children. Their faces wet. [death, mourning]

Dathon: Zinda! His face black. His eyes red. [war, violence] Callimas at Bahar.

Jean-Luc Picard: [paraphrasing The Epic of Gilgamesh] Gilgamesh, a king. Gilgamesh, a king at Uruk. [metaphor about ancient Babylonian legends from Earth] He tormented his subjects. He made them angry. They cried out aloud: "Send us a companion for our king! Spare us from his madness!" Enkidu, a wild man from the forest, entered the city. They fought in the temple. They fought in the streets. Gilgamesh defeated Enkidu. They became great friends. Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk.

Dathon: At Uruk.

Jean-Luc Picard: The... the new friends went out into the desert together, where the Great Bull of Heaven was killing men by the hundreds. Enkidu caught the bull by the tail, Gilgamesh struck him with his sword.

Dathon: Gilgamesh.

Jean-Luc Picard: They were victorious. But... Enkidu fell to the ground, struck down by the gods; and Gilgamesh wept bitter tears, saying, "He who was my companion through adventure and hardship, is gone forever."

Tamarian lst Officer: Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel. [a new metaphor added to the language at the end of the incident]

Ensign Ro [5.3]

Keeve: I cannot condone violence against people who are not our enemy.

Jean-Luc Picard: Then I don't understand why you're unwilling [to help us].

Keeve: Because... you're innocent bystanders. You were innocent bystanders for decades as the Cardassians took our homes. As they violated and tortured our people in the most hideous ways imaginable. As we were forced to flee.

Picard: We were saddened by those events, but they occurred within the borders of the Cardassian Empire.

Keeve: And the Federation is pledged not to interfere with the internal affairs of others. How convenient that must be for you. To turn a deaf ear to those who suffer behind a line on a map.

Picard: Well, I'm not here to debate Federation policy with you, but I can offer you assistance.

Keeve: Simply because of one terrorist attack? Well, perhaps I should have known, we should have attacked the Federation long ago.

Keeve: We live in different universes, you and I. Yours is about diplomacy, politics, strategy. Mine is about blankets! If we were to exchange places for one night, you might better understand.

Picard: Mr. Data, see that the replicators provide a blanket for every man, woman, and child before nightfall.

Guinan: Am I disturbing you?

Ensign Ro: Yes.

Guinan: Good. You look like someone who wants to be disturbed.

Guinan: I believe truth is in the eye of the beholder.

Ensign Ro: Isn't that supposed to be beauty?

Guinan: Truth, beauty, works for a lot of things.

Ro: You're not like any bartender I've met before

Guinan: And you're not like any Starfleet officer I've met before. But that sounds like the beginning of a very interesting friendship.

Ro: I don't stay anywhere long enough to make friends.

Guinan: Too late. You just did.

Disaster [5.5]

Jean-Luc Picard: [Touches comm badge] Bridge, this is Picard. This is the captain, does anyone read me?

Child 1: [crying] Why don't they answer?!

Picard: I don't know

Child 2: They're all dead.

Picard: They're not dead, communication is down, that's all.

Child 2: We're going to die, too.

Worf: Congratulations. You are now fully dilated to ten centimeters. You may now give birth.

Keiko O'Brien: That's what I've been doing!

Worf: The computer simulation was not like this. That delivery was very orderly.

Keiko: WELL I'M SORRY!!

Worf: Push, Keiko! Push! Push!

Keiko: I AM PUSHING!

Unification, Part I [5.7]

Data: These quarters were obviously intended for one crewman, sir. There is only one sleeping space.

Jean-Luc Picard: I'm sure the Klingons found it amusing to put us in here together.

Data: Since I do not require sleep, I propose you take the... shelf, sir. I am content to stand.

Unification, Part II [5.8]

Spock: [to Picard] In your own way, you are as stubborn as another Captain of the Enterprise I once knew.

Jean-Luc Picard: Then I'm in good company, sir.

Spock: Fascinating. You have an efficient intellect, superior physical skills, no emotional impediments. There are Vulcans who aspire all their lives to achieve what you've been given by design.

Data: You are half human?

Spock: Yes

Data: Yet you have chosen a Vulcan way of life?

Spock: I have.

Data: In effect, you've abandoned what I've sought all my life.

Spock: I will not read this, or any other statement.

Sela: If you do not you will die. All of you will die.

Spock: Since it is logical to conclude that you will kill us in any event, I choose not to cooperate.

Sela: I hate Vulcans.

A Matter of Time [5.9]

Data: I assume your handprint will open this door whether you are conscious or not.

Hero Worship [5.11]

[Data is talking with a young boy who is pretending to be an android to cope with a recent traumatic experience.]

Data: I have often wished to be human. I study people carefully, in order to more closely approximate human behavior.

Timothy: Why? We're smarter and stronger than humans, we can do more than they can.

Data: But I cannot take pride in my abilities. I cannot take pleasure in my accomplishments.

Timothy: We never have to feel bad, either.

Data: I would gladly risk feeling bad at times, if it also meant that I could taste my dessert.

Conundrum [5.14]

[Troi and Data are in Ten-Forward, when all of the crew lose their memories]

Deanna Troi: The bartender is an artificial lifeform.

Data: Can I get you something? A beverage?

Jean-Luc Picard: Contact the operations officer to assist you.

Geordi La Forge: Aye, sir.

Ensign Ro: He's in Ten-Forward... waiting tables.

McDuff: Well done, Captain.

Ethics [5.16]

Beverly Crusher: [To Dr Russell, who has been using experimental techniques to treat patients] You scare me, doctor. You risk your patients' lives and justify it in the name of research. Genuine research takes time... sometimes a lifetime of painstaking, detailed work in order to get any results. Not for you, you take short cuts, right through living tissue. You put your research ahead of your patients' lives and as far as I'm concerned, that's a violation of our most sacred trust. I'm sure your work will be hailed as a stunning breakthrough. Enjoy your laurels, doctor. I'm not sure I could.

The Outcast [5.17]

[Soren, a member of a genderless species, defends her sexual orientation]

Soren: I am female. I was born that way. I have had those feelings… those longings… all my life. It is not unnatural. I am not sick because I feel this way. I do not need to be helped, and I do not need to be cured. What I do need — what all of those like me need — is your understanding and your compassion. We do not injure you in any way. And yet we are scorned, and attacked. And all because we are different. What we do is no different from what you do. We talk and laugh… we complain about work and we wonder about growing old… we talk about our families, and we worry about the future…We cry with each other when things seem hopeless. All the loving things that you do with each other… that’s what we do. And for that, we are called misfits, and deviants… and criminals. What right do you have to punish us? What right do you have to change us? What makes you think you can dictate how people love each other?

Cause and Effect [5.18]

William Riker: Sometimes I wonder if he's stacking the deck.

Data: I assure you commander, the cards have been sufficiently randomized.

Worf: [surly] I hope so.

Worf: I am experiencing nIb'poH, the feeling I have done this before.

Riker: Yes, last Tuesday night.

Worf: That's not what I mean.

Jean-Luc Picard: My aunt Adelle cured a lot of sleepless nights with this steaming milk.

Beverly Crusher: Thank you. Mmm, nutmeg.

Picard: Whenever I get insomnia, I try to perfect the recipe.

Beverly Crusher: Thank you, for everything.

Picard: Uh uh. Thank Aunt Adelle.

The First Duty [5.19]

Jean-Luc Picard: The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it's scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth! It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based! If you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don't deserve to wear that uniform!

The Perfect Mate [5.21]

Beverly Crusher: I wish I knew how I could help.

Jean-Luc Picard: Perhaps I just needed a shoulder.

Beverly Crusher: Well it's there for you, Jean-Luc. It always has been.

Imaginary Friend [5.22]

Guinan: No, it's a Samalian coral fish with its fin unfolded.

Data: I believe what you are seeing is the effect of the fluid dynamic processes inherent in the large scale motion of rarefied gas.

Guinan: No, no. First it was a fish and now it's a Mentonian sailing ship.

Data: Where?

Guinan: Right there. Don't you see the two swirls coming together to form the mast?

Data: I do not see it. It is interesting that people try to find meaningful patterns in things that are essentially random. I have noticed that the images they perceive sometimes suggest what they are thinking about at that particular moment. Besides, it is clearly a bunny rabbit.

I, Borg [5.23]

Jean-Luc Picard: [to a disengaged Borg boy] This is a primitive culture. I am here to facilitate its incorporation.

Beverly Crusher: But even in war there are rules. You don't kill civilians indiscriminately.

William T. Riker: There are no civilians among the Borg.

Hugh: We are Hugh

Hugh: Resistance is not futile?

Geordi La Forge: Part of what we do is learn more about other species.

Hugh: We assimilate species. Then we know everything about them.

The Next Phase [5.24]

Ro Laren: I don't have all the answers; I've never been dead before.

Data: I never knew what a friend was until I met Geordi. He spoke to me as though I were human. He treated me no differently from anyone else. He accepted me for what I am. And that, I have learned, is friendship. But I do not know how to say goodbye.

The Inner Light [5.25]

Eline: [to Jean-Luc Picard] My love.

Jean-Luc Picard: Seize the time... Live now. Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.

Time's Arrow, Part I [5.26]

Jean-Luc Picard: Data, is this yours? [referring to disembodied head]

Realm of Fear [6.2]

Geordi La Forge: Barclay, I'm gonna need a systems engineer on this away team.

Reginald Barclay: I'll, I'll ask Ensign Dern to join you.

La Forge: I meant you, Barclay!

Relics [6.4]

Scotty: You're not quite uh...human, are ya?

Data: No, sir. I am an android. Lieutenant Commander Data.

Scotty: [inspecting his drink] What is it?

Data: It is... [sniffs the bottle] it is... it is green.

[Scotty is outside the Holodeck]

Computer: Please enter program.

Scotty: The android at the bar said you could show me my old ship, let me see it.

Computer: Insufficient data. Please specify parameters.

Scotty: The Enterprise, show me the bridge of the Enterprise, ya chattering piece of-

Computer: There have been five Federation ships with that name. Please specify by registry number.

Scotty: NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D.

Computer: Program complete. Enter when ready.

Scotty: [pours a drink and gives a toast] Here's to ya, lads.

Chain of Command, Part I [6.10]

[Edward Jellico is assigned as captain of the Enterprise]

Edward Jellico: Oh, and get that fish out of the ready room.

Chain of Command, Part II [6.11]

Jean-Luc Picard: There...are...four...lights!

Tapestry [6.15]

Q: (Shakes Picards hand) Welcome to the Afterlife Jean-Luc...You're dead!

Q:You're dead, this is the afterlife...and I'm God

Jean-Luc Picard: You are not God!

Q: Blasphemy! You're lucky I don't cast you out or smite you or something. The bottom line is, your life ended about five minutes ago... under the inept ministrations of Dr. Beverly Crusher.

Jean-Luc Picard: No. I am not dead. Because I refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by you. The universe is not so badly designed!

Q: Attention on deck, Ensign Picard!

Picard: Q.

Q: That's Captain Q to you, Young man!

Q: You cheated, Picard? I'm impressed!

Jean-Luc Picard: There are many parts of my youth that I'm not proud of. There were loose threads - untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I pulled on one of those threads, it unraveled the tapestry of my life.

Q: :[Dressed as a delivery boy] Flowers! Is there a John Luck Pickird here?

The Chase [6.21]

[After a Klingon arm wrestles and head-buts Data]

Data: My upper spinal support is a poly-alloy designed to withstand extreme stress. My skull is composed of cortenide and duranium.

[To the same Klingon later]

Data: You are attempting to bribe me.

Klingon : N-Not at all.

Data: You suggested a plan that would work to your advantage. One that I would be capable of executing. You then implied a reward. Clearly you were...

Klingon : Commander..., never mind.

Klingon : What?! You incompetent toppa'

Klingon : That's all?! If she were not dead, I would kill her.

Cardassian : The very notion that a Cardassian could have anything in common with a Klingon... it turns my stomach.

Cardassian : He's right. For all we know, this might just be a recipe for biscuits!

Klingon : BISCUITS?! If that is what you believe, then go back to Cardassia. I will send you my mother's recipe.

Timescape [6.25]

Jean-Luc Picard: Dr. Fesbinder gave an hour long dissertation on the ionization of warp nacelles before he realized that the topic was supposed to be psychology.

Geordi La Forge: Why didn't anybody tell him?

Jean-Luc Picard: There was no opportunity. There was no pause. He-just-kept-talking-in-one-long -incredibly-unbroken-sentence, moving-from-topic-to-topic, such-that-no-one-had-the-chance-to-interrupt -him. It was really quite hypnotic.

Phantasms [7.6]

Data: May I ask a personal favor?

Worf: Yes?

Data: Will you take care of Spot for me?

Worf: Your animal?

Data: I am concerned that if I have another waking dream, I may injure him.

Worf: Of course. Spot, come here.

Data: Unlike a canine, Spot will not respond to verbal commands.

[Data picks up Spot and hands him to Worf, who is not quite sure how to handle the cat.]

Data: Goodbye, Spot. He will need to be fed once a day. He prefers feline supplement one-twenty-five.

Worf: I understand.

Data: And he will require water. And you must also provide him with a sand box. And you must talk to him. Tell him he is a pretty cat, and a good cat, and—

Worf: I will feed him.

Data: Perhaps that will be enough.

Picard: What type of cake is that?

Data: It is a cellular peptide cake.

Worf: [With mouth full] With mint frosting.

Force of Nature [7.9]

[Data is trying to train Spot not to jump on his computer console.]

Data: This is down. Down is good.

[Data picks Spot up.]

Data: This is up. Up is no.

[Geordi and Data are discussing Data's attempts to train Spot.]

Data: I suppose I must accept that possibility. It may be that Spot lacks the intelligence necessary to learn the appropriate responses to my commands.

[Spot looks up at Data and meows.]

Data: Mmm?

[Spot meows again.]

Data: Ah.

[Data takes a ball of yarn from his cabinet and lets Spot begin to play with it.]

Geordi La Forge: I don't know about Spot, but your training is coming along just fine. Let's go.

The Pegasus [7.12]

[Picard is complaining about the art produced in his image by the ship's children for "Captain Picard Day," which he hates.]

Picard: Well, they seem to have a somewhat exaggerated opinion of me.

[Riker is holds up a child's sewn doll of Picard and imitates the captain's voice, as if the doll is speaking.]

Riker: Oh, I don't know, I think the resemblance is rather striking. Wouldn't you agree, Number One?

Picard: Isn't there something else you have to do?

Riker: I'll be on the bridge!

[Riker attempts to walk away with the Picard doll tucked in his arm.]

Lower decks [7.15]

[Captain Picard over ship's intercom] "To all Starfleet personel, this is the Captain. It is my sad duty to inform you that a member of the crew, Ensign Sito Jaxa has been lost in the line of duty. She was the finest example of a Starfleet officer and a young woman of remarkable courage and strength of character. Her loss will be deeply felt by all who knew her. Picard out."'

Masks [7.17]

Data: Geordi, what…does it feel like when a person is losing his mind?

Data: Have I been dreaming again?

Genesis [7.19]

Worf: Do not approach me unannounced—especially while I am eating.

Bloodlines [7.22]

Jean-Luc Picard: One thing is clear: you'll never look at your hairline the same way again.

Data: I was a banana. I was a pillock.

All Good Things... [7.25]

Q: That is the exploration that awaits you—not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence.

Q: Oh, you'd like me to connect the dots for you, lead you from A to B to C, so that your puny mind could comprehend. How boring.

Q: Goodbye, Jean-Luc. I'm gonna miss you…you had such potential. But then again, all good things must come to an end…

Q: Time may be eternal, Captain, but our patience is not. It's time to put an end to your little "trek" through the stars; make room for other more…worthy species.

Jean-Luc Picard: You're…going to deny us travel through space?

Q: [to crowd] He doesn't understand! [to Picard] You obtuse piece of flotsam, you are to be denied existence. Humanity's fate has been sealed, you will be destroyed.

[In Future Timeline]

Q: [Appearing aged, raises an ear trumpet] Eh? What did she say, sonny? I couldn't quite hear her.

Jean-Luc Picard: Q! What is going on? Where is the anomaly?

Q: Where's your mommy? Well, I don't know!

Jean-Luc Picard: Q! What is it that you are trying to say?

Jean-Luc Picard: I should have done this a long time ago.

Jean-Luc Picard: So, five-card stud, nothing wild... and the sky's the limit.

[Final line of the series, spoken while playing poker with the senior staff for the first time.]

Unidentified episode

Worf: Those who rely on luck... never win the battle.

William Riker: In all trust, there is the possibility for betrayal.

Repeated lines

Jean-Luc Picard: Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission-- to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

[Introduction to each Next Generation episode.]

Jean-Luc Picard: Make it so!

Jean-Luc Picard: Tea. Earl grey. Hot.

Jean-Luc Picard: Engage!

Jean-Luc Picard: Data, later

Worf: Today is a good day to die!

Data: However...

Miscellany

"...to boldly go where no one has gone before."
- U.S.S. Enterprise-D dedication plaque.

Cast

Patrick Stewart — Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes — Commander William Riker
Brent Spiner — Lieutenant Commander Data
LeVar Burton — Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn — Lieutenant Worf
Marina Sirtis — Counselor Deanna Troi
Gates McFadden — Doctor Beverly Crusher [Season 1, Episodes 2.22-7.26]
Wil Wheaton — Wesley Crusher [Episodes 1.1-4.9, "The Game", "The First Duty", "Parallels", "Journey's End"]
Denise Crosby — Lieutenant Tasha Yar [Episodes 1.1-1.23, "Shades of Gray", "Yesterday's Enterprise", "All Good Things..."]