John Sheridan quotes from Babylon 5

If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die.

Sheridan

Then I die. But I will not go down easily, and I will not go down alone. [N]

Stephen Franklin

Well, anyone willing to command Babylon 5 has got to be slightly insane, but I don't think that you're ready for the asylum just yet.

John Sheridan

I prefer to be only slightly insane.

Garibaldi

Don't we all.

Delenn

They are in pain. Frightened. Dying. Minbari are taught that, at such a times, the afflicted should be ministered to, comforted.

John Sheridan

They're not your own people, Delenn!

Delenn

I didn't know that similarity was required for the exercise of compassion.

Delenn

All life is transitory. A dream. We all come together in the same place at the end of time. If I don't see you again here, I will see you in a little while, in the place where no shadows fall.

Sheridan

W--Delenn! [She stops and looks back.] When I do see you again...call me John?

Sheridan

What happens next time?

Delenn

What happens? What happens is that we honor the memory of those who are no longer with us by using what we have learned to save others. To exercise faith and patience and charity. To reach out to those who are afraid. If we can do that, then their passing will have had meaning and we will grow from it.

Delenn

Back home, when there is something you need to know, you are told just what you require and no more.

Delenn

... Minbari respect the privacy of others by not prying into their affairs. To express undue curiosity--

Unable to insert "Eye on Minbari" section. Do you wish to accept edition anyway?

Delenn

Uh... yes, yes I do.

John Sheridan

"Eye on Minbari"?

Delenn

It is good to know what your people are thinking and saying about my people. And, uh...[grins] I often learn things about my own world before I'm told "what I need to know and no more".

Draal

Since taking up residence in the heart of this machine, I have explored its secrets, learned, and discovered that I can look into distant worlds, see and hear things you cannot begin to imagine! Along the way, I've learned some things about you, Captain! The loss of your wife--I know Delenn has told you about the coming darkness. And lately I've learned about your role in, shall we say, a "conspiracy of light" aimed at your own government?

John Sheridan

I don't know what you're talking about.

Draal

Yes, you do! Please, Captain, don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. They would have to dig down three miles into the surface of this planet to learn what I know, and no one who tried would survive the attempt! And now I have seen enough! I said a year ago that this place was to be left alone until the time was right. That time has arrived. Now that I know the full capabilities of this place, I am prepared to place them at your disposal!

Sheridan

Are you proposing an alliance?

Draal

One of the first! There will be more to come. This has been a hard and trying year for you, Captain Sheridan. It might be helpful for you to know that you are not alone, and that in the long, twilight struggle which lies ahead of us, there is the possibility of hope.

You said you didn't have to answer any of my questions. But there's no reason to exclude you from our deliberations. You're linked at the hip, just as bad as she is. But you're not just a dreamer. You're a soldier! How far are you prepared to go? How much are you prepared to risk? How many people are you prepared to sacrifice for victory? Are you willing to die friendless, alone, deserted by everyone? Because that's what may be required of you in the war that is to come!

John Sheridan

Go to Hell!

This is Hell, Captain, and you are its chief damned soul. What about the people you work with, the people you call friends? Are you willing to sacrifice them? What about your family? [He zaps Sheridan with his cane.] What about your God? [Another zap.] What about truth? [Zap.] What about blood? [Zap.] What about right? [Zap.] What about wrong? [Zap.] What about your future? [Zap.] What about faith? [Zap.] What about sin? [Zap.] What about Hell? [Zap.] What about death? [Zap.] What about etern...

Delenn

ENOUGH! Your quarrel is with me! You were sent to investigate me! Let him go! If you want to take someone, then take me!

Sheridan

Mr...Sebastian, I did a little digging, based on what you told me. The records confirm you lived on Earth in the year 1888. The records also indicate that you vanished, suddenly, without a trace on November 11th, 1888. That's a very interesting date, Mr. Sebastian. The morning after the last of a string of murders in the East End.

The city was drowning in decay. Chaos. Immorality. A message needed to be sent, etched in blood for all the world to see. A warning. In the pursuit of my holy cause, I...did things. Terrible things. Unspeakable things. The world condemned me, but it didn't matter because I believed I was right and the world was wrong. I believed I was the divine messenger. I believed I was...

Sheridan

Chosen?

[after a pause] I was...found by the Vorlons. They showed me the terrible depth of my mistake, my crimes, my...presumption. I have done four hundred years of penance and service, a job for which they said I was ideally suited. Now, perhaps, they will finally let me die.

Sheridan

I think that might be wise.

[turning to board a Vorlon transport] Good luck to you in your holy cause, Captain Sheridan. May your choices have better results than mine. Remembered not as a messenger, remembered not as a reformer, not as a prophet, not as a hero...not even as Sebastian. Remembered only...as Jack.

John Sheridan

I suppose this...apology is already written?

No need. You can phrase the apology any way you see fit. As with everything else, it's the thought that counts.

John Sheridan

You've been back and forth to your homeworld so many times since you got here, how do I know you're the same Vorlon? Inside that Encounter Suit you could be anyone.

I have always been here.

Sheridan

Oh yeah? You said that about me too.

Yes.

Sheridan

[slightly unnerved] I really hate it when you do that.

Good.

Susan Ivanova

Leave it to you to try and take all the fun out of life. I mean, come on, where's your sense of mystery, of adventure?

Sheridan

Are you trying to cheer me up?

Ivanova

No, sir! Wouldn't dream of it.

Sheridan

Good! I hate being cheered up. It's...depressing.

Ivanova

So, in that case...we're all going to die horrible, painful, lingering deaths.

Sheridan

Thank you. I feel so much better now.

Sheridan

My God! It's beautiful!

Marcus Cole

Her name is the White Star. And she's yours, Captain.

Sheridan

Tell me, Commander...have you ever wondered what would happen if you opened a jump point while inside a jump gate?

Ivanova

No! And neither should you! EarthForce experimented with the idea during the Minbari War. They called it the Bonehead Maneuver. [to Lennier] No offense.

Lennier

[more curious than offended] None taken.

John Sheridan

I don't know what my superiors would say if I started showing up everywhere with a Narn bodyguard.

Ta'Lon

They will say, "Here is a man who will live to be a hundred and fifty!"