G'Kar quotes from Babylon 5

Delenn

Human ways are often unfathomable. But in time, one learns to live with them.

G'Kar

If one has an exceedingly strong constitution.

G'Kar

What if I told you a ship is ready to spirit you away to Narn space?

Michael Garibaldi

I'd say "Why?"

G'Kar

You could serve us in various ways. Analyst, security, cryptographer. If you grow homesick we could arrange for your return to human space with proper genetic alterations. That, too, might serve our needs.

Garibaldi

You want me to betray my own world?

G'Kar

Stop seeing things in such absolute terms. The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest. Unless you comprehend that fact and soon, you will be cornered and caged.

G'Kar

You left your door unlocked, Ambassador. Careless of you. I thought it best to sit here and guard your room until you returned.

Londo

And did you find anything of interest in my humble quarters while you were 'guarding it'?

G'Kar

[obviously disappointed] No.

Amis

I have walked in the valley of th--

G'Kar

Good! Keep on walking.

G'Kar

I warn you Mariel, do not be overconfident. If I was married to Londo Mollari I'd be concerned.

Mariel

G'Kar, if you were married to Londo, we'd all be concerned.

G'Kar

How is the poor fellow? I was so looking forward to meeting him and opening up...a dialog.

Stephen Franklin

He said..."We're wrong. The hatred between our people can never end until someone is willing to say, 'I'm sorry'. And try and find a way to make things right again, to atone for our actions."

G'Kar

So you are going to allow this? Even over my objections?

John Sheridan

What, did I somehow turn invisible or something? Yes, Ambassador. The Emperor is allowed to come aboard. Now, if this bothers you, I suggest you stay in your quarters, stick your fingers in your ears, and hum real loud until it's over! Unless you'd like to try something as breathtakingly rational as trying to open up a dialog? G'Kar, you are in a position to directly negotiate with the head of the Centauri Republic, and you are wasting it on a tantrum!

G'Kar

My family lived in G'Kamazad, one of the larger cities on Narn. My father..."served" in a Centauri household during the last years of the rebellion. I was barely a pouchling at the time. My mother was ill, unable to escape through the underground, so we all stayed. It was a difficult time. We were striking deep into Centauri resources. Things were tense. One day my father spilled a cup of hot jala on the mistress of the house and...and she had him killed. They took him out, tied his hands together, and hung him from a jalwah tree for three days. I came to him the last night, against my mother's orders, and he looked down at me. He said he was proud, and to go and fight, and be all the things he never was. Then he died. The next morning I ran away and killed my first Centauri.

Why do you think they invaded back then?

G'Kar

Why does any advanced civilization seek to destroy a less-advanced one? Because the land is strategically valuable, because there are resources that can be cultivated and exploited, but most of all...simply because they can. You have experienced much the same on your own world. There are humans for whom the words "never again" carry special meaning. As they do for us.

Michael Garibaldi

Absolutely. Sure, when things get tense out here, we have to be careful. Our search of the Centauri vessels we captured proved that they were bringing in weapons of mass destruction, offloading them outside the station, and sending them on to the front lines. Now that we know that, we can make sure it doesn't happen any more. We learn. It's what humans do.

Londo Mollari

Misunderstandings aside, yes! I definitely think it's worth it. We must simply work harder to make sure we communicate with one another to prevent this sort of tragic situation from ever happening again! A violent attack by Narn forces is an unacceptable response to a peaceful protest by my government. And with the intervention of Earth, perhaps we can keep them from making a similar mistake in the future.

G'Kar

I don't know any more. I used to think so, but now...

Susan Ivanova

Yes.

Delenn

Of course it is. For the simple reason that no one else would ever build a place like this. Humans share one unique quality: They build communities. If the Narns or Centauri or any other race built a station like this, it would be used only by their own people. But everywhere humans go, they create communities out of diverse and sometimes hostile populations. It is a great gift, and a terrible responsibility--one that cannot be abandoned.

Well...I guess we'll just have to see...won't we?

Franklin

All right, Med 2--go, go! Look, if we weren't here right now, half the people in this room would be dead! Now that should be a good enough answer for anyone.

Sure! What, are you kidding? I have a retirement pension to make, you know?

John Sheridan

Yes. But not for any of the reasons that you've probably been told. The job of Babylon 5 is not to enforce the peace. It's to create the peace. And this place was built on the assumption that we could work out our problems and build a better future. And that, to me, is the key issue. See, in the last few years, we've stumbled. We stumbled at the death of the President, the war, and on and on. And when you stumble a lot, you...you start looking at your feet. Well, we have to make people...lift their eyes back to the horizon, and see the line of ancestors behind us, saying, "Make my life have meaning." And to our inheritors before us, saying, "Create the world we will live in." I mean, w-we're not just...holding jobs and having dinner. We are in the process of building the future. That's what Babylon 5 is all about.

Londo Mollari

There, you see? I'm going to live!

G'Kar

So it would seem. Well, it is an imperfect universe.

Londo

Bastard.

G'Kar

Monster.

Londo

Fanatic!

G'Kar

Murderer!

Londo

You are insane!

G'Kar

And that is why we'll win.

Londo

"Go be the ambassador to Babylon 5," they say. "It will be an easy assignment!" I hate my life.

G'Kar

So do I.

Londo

Shut up!

G'Kar

If I stay here, your families are in jeopardy. Is anything more important than their safety?

Yes. Their freedom. It's better to die in the cause of freedom than to live in comfort as a slave.

G'Kar

I told you I could help. The Book of G'Quan. Read it. We'll talk afterwards.

Garibaldi

I don't read Narn.

G'Kar

[walking away from Garibaldi's quarters] Learn!

G'Kar

You must understand, Ta'Lon. I have had a revelation!

Ta'Lon

What kind of revelation?

G'Kar

A most profound and substantial one, Ta'Lon. The kind of revelation that transforms your mind, your soul, your heart--even your flesh--so that you are a new creature, reborn in the instant of understanding.

Ta'Lon

That was a stirring reply, Citizen G'Kar. Unfortunately, while all answers are replies, not all replies are answers. You did not answer the question that I asked. What do you understand now that you did not understand before?

Breen! You've managed to import breen from Homeworld! How?

G'Kar

It, uh...isn't actually breen.

The smell, the taste--!

G'Kar

It's an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs. It's a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs! I suspect it's one of those great universal mysteries which will either never be explained, or which would drive you mad if you ever learned the truth.[N]

Garibaldi

It's easy to fight when you've got a lot of ships to work with. The real crunch comes when you're down to almost nothing! Then you either play it safe and you probably lose it all, or you take a chance! After what we've been through with your people, Sheridan was crazy to send our pilots out to fight for your ship! They didn't want to go, they didn't want to get blown out of the sky and leave B5 defenseless, and they sure as hell didn't want to die! But they did it because Sheridan told them to do it and because it was right!

G'Kar

This time it is possible he could be wrong.

Garibaldi

Yeah, it's possible. But you don't follow an order because you know for sure it's gonna work out! You do what you're told! Because your CO has the moral authority that says, "You may not come back! But the cause is just and fair and necessary!" That's why Sheridan is out there, and damn it, that's where that cruiser should be, too! It's not Na'Kal's decision, G'Kar. He doesn't see the big picture--you do! So in my book, and your book, that makes it your responsibility! Deal with it!