Your problem is that you can't accept change.
I can't accept change?
That's right.
You've got to be kidding. I've changed bodies six times!
S6 E16Change of Heart
[At Deep Space 9, after Worf aborts the mission to rescue a Dominion defector to get Jadzia medical treatment]
What's the word?
She is still in surgery, but Doctor Bashir is hopeful she will make a full recovery.
Lasaran's dead. Starfleet Intelligence intercepted a transmission saying that he'd been killed trying to re-enter the base at Soukara. Could you have made the rendezvous?
Yes.
Yet you turned back to save Jadzia?
Yes.
Were you aware that the information that man had could have saved millions of lives?
Yes.
So what happened?
You may not understand.
Try me.
You were at my wedding. You heard the story of the first two Klingon hearts and how nothing could stand against them, and how they even destroyed the gods that created them. I have heard that story since I was a boy but I never understood it, I mean really understood it, until I was standing in the jungle with my heart pounding in my chest and I found that even I could not stand against my own heart. I had to go back and it did not matter what Starfleet thought or what the consequences were. She was my wife and I could not leave her.
As your captain, it is my duty to tell you that you made the wrong choice. I don't think Starfleet will file any formal charges. Even a secret court martial would run the risk of revealing too much about their intelligence operations. But this will go into your service record, and to be completely honest, you probably won't be offered a command on your own after this.
I understand.
I have also issued new orders. You and Jadzia are not to be assigned to a mission on your own ever again. And one last thing. As a man who had a wife, if Jennifer had been lying in that clearing, I wouldn't have left her either.
S6 E17Wrongs Darker than Death or Night
Well, if you won't talk about it, perhaps you should consider doing something about it.
[After Kira's experience with the Orb of Time proved her mother was Gul Dukat's mistress]
I've always hated collaborators. I mean, what could be worse than betraying your own people? During the occupation, if I ever had doubt about what their fate should be, all I would think of my mother, how she gave her life for Bajor. She was a hero, they were traitors. It was that simple. Or so I thought.
She did what she had to do to save her family. To save you.
It doesn't make it right.
Maybe not, but it was her decision to make.
I did some checking. She died in a Cardassian hospital seven years after she met Dukat. Seven years. Do you know how many Bajorans died in labour camps during that time? Died, while my mother sat sipping kanar with Dukat.
Tell me something, Nerys. If you hate her that much, why did you save her life?
Believe me, there's a part of me that wishes that I hadn't. But the fact is, no matter what she did, she was still my mother.
S6 E18Inquisition
Let's just say I belong to another branch of Starfleet Intelligence. Our official designation is Section 31.
Never heard of it.
We keep a low profile. Works out better that way for all concerned.
And what does Section 31 do, apart from kidnapping Starfleet officers?
We search out and identify potential dangers to the Federation.
And once identified?
We deal with them.
How?
Quietly.
So if I had been a Dominion agent, what would have happened to me?
We wouldn't be standing here having this conversation.
[appalled] Starfleet sanctions what you're doing?
We don't submit reports or ask approval for specific operations, if that's what you mean. We're an autonomous department.
Authorized by whom?
Section 31 was part of the original Starfleet charter.
But that was 200 years ago. Are you telling me you've been working on your own, ever since? Without specific orders? Accountable to nobody but yourselves?
You make it sound so ominous.
Isn't it? Because if what you say to me is true, you function as judge, jury, and executioner, and I think that's too much power. For anyone.
We're on the same team. We believe in the same principles that every other Federation citizen holds dear.
And yet you violate those principles as a matter of course.
In order to protect them.
Well, I'm sorry. But the ends don't always justify the means.
Really? [considers for a moment] How many lives do you suppose you've saved in your medical career?
What has that got to do with anything?
Hundreds? Thousands? Do you suppose those people give a damn that you lied to get into Starfleet Medical? I doubt it. We deal with threats to the Federation that jeopardize its very survival. If you knew how many lives we've saved, I think you'd agree that the ends do justify the means. Now, I'm not afraid of bending the rules every once in a while if the situation warrants it. And I don't think you are, either.
S6 E19In the Pale Moonlight
Thank you, Captain. Thank you for restoring my faith in the 98th Rule of Acquisition: "Every man has his price."
My father always used to say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I laid the first stone right there. I'd committed myself. I'd pay any price, go to any lengths, because my cause was righteous, my intentions were good.
That was my first moment of real doubt, when I started to wonder if this whole thing was a mistake. So then I went back to my office. And there was a new casualty list, waiting for me. People are dying out there, every day! Entire worlds are struggling for their freedom, and here I am still worrying about the finer points of morality! No, I, I had to keep my eye on the ball, win the war, stopping the bloodshed—those were the priorities. So I pushed on, and every time another doubt appeared before me, I just found another way to shove it aside.
[threatening Tolar] If that program passes inspection, you walk free. But if there is even the slightest flaw, then I will send you back to that Klingon prison, and tell Gowron to take his time while he executes you.
Welcome aboard, Senator, I'm Captain Benjamin Sisko.
VVreenak
So... you're the Commander of Deep Space Nine and the Emissary to the Prophets, decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor, and oh yes, the man who started the war with the Dominion. Somehow, I thought you'd be taller.
Sorry to disappoint you.
VVreenak
To be honest, my opinion of Starfleet Officers is so low, you'd have to work very hard indeed to disappoint me.
Who's watching Tolar?
I've locked him in his quarters. I've also left him with the distinct impression that if he attempts to force the door open, it may explode.
I hope that's just an impression.
It's best not to dwell on such minutiae.
[Sisko, having realised Garak has assassinated the Romulan Senator Vreenak to provoke the Romulan Star Empire to enter the Dominion War on the Federation's side, storms into Garak's shop and strikes him]
You killed him.
That's right.
That's what you planned to do all along, isn't it? You knew the data rod wouldn't hold up to scrutiny: you just wanted to get him on the station so you could plant a bomb on his shuttle!
It wasn't quite that simple. I did have hopes that the rod would somehow pass inspection, but I suspected that Tolar might not be up to the task.
And what about Tolar? Did you kill him too?
Think of them both as tragic victims of war. [a furious Sisko strikes Garak again] If you could allow your anger to subside for a moment, you'll see that they did not die in vain! The Romulans will enter the war!
There's no guarantee of that!
Oh, but I think that there is. You see, when the Tal Shiar finishes examining the wreckage of Vreenak's shuttle, they'll find the burnt remnants of a Cardassian optolithic data rod which somehow miraculously survived the explosion. After painstaking forensic examination, they'll discover that the rod contains a recording of a high level Dominion meeting at which the invasion of Romulus was being planned.
And then they'll discover that it is a fraud!
Oh, I don't think that they will! Because any imperfections in the forgery will appear to be a result of the explosion! So, with a seemingly legitimate rod in one hand, and a dead Senator in the other, I ask you, Captain—what conclusion would you draw?
[sighs] That Vreenak obtained the rod on Soukara, and that the Dominion killed him to prevent him from returning to Romulus with it.
Precisely! And the more the Dominion protests its innocence, the more the Romulans will believe that they're guilty because it is exactly what the Romulans would have done in their place. [pauses]That's why you came to me. Isn't it, Captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing. Well, it worked. And you'll get what you want—a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant. And all it cost was the life of one Romulan Senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain.
At 0800 hours, station time, the Romulan Empire formally declared war on the Dominion. They have already struck fifteen bases along the Cardassian border. So, this is a huge victory for the good guys! This may even be the turning point of the entire war. There is even a 'Welcome to the Fight' party tonight in the ward room. So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all is—I think I can live with it. And if I'd have to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing. A guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant, so I will learn to live with it... because I can live with it. [pauses] I can live with it. [pauses] Computer, erase that entire personal log.
VVreenak
It's a faaaaaaake!!!!!!!
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Deep Space Nine pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.