Michael Burnham quotes from Star Trek: Discovery

Michael Burnham

We come from a tradition of tolerance, freedom, and justice.

Michael Burnham

You wanna know how I turned on you? I believed saving you and the crew was more important than Starfleet's principles. Was it logical? Emotional? I don't know.

Michael Burnham

From my youth on Vulcan, I was raised to believe that service was my purpose. And I carried that conviction to Starfleet. I dreamed of a day when I would command my own vessel, and further the noble objectives of this great institution. That dream is over. The only ship I know in ruins, my crew gone, my captain – my friend – dead. I wanted to protect them from war…from the enemy. And now we are at war…and I am the enemy.

Michael Burnham

Before I was a mutineer, I was a first officer in Starfleet. I'll never bear that rank, or any other, again. But it is who I am, and who I will always be. It is by the principles of the United Federation of Planets that I live. And by them, I will most certainly die.

Michael Burnham

You judge the creature by its appearance, and one single incident from its past. Nothing in its biology suggests it would attack, except in self-defense. Commander, this creature is an unknown alien. It can only be what it is, not what you want it to be.

Michael Burnham

Just as repetition reinforces repetition, change begets change....Sometimes the only way to find out where you fit in is to step out of the routine. Because sometimes, where you really belong was waiting right around the corner all along.

Michael Burnham

A year ago, I stood alone. I believed that our survival was more important than our principles. I was wrong. Do we need a mutiny today to prove who we are?

Michael Burnham

We are no longer on the eve of battle. Even so, I come to ask myself the same question that young soldier asked the general all those years ago: 'How do I defeat fear?' The general's answer? 'The only way to defeat fear is to tell it no.' No, we will NOT take shortcuts on the path to righteousness. No, we will NOT break the rules that protect us from our basest instincts. No, we will NOT allow desperation to destroy moral authority. I am guilty of all these things.

Michael Burnham

There are so many reasons to join Starfleet. We get to reach for the stars. We get to reach for the best in ourselves. But, most important, we get to reach for each other. We get to do what we love alongside colleagues who become friends… who become family. And who better to stand with, shoulder to shoulder, facing those pivotal moments? Who more painful to let go?

Burnham

Who are you? Really?!

Michael Burnham

We come in peace, that's why we're here. Isn't that the whole idea of Starfleet?

Philippa Georgiou

Hey – I taught you that.

My cousin was on the Europa when it went down. She and eight thousand others are dead because of you.

Michael Burnham

Eight thousand, one hundred and eighty-six.

Michael Burnham

I was raised on Vulcan, and attended the Vulcan Science Academy.

Paul Stamets

My Uncle Everett plays in a Beatles cover band, it hardly makes him John Lennon.

Michael Burnham

When I was a kid, after my parents were killed my foster mother on Vulcan used to read it to me and her son. She and I were the only humans in the house. That's how I learned that the real world doesn't always adhere to logic. Sometimes down is up. Sometimes up is down. Sometimes, when you're lost, you're found.

Sylvia Tilly

What was her name?

Michael Burnham

Amanda.

Michael Burnham

The phaser will only piss him off.

Paul Stamets

Think of it as a placebo for my skepticism.