Why are you stalling, Captain?
I don't want the game to end.
All S1
S1 E15Unfinished Business
Bad dreams?
The dreams are lovely. It's the waking up that I'm beginning to resent.
IInterviewer
What was it that you lost faith in, Admiral? You've never spoken about your departure from Starfleet. Didn't you, in fact, resign your commission in protest? Tell us, Admiral. Why did you really quit Starfleet?
Because it was no longer Starfleet.
IInterviewer
I'm sorry?
Because it was no longer Starfleet! We withdrew. The galaxy was mourning, burying its dead, and Starfleet had slunk from its duties. The decision to call off the rescue and to abandon those people we had sworn to save was not just dishonorable. It was downright criminal! And I was not prepared to stand by and be a spectator. And you, my dear, you have no idea what Dunkirk is, right? You're a stranger to history. You're a stranger to war. You just wave your hand and it all goes away. Well, it's not so easy for those who died. And it was not so easy for those who were left behind. We're done here.
DADahj Asha
Have you ever... been a stranger to yourself?
Many, many times.
I haven't been living. I've been waiting to die.
The daughter of the man whose death I have been mourning for two decades comes to me for help and assistance. And then she is assassinated in front of my eyes by a Romulan death squad who will then go and try and find and destroy her twin sister. And you want me to sit here worrying what to do about the spittlebugs on the pinots?
I want you not to die. No one but the Tal Shiar could ever protect you against the Tal Shiar.
ZZhaban
She's not wrong. You can't go without us.
Idiot! He cannot go at all. He's only safe here.
The sheer fucking hubris. You think you can just waltz back in here and be entrusted with taking men and women into space?
The Romulans were our enemies, and we tried to help them for as long as we could, but even before the synthetics attacked Mars, fourteen species within the Federation said 'Cut the Romulans loose, or we'll pull out.' It was a choice between allowing the Federation to implode, or letting the Romulans go.
The Federation does not get to decide if a species lives or dies.
Yes we do. We absolutely do. Thousands of other species depend upon us for unity, for cohesion. We didn't have enough ships left. We had to make choices, but the great Captain Picard didn't like his orders.
I was standing up for the Federation for what it represents! For what it should STILL represent!
How dare you lecture me!
ZZhaban
You need a crew. Riker. Worf. La Forge.
No. I thought about it. And they would do it in a heartbeat, and that's precisely why I cannot ask them. They would put themselves at risk out of loyalty to me, and I do not want to have to go through that again.
There isn't anything you could say that I'd want to hear.
Secret Romulan assassins are operating on Earth.
[Musiker looks at the bottle of wine Picard is carrying.]
Is that the '86? Goddammit.
There has to be something. Some last, desperate, wild solution, J.L.? That's what you do!
My resignation was the last, desperate, wild solution. I never believed that they would accept it.
RRamdha
Which sister are you? The one who dies or the one who lives?
EEMH
So are we excited? Intimidated? Maybe a teensy bit starstruck? Jean-Luc Picard! Chief contact with the Q Continuum. Arbiter of succession for the Klingon Empire. Savior of Earth from Borg invasion. Captain of the Enterprises D and E. The man even worked alongside the great Spock.
You are an emergency hologram. We no longer have a navigational emergency. Why are you still here?
EEMH
Well, someone is experiencing an acute moodiness overload. Picard is a good man, Captain Rios. He's on the side of the angels.
What's your book about?
The existential pain of living with the consciousness of death, and how it defines us as human beings.
Well, that's not a conversation killer at all.
Man can't even take a guilt trip without using a starship.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Star Trek: Picard pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.