They were able to communicate with me quite...I was about to say quite easily but there was nothing easy about it. Fortunately, they stopped short of overloading my circuitry.
Jean-Luc PicardYou're saying they? So it is a vessel of some sort?
Definitely not a single entity, if that's what you mean, sir, although they know the Edo worship them as a god thing.
Jean-Luc Picard
They know?
They recognize that this is quite expected and harmless at the present Edo stage of evolution.
Jean-Luc Picard
What sort of vessel?
It is perhaps not what we would understand as a vessel, sir. The dimensions this one occupies allows them to be... well, to be in several places at once, but they consider that this entire star cluster is theirs. It was probably unwise of us to attempt to place a human colony in this area. Of course, there are 3,004 other planets in this star cluster in which we could have colonized. The largest and closest...
Jean-Luc Picard
Data! Don't babble.
Babble, sir? I am not aware that I ever babble, sir. It may be that from time to time I have considerable information to communicate, and you may question the way in which I organize it...
Jean-Luc Picard
Please, organize it into brief answers to my questions. We have very little time. Do they accept our presence at this planet?
Jean-Luc Picard
Data, please feel free to volunteer any important information.
I volunteer that they are now observing us, sir.
Jean-Luc Picard
To judge what kind of life-forms we are?
No. It is more curiosity. I doubt that they expect us to abide by their value systems.
Jean-Luc Picard
Do they know of our Prime Directive?
They know everything I know, sir.
Jean-Luc Picard
And if we were to violate the Prime Directive...
That's not a fair question.
Jean-Luc Picard
How would they react?
That would be a case of judging us by our own rules, sir. If we violate our own Prime Directive they might consider us to be deceitful and untrustworthy. You do recall, they cautioned us not to interfere with their children below. What has happened?
The Edo want to execute my son.
What of justice to Wesley? Does he deserve to die?
[DELETED LINE] That is a moot issue, unfortunately. The law remains the law, regardless of whose favor it works in. Thus, the question becomes...Where is justice, save in equality?
Jean-Luc Picard
I'm truly sorry, Liator; but I must have justice for my people, too. Transporter Room, energize...Transporter Room, come in!
TTransporter Officer
We can't energize the beam, sir. Everything checks out, but we're getting no results.
FMFirst Mediator
God has prevented your escape.
Then your God is unfair. My son had no warning that his act was criminal.
SMSecond Mediator
We cannot allow ignorance of the law to become a defense.
Jean-Luc Picard
I don't know how to communicate this, or even if it is possible, but the question of justice has concerned me greatly of late. And I say, to any creature who may be listening, there can be no justice so long as laws are absolute. Life itself is an exercise in exceptions.
When has justice ever been as simple as a rule book?
[DELETED LINE] For us, the effectiveness of justice has always gone hand-in-hand with its simplicity.
FMFirst Mediator
[DELETED LINE] Ever since any of us can remember, there have been two basic types...those who live by the law, and those who die by it. Thus, the question becomes, How can there be justice when laws are anything but consistent?
SMSecond Mediator
[DELETED LINE] Making one exception, regardless of circumstances, would compel us to make more...and then still more, until the law became -- we believe you have a phrase for it -- until it became "nothing but words on paper". [sneers] Evidently, your idea of a just legal system is one so complicated that nobody can be punished for anything.
It is a gift from us with which we honor the hero of Maxia.
Jean-Luc Picard
Who?
Why you, Picard, of course. Do you not remember the Battle of Maxia?
Jean-Luc Picard
I'm sorry, I do not remember it, DaiMon Bok. Data?
Captain, he may refer to an incident which occurred nine years ago in the Maxia Zeta star system, in which an unidentified starship-
UNIDENTIFIED?! That fine vessel was Ferengi!
Which... you destroyed, sir.
Your shields were failing, sir.
Jean-Luc Picard
Mm-hmm. I... improvised. With the enemy vessel coming in for the kill, I ordered a sensor bearing, and when it came into the return arc...
You performed what Starfleet textbooks now refer to as the "Picard Maneuver."
Jean-Luc Picard
Well, I did what any good helmsman would have done. I dropped into high warp, stopped right off the enemy vessel's bow fired everything I had.
And blowing into maximum warp speed, you appeared for an instant to be in two places at once.
Jean-Luc Picard
And our attacker fired on the wrong one.
[Picard has just been released from Bok's mind control device]
Jean-Luc Picard
Bok! Where is Bok?!
Removed from command, sir. And placed under guard for his act of personal vengeance. Seems there was no profit in it.
Jean-Luc Picard
In revenge, there never is. Let the dead rest... and the past, remain the past. Enterprise, lock on. Beam me home, Riker.
"Life is but a walking shadow. A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Jean-Luc Picard
Interesting, Q.
Oh, thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Perhaps maybe a little Hamlet?
Picard
Oh, I know Hamlet. And what he might say with irony I say with conviction. "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason. How infinite in faculty. In form, in moving, how express and admirable. In action, how like an angel. In apprehension, how like a god."
Surely you don't see your species like that, do you?
Jean-Luc Picard
I see us one day becoming that, Q. Is it that which concerns you?
Jean-Luc Picard
Unless it's followed by?
The double bars indicate an elongated S sound.
Jean-Luc Picard
And the inverted T means to hold the Z.
Jean-Luc Picard
Unless it's followed by three wavy lines, in which case the Z becomes a B.
Jean-Luc Picard
What a language.
But you spell 'knife' with a K.
Jean-Luc Picard
I spell 'knife' with an N.
WTWilliam T. Riker
"What I don't understand sir, is how Karnas knew you were still… available."
JJameson
"Still alive, you mean."
KKarnas
So… Jameson, I see time has not been too kind."
JJameson
"It seldom is, Karnas."
KKarnas
They're dead Jameson a long time..you coming back to Mordan as you did 45 years before
JJameson
You've never forgiven me
KKarnas
If it's you, show me the scar."
JJameson
"There! The blood cut you gave me to seal our bargain!"
KKarnas
There die by your own weapons.....Rest, Jameson. Your long night… and mine, are over."
Jean-Luc Picard
Age and wisdom have their graces.
WTWilliam T. Riker
I wonder if one doesn't have to have age and wisdom to appreciate that, sir.
Jean-Luc Picard
I hope not, Number One. It would be such a waste of youth.
Jean-Luc Picard
Mister Crusher? Why aren't you in your dress uniform for Admiral Quinn's farewell dinner?
I didn't think that would be appropriate.
Jean-Luc Picard
Why not?
I failed, Captain. I didn't get into the Academy. I failed you and I failed the Enterprise.
Jean-Luc Picard
Ridiculous. Did you do your best?
Jean-Luc Picard
When you test next year, and you will test next year, do you think your performance will improve?
Jean-Luc Picard
Good. The only person you're truly competing against, Wesley, is yourself.
Then you're not disappointed?
Jean-Luc Picard
Wesley, you have to measure your successes and your failures within, not by anything I or anyone else might think. But, if it helps you to know this, I failed the first time. And you may not tell anyone!
Jean-Luc Picard
Yes. But not the second time. Now, you'll do me the courtesy of joining us at dinner. I have to disappoint an old friend.
Jean-Luc Picard
Can you filter out the extraneous information?
No, I get it all simultaneously.
Jean-Luc Picard
It's a jumble. How can you make heads or tails of it?
I select what I want to see and disregard the rest.
Jean-Luc Picard
How is that possible?
In a noisy room, how can you pick out one specific voice or sound?
Jean-Luc Picard
I see. Something you learn.
PThe Peddler
Whoever you are, wherever you're from, greetings! Welcome to Minos, The Arsenal of Freedom!
Jean-Luc Picard
I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterp...
PThe Peddler
If you need a little something "special", be it for one target or multiple targets, we've got it, you'll see it, here on Minos, where we live by the motto, "Peace through superior firepower."
Jean-Luc Picard
To whom am I speaking...?
PThe Peddler
To be totally armed is to be totally secure! Remember, the early bird that hesitates gets wormed.
It is a recorded message, sir.
PThe Peddler
Minos, the Arsenal of Freedom: perfection in highly advanced weaponry. Versatility, flexibility, and everything 100% guaranteed! So lock on to my signal and beam on down! Because we don't just provide weapons...
Jean-Luc Picard
Shut that off.
PThe Peddler
We provide complete weapons sys-
[the screen goes blank]
That's a heck of a sales pitch.
Star Trek: The Next Generation · 525 quotes
