James T. Kirk quotes from Star Trek: The Original Series

Kirk

Well there it is - war. We didn't want it, but we've got it.

Spock

It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want.

Spock

Captain, our information on these people and their culture was not correct. This is not a primitive society making progress toward mechanization. They are totally stagnant. There is no evidence of any progress as far back as my tricorder can register.

Kirk

That doesn't seem likely.

Spock

Nevertheless, it is true. For tens of thousands of years, there's been absolutely no advancement, no significant change in their physical environment. This is a laboratory specimen of an arrested culture.

Kirk

What would you say the odds are on our getting out of here?

Spock

Difficult to be precise, Captain. I should say approximately seven thousand eight hundred twenty four point seven to one.

Kirk

Difficult to be precise? Seven thousand eight hundred and twenty four to one?

Spock

Seven thousand eight hundred twenty four point seven to one.

Kirk

That's a pretty close approximation.

Spock

I endeavor to be accurate.

Kirk

You do quite well.

Kirk

I'm embarrassed. I was furious with the Organians for stopping a war I didn't want. We think of ourselves as the most powerful beings in the universe. It's unsettling to discover that we're wrong.

Spock

Captain. It took millions of years for the Organians to evolve into what they are. Even the gods did not spring into being overnight. You and I have no reason to be embarrassed. We did, after all, beat the odds.

Kirk

Oh, no, no, no, Mr. Spock, we didn't beat the odds; we didn't have a chance. The Organians raided the game.

Kirk

Like Lazarus. Identical, yet both Lazarus. Except one is matter and the other antimatter. If they meet...

Spock

Annihilation Jim. Total, complete, absolute annihilation.

He'll kill us all if we don't kill him first! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!

McCoy

He's in a lot of pain!

Kirk

Sometimes pain can drive a man harder than pleasure. I'm sure you know that, Doctor!

Kirk

So you're the terrible thing? The murdering monster? The creature?

Yes, Captain. Or he is. It depends on your point of view, doesn't it?

Kirk

My friend is obviously Chinese. I see you've noticed the ears. They're actually easy to explain.

Spock

Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child.

Kirk

...The unfortunate accident he had as a child. He caught his head in a mechanical... rice picker.

Edith Keeler

I think that one day they're going to take all the money that they spend now on war and death...

Kirk

And make them spend it on life.

Spock

I am a Vulcan, doctor. Pain is a thing of the mind. The mind can be controlled.

Kirk

You're only half Vulcan. What about the human half?

Spock

It is proving to be an inconvenience, but it is manageable.

Spock

[presenting the first findings on the alien creature] Interesting, gentlemen. A one-cell creature resembling, more than anything else, a huge, individual brain cell.

Kirk

Yes. That would answer a lot of questions.

Spock

Do you understand what I'm suggesting, Captain?

Kirk

I think so. This may be one cell in a larger organism, an incredibly huge organism, in fact.

Spock

And although it is not physically connected to the other cells, it is, nevertheless, part of the whole creature, guided by the whole, drawing its strength from the whole, which probably accounts for its unusual resistance to our phaser weapons.

Kirk

Mr. Spock, regaining eyesight would be an emotional experience for most. You, I presume felt nothing?

Spock

Quite the contrary, Captain, I had a very strong reaction. My first sight was the face of Dr. McCoy bending over me.

McCoy

Hm, 'tis a pity brief blindness did not increase your appreciation for beauty, Mr. Spock.

McCoy

There's just one thing, Mr. Spock. You can't tell me that when you first saw Jim alive that you weren't on the verge of giving us an emotional scene that would have brought the house down.

Spock

Merely my quite logical relief that Starfleet had not lost a highly proficient captain.

Kirk

Yes, Mr. Spock, I understand.

Spock

Thank you, Captain.

McCoy

Of course, Mr. Spock. Your reaction was quite logical...

Spock

Thank you, Doctor.

McCoy

...in a pig's eye!

I am Apollo!

Chekov

[sarcastically] And I am the Tsar of all the Russias!

Kirk

Mr. Chekov...

Chekov

I'm sorry, Captain. I never met a god before.

Kirk

And you haven't yet.

Scotty

Captain, we've got to do something.

Kirk

We were doing something, until our brave lady stepped in and saved us.