Shared with you
- Lt. Tasha Yar: Captain, so far we've obeyed every order, no matter how far-fetched it might have seemed. But if we're to risk the safety of the ship and crew, I think we have to ask you for an explanation.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I understand your concerns, Lieutenant; and I know that if I were in your position, I would be doing the same thing - looking for answers. But you're not gonna find any, because I don't have any to give you. I know it is difficult for you to understand, but we have to take the ship into the very center of the phenomenon and create a static warp shell. Now, this will put the ship at risk. Quite frankly, we may not survive. But I want you to believe that I am doing this for a greater purpose, and that what is at stake here is more than any of you can possibly imagine. I know you have your doubts about me, about each other, about this ship. All I can say is that although we have only been together for a short time, I know that you are the finest crew in the fleet. And I would trust each of you with my life. So, I am asking you for a leap of faith - and to trust me.
- Capt. Picard: I sincerely hope that this is the last time that I find myself here.
- Q: You just don't get it, do you, Jean-Luc? The trial never ends. We wanted to see if you had the ability to expand your mind and your horizons. And for one brief moment, you did.
- Capt. Picard: When I realized the paradox.
- Q: Exactly. For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you had never considered. *That* is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence.
- Capt. Picard: [of Q] He's always had a certain fascination with humanity, with myself in particular. I think he has more than a passing interest in what happens to me.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: That is true. Q's interest in you has always been very similar to that of a master and his beloved pet.
- Geordi La Forge: Captain Picard to the bridge! Captain, we've got a problem with the warp core, or the phase inducers - or some other damn thing.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: Personally, I think you just enjoy waking everybody up in the middle of the night.
- Capt. Picard: Actually, I really like running around the ship in my bare feet.
- Captain Beverly Picard: I've prepared quarters for you on deck 5. You might want to get some rest.
- Picard: No, I'm fine. I don't need rest.
- Captain Beverly Picard: Nell, please escort the Ambassador to his quarters.
- Picard: Look, you're treating me as if I am an invalid. But I do have a few years left in me yet. I do not want to be led around, and I do not want to be patronized!
- Captain Beverly Picard: You're right. I'm sorry.
- Picard: Now I'll go and get some rest.
- [first lines]
- Counselor Deanna Troi: [exiting the holodeck] That was an incredible program!
- Lieutenant Worf: I am glad you approve. I have always found the Black Sea at night to be a most stimulating experience.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Worf - we were walking barefoot on the beach, with balalaika music in the air, ocean breeze washing over us, stars in the sky, a full moon rising - and the most you can say is "stimulating"?
- Lieutenant Worf: It was... *very* stimulating.
- Q: The Continuum didn't think you had it in you, Jean-Luc. But I knew you did.
- Capt. Picard: Are you saying that it worked? We collapsed the anomaly?
- Q: Is that all this meant to you? Just another spatial anomaly, just another day at the office?
- Capt. Picard: Did it work?
- Q: Well, you're here, aren't you? You're talking to me, aren't you?
- Capt. Picard: What about my crew?
- Q: [scoffs] The anomaly, my ship, my crew; I suppose you're worried about your fish, too. If it puts your mind at ease - you've saved humanity, once again.
- Captain Beverly Picard: Jean-Luc, crossing into Klingon territory, it's absurd. But then I never could say "no" to you.
- Picard: Oh, so that's why you married me.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [in the past timeline] Tea, Earl Grey, hot.
- Enterprise Computer: That beverage has not been programmed into the replication system.
- Admiral William T. Riker: [about his relationship with Troi] I didn't want to admit that it was over. I always thought that we would get together again. And then she was gone. You think you have all the time in the world, until... Yeah...
- Q: Goodbye, Jean-Luc. I'm gonna miss you. You had such potential. But then again, all good things must come to an end.
- Geordi La Forge: Hello, Captain. Or should I call you 'Ambassador'?
- Picard: Oh, I haven't been called that for some time either.
- Geordi La Forge: How about 'Mr. Picard'?
- Picard: How about 'Jean-Luc'?
- Q: You see this? This is you. I'm serious! Right here, life is about to form on this planet for the very first time. A group of amino acids are about to combine to form the first protein - the building blocks...
- [chuckles]
- Q: ...of what you call "life". Strange, isn't it? Everything you know, your entire civilization, it all begins right here in this little pond of goo. Appropriate somehow, isn't it? Too bad you didn't bring your microscope; it's really quite fascinating. Oh, look! There they go. The amino acids are moving closer and closer, and closer. Ooh! Nothing happened. See what you've done?
- [Worf has denied the Pasteur to cross the border into Klingon space, referring to "regulations"]
- Picard: Well, I know that I am an old man and I am out of touch. But the Worf that I remember was more concerned with things like honor and loyalty than rules and regulations. But that was a long time ago, and maybe you're not the Worf I once knew.
- [Worf curses in Klingon]
- Worf: You have always used your knowledge of Klingon honor and tradition to get what you want from me.
- Picard: Because it always works, Worf! Your problem is that you really *do* have a sense of honor, and you really *do* care about trust and loyalty. Don't blame me for knowing you so well.
- Picard: Beverly, I cannot believe that you are not willing to stay here until we...
- Captain Beverly Picard: [interrupting] Don't you ever question my orders on the bridge of my ship again!
- Picard: Damn it, I was just trying to... Look, there are larger concerns here. What you don't understand is...
- Captain Beverly Picard: [interrupting] I understand that you would never have tolerated that kind of behavior back on the Enterprise, and I won't here. I don't care if you're my ex-captain *or* my ex-husband!
- Captain Beverly Picard: Do you really think he's moving through time?
- [La Forge and Data look very skeptical]
- Captain Beverly Picard: I'm not sure I do either. But he's Jean-Luc Picard, and if he wants to go on one more mission, that's what we're going to do.
- Capt. Picard: I prefer to look on the future as something which is not written in stone. A lot of things can happen in 25 years.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: [kisses him] A lot of things can happen...
- Q: The trial never ended, Captain. We never reached a verdict. But now we have. You're guilty.
- Capt. Picard: Guilty of what?
- Q: Of being inferior. Seven years ago, I said we'd be watching you, and we have been - hoping that your ape-like race would demonstrate *some* growth, give *some* indication that your minds had room for expansion. But what have we seen instead? You, worrying about Commander Riker's career. Listening to Counselor Troi's pedantic psychobabble. Indulging Data in his witless exploration of humanity.
- Capt. Picard: We've journeyed to countless new worlds. We've contacted new species. We have expanded our understanding of the universe.
- Q: In your own paltry, limited way. You have no *idea* how far you still have to go. But instead of using the last seven years to change and to grow, you have squandered them.
- Commander Tomalak: [of Picard's proposal] Has Starfleet Command approved this arrangement?
- Capt. Picard: No.
- Commander Tomalak: I like it already. Agreed.
- Capt. Picard: We are what we are, and we're doing the best we can. It is not for you to set the standards by which we should be judged!
- Q: Oh, but it is, and we have. Time may be eternal, Captain, but our patience is not. It's time to put an end to your trek through the stars, make room for other more worthy species.
- Capt. Picard: You're going to deny us travel through space?
- Q: [laughs] No! You obtuse piece of flotsam! You're to be denied *existence*. Humanity's fate has been sealed. You will be destroyed.
- Capt. Picard: [learning that he successfully collapsed the anomaly] Thank you.
- Q: For what?
- Capt. Picard: You had a hand in helping me get out of this.
- Q: I was the one that got you into it. A directive from the Continuum. The part about the helping hand, though... was my idea.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: Look, I don't know whether you've slept in the past or in the future. But I'm sure you haven't slept in the present. Now, get some rest, or I'll have you relieved and sedated.
- Capt. Picard: Yes, sir.
- Picard: It's like the chicken and the egg, Will, the chicken and the egg! We-we think it started in the past, but it didn't. It started right here, in the future! That's why it's getting larger in the past.
- Data: I think I know what the Captain is talking about. If I'm not mistaken, he's describing a paradox.
- Picard: Yes, right, that's it!
- O'Brien: We have to realign the entire power grid. We'll all be burning the midnight oil on this one.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: [passing] That would be inadvisable.
- O'Brien: Excuse me?
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: If you attempt to ignite a petroleum product on this ship at 0000 hours, you will activate the fire suppression system, which would seal off this entire compartment.
- O'Brien: That was just an expression.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: Expression of what?
- O'Brien: A figure of speech. I was trying to tell him that we'd be working late.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: Ah. Then 'to burn the midnight oil' implies late work?
- O'Brien: Yeah, that's right.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: Hm. I am curious. What is the etymology of that idiom?
- O'Brien: Hm?
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: How did it come to be used in contemporary language?
- O'Brien: I-I don't know, sir.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: [having heard 'burning the midnight oil'] It appears we will be required to ignite the midnight petroleum, sir.
- [Q has given Picard the chance to ask ten yes/no questions]
- Capt. Picard: ...Is it part of a Romulan plot, a ploy to start a war?
- Q: No and no.
- [crowd jeers]
- Q: *Five* down!
- Capt. Picard: That's only four!
- Q: "Is it a Romulan plot?" "Is it a ploy to start a war?" Those are *separate* questions.
- Capt. Picard: [sighs] Did you create the anomaly?
- Q: No, no, no!
- [laughs]
- Q: You're going to be so surprised when you realize where it came from...
- Q: [suddenly menacing] if you ever figure it out.
- Capt. Picard: Are you responsible for my shifting through time?
- Q: I'll answer that question if you promise you won't tell anyone.
- Q: [leans in, whispers] Yes!
- Capt. Picard: Why?
- Q: Sorry! That's not a yes or no question. You forfeit the rest of your questions.
- [reading his orders to take command of the Enterprise, during which he is distracted several times by visions of Q's laughing and jeering minions from "Encounter at Farpoint"]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "To Captain Jean-Luc Picard, stardate 41148... You are hereby requested and required to take command... to take command of the USS Enterprise as of this date. Signed, Rear Admiral Norah Satie, Starfleet Command."
- [the visions get the better of him]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Red alert! All crew to battle stations!
- Lt. Tasha Yar: You heard him! Move!
- [La Forge's last line of the series]
- Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Sure goes against everything we've always heard about not polluting the timeline, doesn't it?
- Lieutenant Worf: [in a poker round] Four hands in a row. How does he do it?
- Commander William T. Riker: I cheat.
- [Data looks up, suspicious]
- Commander William T. Riker: I'm kidding!
- Capt. Picard: We demonstrated to you that mankind had become peaceful and benevolent. You agreed and you let us go on our way. Now why am I standing here again?
- Q: Oh, you'd like me to connect the dots for you, lead you from A to B to C, so that your puny mind could comprehend? How boring.
- [Q's last line of the series]
- Q: In any case, I'll be watching. And if you're very lucky, I'll drop by to say hello from time to time. See you... out there!
- Capt. Picard: The last time that I stood here was seven years ago.
- Q: Seven years ago! How little do you mortals understand time. Must you be so linear, Jean-Luc?
- Capt. Picard: You accused me of being the representative of a... a barbarous species.
- Q: I believe my exact words were "a dangerous, savage child-race."
- Admiral William T. Riker: All right, let's get out of here.
- Picard: No, Will, we can't! We have to save humanity!
- [Crusher's last line of the series]
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: You know, I was thinking about what the Captain told us all about the future. About how we all changed and drifted apart. Why would he want to tell us what's to come?
- Lt. Tasha Yar: Captain, so far we've obeyed every order, no matter how far-fetched it might have seemed. But if we're to risk the safety of the ship and crew, I think we have to ask you for an explanation.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I understand your concerns, Lieutenant; and I know that if I were in your position, I would be doing the same thing - looking for answers. But you're not gonna find any, because I don't have any to give you. I know it is difficult for you to understand, but we have to take the ship into the very center of the phenomenon and create a static warp shell. Now, this will put the ship at risk. Quite frankly, we may not survive. But I want you to believe that I am doing this for a greater purpose, and that what is at stake here is more than any of you can possibly imagine. I know you have your doubts about me, about each other, about this ship. All I can say is that although we have only been together for a short time, I know that you are the finest crew in the fleet. And I would trust each of you with my life. So, I am asking you for a leap of faith - and to trust me.
- Picard: This is not my time. I don't belong here.
- Geordi La Forge: What?
- Picard: I was somewhere else a few moments ago.
- Geordi La Forge: What do you mean? You've... you've been right here with me.
- Picard: No, no, no! I was somewhere else. I was... It was a long time ago, there was someone talking. I was t... I w... I-I... I was talking to someone. Beverly. I was talking to Beverly!
- Geordi La Forge: It's okay, Captain. Everything's gonna be all right.
- Picard: I'm not senile, you know. This did happen! I-I... I was here, I was talking to you, and then... and then I was somewhere else. I was, er... I was on the Enterprise. I was back on the Enterprise. At least I... I think that's where it was. I was in sickbay! I, er... Well, it-it might, it might have been a hospital...
- Geordi La Forge: Captain, I think we should go back to the house and call your doctor.
- Picard: Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking; "It's the Irumodic Syndrome. He's beginning to lose his mind, the old man." Well, it's not that! And I'm not daydreaming either!
- Picard: Data, find the USS Pasteur. I... I have some pull with the Captain. At least, I used to have.
- Captain Beverly Picard: I'll stay here six hours longer, and then we're heading home... I want you to remember - if it were anyone else but you, we wouldn't even be here.
- Captain Beverly Picard: [offering Picard her captain's chair] Once more, for old times' sake?
- Picard: [sits down] Engage.