Jean-Luc Picard Can anyone remember when we used to be explorers?
2nd most-quoted character in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998): in 27 of its 46 quotes
Most scenes with: Adhar Ru'afo (15), Admiral Matthew Dougherty (5), Anij (5)
But some of the darkest chapters in the history of my world involved the forced relocation of a small group of people to satisfy the demands of a large one. I'd hoped that we had learned from our mistakes but it seems some of us haven't.
More lines from Jean-Luc Picard
8 quotes Jean-Luc Picard Jean-Luc Picard How many people does it take before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Ten thousand? A million? How many people DOES IT TAKE, admiral?
Jean-Luc Picard I am not pleading for my life. I'm pleading for yours.
Jean-Luc Picard Mr. Worf, destroy that thing.
Jean-Luc Picard Ru'afo, we're getting too old for this.
Jean-Luc Picard Sorry. Time's up.
Jean-Luc Picard Come out, come out, wherever you are.
Jean-Luc Picard And you? It's turned you into a coward. A man who denies his own conscience. A coward without the moral courage to prevent an atrocity. You offend me.
Scenes with Jean-Luc Picard
18 scenes
You either need a new uniform or a new neck.
Jean-Luc Picard Euchene Chefaw. My collar size is exactly as it was at the Academy.
Of course it is.
Our guests have arrived. They are eating the floral arrangements on the banquet tables.
I guess they don't believe in cocktails before dinner.
Oh, my God. Are they vegetarian? That wasn't in the report!.
Jean-Luc Picard Perhaps we should have the chef whip up a light balsamic vinaigrette-- Something that goes well with chrysanthemums.
Jean-Luc Picard Mr. Worf, do you know Gilbert and Sullivan?
No, sir. I have not had a chance to meet all the new crew members since I have been back.
Jean-Luc Picard They're composers, Worf. From the 19th century.
I seem to be missing several memory engrams. [Geordi shows several microchips he is holding] There they are.
Jean-Luc Picard Data, what's the last thing that you remember?
Jean-Luc Picard Uh, from the mission.
I was in an isolation suit gathering physiometric data on the Ba'Ku. My last memory is going into the hills following some children.
Help! I can't swim!
Jean-Luc Picard Don't panic!
I've been shot at, thrown into a lake out of a ship that's come to abduct us - what's there to panic about?
In the event of a water landing, I have been designed to serve as a flotation device.
Jean-Luc Picard Mr. Worf, did the hostages mentioned anything about a cloaked ship during their debriefing?
No, sir.
Jean-Luc Picard Debrief them again. [Notices a huge blemish on Worf's face] Have you been in a fight, Mr. Worf?
Jean-Luc Picard Gorch?
Jean-Luc Picard Oh, well, it's, uh-- it's hardly noticeable.
I beg your pardon, sir?
Jean-Luc Picard A perfect moment?
When time seemed to stop and you could almost live in that moment.
Jean-Luc Picard Seeing my home planet from space for the first time.
Yes... exactly. Nothing more complicated than perception.
Jean-Luc Picard I wish I could spare a few centuries to learn.
It took us centuries to learn that it doesn't have to take centuries to learn.
Jean-Luc Picard There's one thing I don't understand. In 300 years, you never learn to swim?
Ha ha ha! I just haven't got around to it yet.
Am I to understand that you are not releasing my men, captain?
Jean-Luc Picard We found the holoship.
Ru'afo, why don't you let the captain and me--
NO!!!
[The skin on Ru'afo's forehead breaks and begins to bleed]
This entire mission has been one Federation blunder after another. You will return my men... or this alliance will end with the destruction of your ship.
Jean-Luc Picard We are betraying the principles upon which the Federation was founded. It's an attack upon its very soul. And it will destroy the Ba'ku... just as cultures have been destroyed in every other forced relocations throughout history.
Jean-Luc, we're only moving 600 people.
Jean-Luc Picard How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many people does it take, Admiral?
I'm ordering you to the Goran system. I'm also ordering the release of the Son'a officers. File whatever protest you wish to, Captain. By the time you do, this will all be done.
It's been 300 years since I've seen a bald man.
Jean-Luc Picard How is it that you never married? And don't tell me it's just because you haven't got around to it yet.
What's the rush?
Jean-Luc Picard I should warn you, I've always been attracted to older women.
Order them to surrender, and I promise, you won't be court-martialed.
Jean-Luc Picard If a court-martial is the only way to let the people of the Federation know what is happening here, I welcome it.
Jean-Luc Picard You've brought the Federation in the middle of a blood feud, Admiral. The children have returned to expel their elders, just as they were once expelled, except that Ru'afo's need for revenge has now escalated into patricide.
It... was for the Federation. It was all for the Federation.
Subadhar Gallatin Is this how a Federation officer pleads for his life?
Jean-Luc Picard I am not pleading for my life. I am pleading for yours.
Jean-Luc Picard Ru'afo, we're getting too old for this.
After today, that won't be a problem for either of us.
Jean-Luc Picard You're really going to risk ingniting the exhaust? [Ru'afo lowers his weapon] All right. I will!
NO!!!
Lieutenant Daniels Sir, Ru'afo's ship is hailing us.
Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker
On screen. [they exchange looks]
Captain, the Son'a crew would like to negotiate a cease-fire. It may have something to do with the fact that we have three minutes of air left.
Jean-Luc Picard We have plenty over here, Mr. Worf. Prepare to beam aboard.
Jean-Luc Picard Our people have a strict policy of non-interference in other cultures. It's our Prime Directive.
Your directive apparently doesn't include spying on other cultures.
Jean-Luc Picard (carefully, still trying to uphold the Directive by not telling them more than they need to know): The artificial lifeform is a member of my crew. Apparently, he was taken ill.
Tournel There was a phase variance in his positronic matrix which we were unable to repair.
I think the Captain finds it hard to believe that we'd have any skills for repairing positronic devices.
Sojef Our technological abilities are not apparent because we have chosen not to employ them in our daily lives. We believe when you create a machine to do the work of a man, you take something away from the man.
But at one time, we explored the galaxy just as you do.
Jean-Luc Picard (startled as he realises how badly the Federation has underestimated the Ba'ku): You have warp capability?!
Capability, yes. But where can warp drive take us, except away from here?
Jean-Luc Picard I ...apologise for our intrusion.
Jean-Luc Picard Geordi.
Geordi LaForge
Captain. As it turns out, there wasn't anything wrong with my implants at all. There was something right... with my eyes. When Dr Crusher removed the ocular connections, she found that the cells around my optic nerve had...
Jean-Luc Picard Started to regenerate.
Geordi LaForge
It may not last. And if it doesn't, I just - I just wanted, before we go... You know, I've never seen a sunrise. At least not the way you see them.
You're looking well, Jean-Luc. Rested.
Jean-Luc Picard I won't let you move them, Admiral. I will take this to the Federation Council.
I'm acting on orders from the Federation Council.
Jean-Luc Picard How can there be an order to abandon the Prime Directive?
The Prime Directive doesn't apply. These people are not indigenous to this planet. They were never meant to be immortal. We'll simply be restoring them to their natural evolution.
Jean-Luc Picard Who the hell are we to determine the next course of evolution for these people?
Jean-Luc, there are 600 people down there. We'll be able to use the regenerative properties of this radiation to help billions. The Son'a have developed a procedure to collect the metaphasic particles from the planets rings.
Jean-Luc Picard A planet in Federation space.
That's right. We have the planet. They have the technology. A technology we can't duplicate. You know what that makes us? Partners.
Jean-Luc Picard Our 'partners' are nothing more than petty thugs.
On Earth, petroleum once turned petty thugs into world leaders. Warp drive transformed a bunch of Romulan thugs into an empire. We can handle the Son'a. I'm not worried about that.
Jean-Luc Picard Someone probably said the same thing about the Romulans a century ago.
With metaphasics, life spans will be doubled. An entire new medical science will evolve. I understand your chief engineer has the use of his eyes for the first time in his life. Would you take that away from him?
Jean-Luc Picard There are metaphasic particles all over the Briar Patch. Why does it have to be this one planet?
It's the concentration in the rings that makes the whole damn thing work. Don't ask me to explain it. I only know they inject something into the rings that starts a thermolytic reaction. When it's over, the planet will be uninhabitable for generations.
Jean-Luc Picard Admiral, delay the procedure. Let my people look at the technology.
Our best scientific minds already have. We can't find any other way to do this.
Jean-Luc Picard Then the Son'a can establish a separate colony on the planet until we do.
It would take ten years of normal exposure to begin to reverse their condition. Some of them won't survive that long. Besides, they don't want to live in the middle of the Briar Patch. Who would?
Jean-Luc Picard The Ba'ku. We are betraying the principles upon which the Federation was founded. It's an attack upon its very soul. And it will destroy the Ba'ku... just as cultures have been destroyed in every other forced relocation throughout history.
Jean-Luc, we're only moving 600 people.
Jean-Luc Picard How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong, hm? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many people does it take, Admiral?
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