Having lived a full and incredible life, it’s hard to say that the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart is tragic. Instead, the world is grieving, because Stewart felt immortal, and his death reminds us that somehow isn’t true. At 86, the incredible performer left his mark on the world with an array of incredible roles. But it’s nearly undebatable that his greatest role was that of Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the Star Trek franchise. Starting in 1987, in the spin-off series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stewart wasn’t sure a new version of Trek on TV would last, and faced a lot of skepticism from the fans and the industry that his character could follow in the footsteps of William Shatner’s Captain Kirk.
Of course, today, the character of Jean-Luc Picard is considered not only one of the greatest Star Trek characters of all time, but one of the best heroic leaders in all of fiction. To be sure, Picard was extremely well written, thanks to creator Gene Roddenberry, and writers like Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, Morgan Gendel, Melinda M. Snodgrass, and, more recently, Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, and Terry Matalas. But the man himself, delivering the lines, making the choices in those performances, is why Picard, and Patrick Stewart, will still achieve the immortality Stewart always seemed to have.
Here are the best 29 Captain Picard quotes to live by, and to remind us why Stewart was such a singular and inspiring icon.
Duty and truth
1. “The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it’s scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth!” (“The First Duty,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 5, Episode 19)
2. “With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured… the first thought forbidden… the first freedom denied – chains us all irrevocably.” (“The Drumhead,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4, Episode 21)
3. “Mr. Worf, villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well-camouflaged.” (“The Drumhead,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4, Episode 21)
4. “There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders.” (“The Offspring,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 3, Episode 16)
5. “Your Honor, a courtroom is a crucible; in it we burn away irrelevancies until we are left with a pure product: the truth, for all time.” (“The Measure of a Man,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 9)
Courage and resolve
6. “The line must be drawn here, this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they’ve done.” (Star Trek: First Contact, 1996)
7. “There are four lights!” (“Chain of Command, Part II,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 6, Episode 11)
8. “How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million?” (Star Trek: Insurrection, 1998)
9. “Now you are asking me to sabotage that achievement, to send them back into the dark ages of superstition and ignorance and fear? No!” (“Who Watches the Watchers,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 3, Episode 4)
10. “Sometimes it takes courage to try, Data. Courage can be an emotion too.” (Star Trek Generations, 1994)
11. “You may test that assumption at your convenience.” (“Sins of the Father,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 3, Episode 17.)
Humanity and curiosity
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12. “Let’s see what’s out there. Engage.” (“Encounter at Farpoint,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1, Episode 1)
13. “Starfleet was founded to seek out new life – well, there it sits! …waiting.” (“The Measure of a Man,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 9)
14. “The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.” (Star Trek: First Contact, 1996)
15. “Darmok and Jalad… at Tanagra.” (“Darmok,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 5, Episode 2)
Leadership and command
16. “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.” (“Peak Performance,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 21)
17. “Things are only impossible until they’re not!” (“When the Bough Breaks,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1, Episode 17)
18. “A starship captain’s life is filled with solemn duty.” (Star Trek Nemesis, 2002)
19. “And like a thousand other commanders on a thousand other battlefields, I wait for the dawn.” (Star Trek Nemesis, 2002)
Wisdom and mortality
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20. “Someone once told me that time is a predator that stalks us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment, because they’ll never come again.” (Star Trek Generations, 1994)
21. “What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived. After all, Number One, we’re only mortal.” (Star Trek Generations, 1994)
22. “It’s our mortality that defines us, Soran. It’s part of the truth of our existence.” (Star Trek Generations, 1994)
23. “When I pulled on one of those threads… it unraveled the tapestry of my life.” (Tapestry, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 6, Episode 15)
24. “Seize the time, Meribor – live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.” (Speaking as Kamin, “The Inner Light,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 5, Episode 25)
25. “I haven’t been living. I’ve been waiting to die.” (“Remembrance,” Star Trek: Picard, Season 1, Episode 1)
26. “If ever there was better evidence that the past mattered. It’s right here,” (“The Last Generation,” Star Trek: Picard, Season 3, Episode 10.)
Famous firsts for Picard’s catchphrases
27. “Make it so.” (First spoken in “Encounter at Farpoint,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1, Episode 1)
28. “Engage.” (First spoken in “Encounter at Farpoint,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1, Episode 1)
29. “Tea, Earl Grey, hot.” (First spoken in “Contagion,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 11)
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Picard, and all four of Patrick Stewart’s Star Trek films stream on Paramount+.
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