Captain Picard's best inspirational speeches – Transcript

00:00But 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 Even life itself Is an exercise in exceptions. You say you are true evil So I tell you what true evil is Just submit to you It is when we surrender our freedom our dignity instead of defying you

00:29Would you choose one life over 1,000 sir? I refused to let arithmetic decide questions like that You have extended your life at the expense of another Craves give data back give him back data is dead. No Must not be lost He's not simply an android He's a life entirely unique

00:56Data is not human. He is he is different. Yes But that does not make him expendable or any less significant No being is so important that he can use serve the rights of another we two are machines Just machines of a different type Children are created from the building blocks of their parents DNA. Are they property?

01:24Prove to the court that I am sentient We all know you're sentient so I'm sentient, but commander data is not that's right my self-aware Isn't that becoming a race and we be judged by how we treat that race

01:49Now tell me commander. What is data? I don't understand. What is he a machine? Is he are you sure? Yes, you see he's met two of your three criteria for sentient So what if he meets the third consciousness and even the smallest degree? What is he then? I don't know Are you the decision you reach here today will determine how we will regard this Creation of our genius

02:15It will reveal the kind of a people we are what he is destined to be it will reach far beyond this courtroom and this One android It could significantly Redefine the boundaries of personal liberty and freedom expanding them for some Savagely curtailing them for others Are you prepared to condemn him and all who come after him to servitude and slavery?

02:41Your honor Starfleet was founded to seek out new life. Well there it sets Then I regret that I must order you to transport lull aboard my ship Belay that order mr. Data. I beg your pardon I will take this to Starfleet myself. I am Starfleet captain You see commander hold your ground mr. Data

03:11Captain you are jeopardizing your command and your career There are times sir when Men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders You acknowledge this entrance, but You ignore their personal liberties Freedom order a man to hand this child over to the state

03:41Not while I'm his captain Your whisper from the dark has now become a plea turn our backs without here to explore to make contact with other life forms

04:09To establish peaceful relations, but not to interfere absolutely not to destroy him. Dr. Stubbs I cannot exterminate something that may or may not be intelligent. We are also explorers We mean no harm To any other living creature history has shown us that strength may be useless when faced with terrorism

04:38I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows from the battle of a gun Your report describes how rational these people are millennia ago They abandon their belief in the supernatural now you are asking me to sabotage that achievement To send them back into the dark ages of superstition and ignorance and fear now Please get up Get up. You must not kneel to me

05:07You do not wish it. I do not deserve it Matter of internal security The age-old cry of the oppressor People are scared. Don't you understand captain? They're dangerous. You are dangerous. They're only victims. You made them what they are You asked them to defend your way of life and then you discarded them. They're your brothers your sons and you turned your backs on them And you have a decision to make whether to try and force them back

05:36Or welcome them home. I have disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer Although the result of my actions proved positive the ends cannot justify the means No, they can't however The claim I was only following orders has been used to justify too many tragedies in our history The softly doesn't want officers who will blindly follow orders without analyzing the situation

06:05Surrender Consider the men and women you would lead into a lost cause If the cause is just and honorable They are prepared to give their lives Your culture will adapt to service hours Impossible My culture is based on freedom and self-determination. You must comply

06:31We would rather die one has been angry for a very long time one gets used to it Old leather and finally become so familiar that one can't ever remember feeling any other way We're not hunters doctor nor is it our role to exact revenge

06:57Doctor the sperm whale on earth devours millions of cuttlefish as it roams the oceans It is not evil. It is feeding. They've given away their humanity with this genetic manipulation Many of the qualities that they breed out the The uncertainty Self-discovery the unknown These are many of the qualities that make life worth living

07:21Well, at least to me want to live my life knowing that my future was written My boundaries had been already set a person's life The future hinges on Each of a thousand choices living is making choices sometimes The moral obligations of command Are less than clear. I have to weigh the good of the many

07:52Against the needs of the individual and try to balance them He refused to answer the question about his Romulan grandfather. That is not a crime. Wolf Nor can we infer his guilt because he didn't respond Sir, if a man were not afraid of the truth, he would answer and allow ourselves to think the seventh guarantee

08:19Is one of the most important rights granted by the federation We cannot take a fundamental principle of the constitution and turn it against a citizen The federation does have enemies. We must seek them out legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think

08:49Something is wrong here, mr. Wolf. I don't like what we have become He admits his mistake in falsifying his application, but that does not make him a traitor What you're doing here Is unethical It's immoral I'll fight it. Have we become so Fearful have we become so cowardly?

09:19That we must extinguish a man Because he carries the blood of a current enemy Admiral That does not condemn Simon Tassis Or anyone else Because of their bloodlines or investigate others For their innocent associations But the first link the chain is forged

09:48First speech censured the first Thought forbidden the first freedom denied Changed us all irrevocably Villains who twirl their moustaches are easy to spot Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged But she or someone like her will always be with us waiting for the right climate in which to flourish Spreading fear in the name of righteousness I feel As though I've been handed a weapon

10:17Send into a room And told to shoot a stranger Well, I need some moral context to justify that action And I don't have it We must attack I do not fire on defenseless people You cannot put a price on a life To use him in this manner we be no better than The enemy that we seek to destroy

10:46But there are times when The greater good Demands that certain Sacrifices are made You cannot explain away a wantonly immoral act Because you think that it is connected to some higher purpose Deanna Troy is just one individual That does not justify brutalizing her Or any of the others you have used Do you think that makes you appear courageous?

11:15Because you're mistaken Exploit the innocent I don't think that I could sanction it Please understand professor that you are in essence a new life form One that we didn't intend to create and that we don't fully understand Now the moral and ethical implications of deliberately creating another one like you are Overwhelming centuries ago

11:45These north american indians were falsely displaced from their ancestral lands These settlers on dorban 5 originally left earth more than 200 years ago in order to preserve their color Identity I am aware of that captain. You see admiral. There's some very disturbing Historical parallels here once more they are being asked to leave their homes because of a A political decision that has been taken by a distant government

12:12The indians on dorban are a nomadic group that have settled there only 20 years ago and at that time They were warned that the planet was hotly disputed by the cardassians the bottom line is they never should have gone there in the first place Ranted but to go to them now after 20 years and ask them to leave what is now their home as a child to

12:40Someone who is suffering from the time. Joe aura could crawl. She's been taught about the enemies of the cardassians and that enemies deserve their faith When children learn to devalue others They can devalue. I know that once you were a peaceful people

13:05With a rich spiritual life what did peace and spirits the military took over Hundreds of thousands more have died, but we are feeding the people And belly may be full The spirit will be empty rewarding to you to others for all those years of misery

13:30Torture has never been a reliable means of extracting information It is Ultimately self-defeating as a means of control Or wonders that is still practiced whenever I Look at you now I won't see a powerful cardassian Warrior, I will see a six-year-old boy Who is powerless to protect himself