Patrick Stewart: Captain Jean-Luc Picard

All Good Things...

Captain Jean-Luc Picard

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.

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.

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.

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.

[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!

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: 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...

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.

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.

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!