Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard: You having a good laugh now, Q? Does it amuse you to think of me living out the rest of my life as a dreary man in a tedious job?
[turbolift doors open, and Picard finds himself back in the otherwordly realm with Q]
Q: I gave you something most mortals never experience: a second chance at life. And now all you can do is complain?
Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard: I can't live out my days as that person. That man is bereft of passion... and imagination! That is not who I am!
Q: Au contraire. He's the person you wanted to be, one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth, one who was less like me. The Jean-Luc Picard you wanted to be, the one who did *not* fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. That Picard never had a brush with death, never came face to face with his own mortality, never realized how fragile life is or how important each moment must be. So his life never came into focus. He drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the ambassador, or took charge of the Stargazer's bridge when its captain was killed. And no one ever offered him a command. He learned to play it safe. And he never, ever, got noticed by anyone.
[turns to walk away]
Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard: You're right, Q. You gave me the chance to change, and I took the opportunity. But I admit now, it was a mistake.
[Q stops walking, looks back over his shoulder]
Q: Are you asking me for something, Jean-Luc?
Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard: Give me a chance to put things back the way they were before.
Q: Before, you died in sickbay. Is that what you want?
Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard: I would rather die as the man I was... than live the life I just saw.
