The Best Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 6, Episode 23 Quotes

Kahless: Something still weighs heavy on the brow of the son of Mogh.

Lieutenant: Even if he is not the real Kahless, he is the rightful heir to Kahless.

Klingons: We are Klingons!

- But when you set foot on this ship again,
- I expect you to perform your duties like a starfleet officer.
- Yes, sir.
- And, Mr. Worf...
- I hope you find what you're looking for.
- Thank you, sir.

Koroth: So, here we are - on a world circling that distant point of light. It has been fifteen centuries since he made that promise, and still we wait. What are ten days in the life of one Klingon compared to that? Is the son of Mogh really so easily discouraged? You came to us seeking answers, but this is a place of questions. Open your heart to Kahless. Ask him your questions. Let him speak to you with your mind unclouded by doubt or hesitation. Only then can you find what you are looking for. If you cannot do that... then perhaps you should return to your starship.

Lieutenant: I went to Boreth to find my faith. For a time, I thought I had, but my heart is empty again. I do not know what to believe.

[after defeating Kahless in battle]
Gowron: Kahless - the greatest warrior of them all!

- He wants me to go with him.
- It is a powerful vision you have had, divok.
- Kahless wants you to join him in sto-vo-kor.
- You are only 19, and yet your place among the honored dead is already secure.
- Take him back to his chamber.
- Let him sleep.

- Then my brother and those who support him on the council will fight you, and I will fight you.
- And the empire will fall back into civil war.
- What do you say about this, koroth?
- What I say is unimportant.
- It is acceptable.

Kahless: Kahless left us - all of us - a powerful legacy, a way of thinking and acting that makes us Klingon. If his words hold wisdom and his philosophy is honorable, what does it matter if he returns? What is important is that we follow his teachings. Perhaps the words are more important than the man.

- Join with me, gowron.
- Let us Usher in this new era together.

Kahless: [telling the story of his sword] I went into the mountains, all the way to the volcano at Kri'stak. There I cut off a lock of my hair and thrust it into the river of molten rock that poured from the summit. The hair began to burn. Then I plunged it into the lake of Lusor and twisted it into this sword, and after I used it to kill Molor, I gave it a name: Bat'leth - the Sword of Honor.

Kahless: I am Kahless, and I have returned.

- Only with his help can we revive the pure warriors within ourselves.
- Listen to him, gowron.
- Open your heart. Hear his words.
- He will restore your faith as he has restored mine.
- Give him a chance to lift your spirit and cleanse your heart before you take up arms.

Kahless: You have no joy, Gowron.

- I told you that you would do something that no klingon had ever done before.
- You still do not believe it is me, do you, worf?
- I want to believe.
- That is a beginning.

- As an Android,
- I am unable to accept that which cannot be proven through rational means.
- I would appreciate hearing your insights on this matter.
- Perhaps some other time, commander.
- I do not believe I can provide much insight at this moment.

- They fight amongst themselves in petty wars and corrupt the glory of the klingon spirit.
- They have lost their way.
- But it is not too late.
- I have returned.
- And I will lead my people again.

Gowron: I oppose you. I say you are not Kahless, and I will not bend my knee to you as long as I can draw breath - or pick up a blade.

Lt. Commander Data: I once had what could be considered a crisis of the spirit.
Lieutenant: You?
Lt. Commander Data: Yes. The Starfleet officers who first activated me on Omicron Theta told me I was an android - nothing more than a sophisticated machine with human form; however, I realized that if I was simply a machine, I could never be anything else. I could never grow beyond my programming. I found that difficult to accept, so I chose to believe... that I was a person, that I had the potential to be more than a collection of circuits and subprocessors. It is a belief which I still hold.
Lieutenant: How did you come to your decision?
Lt. Commander Data: I made... a leap of faith.

- Computer, override security lock on this door.
- Authorization, riker Alpha 60.
- Worf, what the hell are you doing?

- Picard: Space, the final frontier.
- These are the voyages of the starship enterprise.
- Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Kahless: You still do not believe it is me, do you, Worf?
Lieutenant: I want to believe.
Kahless: That is a beginning.

Gowron: Where is he, Picard?
Captain: I assume that you're referring to Kahless.
Gowron: I am referring to the filthy pahtak who is using his name!

[Worf has suggested that Kahless be made Emperor and spiritual leader of the Klingon world]
Koroth: The title is meaningless without the power to back it up!
Lieutenant: Real power comes from within the heart.

Koroth: What is the story of The Promise, Worf?
Lieutenant: When Kahless had united our people and gave them the laws of honor, he saw that his work was done, so one night he gathered his belongings and departed for the edge of the city to say goodbye.
Koroth: The people wept. They did not want him to go.
Lieutenant: Then Kahless said: "You are Klingons. You need no one but yourselves. I will go now to Sto-vo-kor, but I promise, one day I will return." Then Kahless pointed to a star in the sky and said: "Look for me there, on that point of light."

Lieutenant: It is true - Kahless has returned!

Kahless: Long ago, a storm was heading toward the city of Quin'lat. The people sought protection within the walls, all except one man who remained outside. I went to him and asked what he was doing. "I am not afraid," he said. "I will not hide my face behind stone and mortar. I will stand before the wind and make it respect me." I honored his choice and went inside. The next day, the storm came, and the man was killed. The wind does not respect a fool. Do not stand before the wind, Gowron.

- Tricorder? Is it a weapon?
- No, no, it is a tool.
- I intended to use it to see...
- To see if I was real.
- Proceed.
- Use your tricorder.

Captain: Have you lost your faith in Sto-vo-kor?
Lieutenant: To lose something, one must first possess it.

- So I chose to believe that I was a person, that I had the potential to be more than a collection of circuits and subprocessors.
- It is a belief which I still hold.
- How did you come to your decision?
- I made a leap of faith.

- Is that what you oppose, gowron?
- I oppose you.
- I say you are not kahless.
- Uch.
- And I will not bend my knee to you as long as I can draw breath or pick up a blade.

Gowron: Koroth - I see that not all fools die young.

- You are real.
- I am kahless.
- And I have returned.

- No!
- Koroth!
- Good try, gowron, but not enough.
- Grr.
- You have no joy, gowron.
- Is your heart so full of mistrust and suspicion that you've forgotten what it means to be truly klingon?
- Kahless, the greatest warrior of them all.

Kahless: Are you contemplating yet another question for me? After three days, I'm beginning to wonder if you know how to do anything else.
Lieutenant: Questions are the beginning of wisdom, the mark of a true warrior.
Kahless: Do not forget that a leader need not answer questions of those he leads. It is enough that he says to do a thing, and they will do it. If he says to run, they run. If he says to fight, they fight. If he says to die - they die.

- All right, but consider this.
- If you tell gowron what we have told you, it will destroy him.
- And with him, the last chance to restore hope to our people.
- It's your choice.

Gowron: Kahless has been dead for a thousand years, but the idea of Kahless is still alive. Have you ever fought an idea, Picard? It has no weapon to destroy, no body to kill. The idea of Kahless's return must be stopped here, now, or it will travel through the Empire like a wave and leave nothing but destruction behind.

[repeated line]
Kahless: I have returned.

- Open your heart to kahless.
- Ask him your questions.
- Let him speak to you with your mind unclouded by doubt or hesitation.
- Only then can you find what you are looking for.
- If you cannot do that, then perhaps you should return to your starship.

Lieutenant: [on the impact of Kahless' return] It will be glorious!
Gowron: It will be war!

- Do not forget that a leader need not answer questions of those he leads.
- It is enough that he says to do a thing and they will do it.
- If he says to run, they run.
- If he says to fight, they fight.
- If he says to die, they die.
- If the commander is worthy of that trust.

- Riker to lieutenant worf.
- Computer, locate lieutenant worf.
- Computer: Lieutenant won' is in his quarters.
- Something's wrong.
- Mr. Data, you have the bridge.
- Security team, meet me on deck 7, section 25 baker.
- Man [over com]: Aye, sir.