- Capt. Picard: I understand what you've done here, Q. But I think the lesson could have been learned without the loss of 18 members of my crew.
- Q: If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid.
- [last lines]
- Capt. Picard: Maybe Q did the right thing for the wrong reason.
- Guinan: How so?
- Capt. Picard: Well... perhaps what we most needed was a kick in our complacency - to prepare us for what lies ahead.
- Q: Con permiso, Capitan. The hall is rented, the orchestra engaged. It's now time to see if you can dance.
- Q: My purpose is to join you.
- Commander William T. Riker: To join us as what?
- Q: As a member of the crew, willing and able, ready to serve. This ship is already home for the indigent, the unwanted, the unworthy. Why not for a homeless entity?
- Commander William T. Riker: Homeless?
- Q: Yes.
- Commander William T. Riker: The other members of the Q Continuum kicked you out?
- Guinan: Not all the Q are alike. Some are almost respectable.
- Q: You judge yourselves against the pitiful adversaries you've encountered so far - the Romulans, the Klingons. They're nothing compared to what's waiting. Picard - you are about to move into areas of the galaxy containing wonders more incredible than you can possibly imagine - and terrors to freeze your soul.
- Capt. Picard: [to Q] If we all die here, now, you will not be able to gloat. You wanted to frighten us. We're frightened. You wanted to show us that we were inadequate. For the moment... I grant that. You wanted me to say, 'I need you'? I *need* you!
- Guinan: My people encountered them a century ago. They destroyed our cities, scattered my people throughout the galaxy. They're called the Borg. Protect yourself, Captain, or they'll destroy you.
- Q: [referring to Guinan] Picard, if you had half the sense you pretend to have, you would get her off your ship immediately. And if you'd like, I'd be more than pleased to expedite her departure.
- Capt. Picard: [to Guinan] You know him?
- Guinan: We have had some dealings.
- Q: Those dealings were two centuries ago. This creature is not what she appears to be. She's an Imp, and where she goes, trouble always follows.
- Capt. Picard: You're speaking of yourself, Q, not Guinan.
- Q: I add a little excitement, a little spice, to your lives, and all you do is complain. Where is your adventurous spirit, your imagination? Think, Picard, think! Think of the possibilities.
- Capt. Picard: Simply speaking, we don't trust you.
- Q: Oh. Well, you may not trust me, but you do need me. You're not prepared for what awaits you.
- Capt. Picard: How can we be prepared for that which we do not know? But I do know that we are ready to encounter it.
- Capt. Picard: This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the US...
- The Borg: We have analyzed your defensive capabilities as being unable to withstand us. If you defend yourselves, you will be punished.
- [introducing the Borg]
- [Riker prepares to beam over to the Borg ship with an away team]
- Guinan: I wouldn't go there if I were you.
- Commander William T. Riker: I don't know, Guinan. They paid us a visit; it seems only fair that we return the courtesy.
- Q: You can't outrun them, you can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains. They regenerate and keep coming. Eventually you will weaken. Your reserves will be gone. They are relentless!
- Capt. Picard: How do we reason with them, let them know that we're not a threat?
- Guinan: You don't. At least, I've never known anyone who did.
- [after transporting to the Borg vessel, Riker, Data and Worf come across a nursery of Borg children]
- Commander William T. Riker: [communicating with Picard] From the look of it, the Borg are born as a biological life form. It seems that almost immediately after birth, they begin artificial implants. Apparently, the Borg have developed the technology to link artificial intelligence directly into the humanoid brain. Astounding.
- Ensign Sonya Gomez: I just want to say, sir, that I'm very excited about this assignment, and I promise to serve you and my ship - *your* ship... *this* ship... to the best of my ability.
- Capt. Picard: We agreed you would never trouble my ship again.
- Q: I always keep my arrangements, sir. Look! We're nowhere near your vessel.
- [he shows him that they are actually drifting alone in space in a shuttle craft]
- Ensign Sonya Gomez: [horrified that she spilled hot chocolate on Captain Picard] First impressions, right? Isn't that what they say? First impressions are the most important?
- Lieutenant Geordi La Forge: I'll give you this - it's a meeting the captain won't soon forget.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: [her empathic sense of the Borg] We're not dealing with an individual mind. They don't have a single leader. It's the collective minds of all of them.
- Capt. Picard: That would have definite advantages.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Yes, a single leader can make mistakes which is far less likely in the combined whole.
- Q: If necessary, although I can't imagine why, I will renounce my powers and become as weak and as incompetent as all of you.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: The ship is strangely generalized in design. There is no specific bridge, no command center. There is no engineering section. I can identify no living quarters.
- Capt. Picard: Guinan, your people have been in this part of the galaxy.
- Guinan: Yes.
- Commander William T. Riker: What can you tell us?
- Guinan: Only that if I were you, I'd start back now.
- Commander William T. Riker: Why didn't the Borg attack? They could have, but they didn't.
- Guinan: They don't do that individually. That's not their way. When they decide to come, they're going to come in force. They don't do anything piecemeal.
- Q: The Borg is the ultimate user. They're unlike any threat your federation has ever faced. They're not interested in political conquest, wealth, or power as you know it. They're simply interested in your ship, its technology. They've identified it as something they can consume.
- Lieutenant Geordi La Forge: You know, you're awfully young to be so driven.
- Ensign Sonya Gomez: Yes, I am. I had to be. I had to be the best because only the best get to be here.
- Q: There, there, haven't we been careless? A little cleaning service I'm only too happy to provide.
- [a wave of Q's hand and Picard's coffee soaked uniform is clean again]