- Lt. Commander Data: If you met a double of yourself, would you have difficulty interacting with him?
- Lieutenant Worf: I think so.
- Lt. Commander Data: Why?
- Lieutenant Worf: I am not easy to get along with.
- Lt. Commander Data: I have found that humans value their uniqueness - that sense that they are different from everyone else. The existence of a double would preclude that feeling. Could that be the source of the friction?
- Lieutenant Worf: Or perhaps it is more a matter of seeing something in your double, something you do not like in yourself.
- Commander William T. Riker: [to his alter ego during a poker game] I practiced in the mirror too long to be fooled by that face. You're bluffing.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: Sometimes, I would look up into the sky and I'd think, if I tried hard enough, I could make you feel my presence - that if I could let you know that I was alive, maybe you'd wait for me. I know, it sounds... crazy, but there were times when I could've sw...
- [he looks at Deanna, who has become somewhat melancholic]
- Lt. Thomas Riker: [dismissively] What am I talking about?
- Counselor Deanna Troi: The other day when I told you about how... Commander Riker and I didn't meet on Risa... What I didn't say was how disappointed I was.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: You didn't have to. I knew.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: I started to hear from him less and less. I knew his career was taking him away from me, but... I didn't want to believe it was over. I spent a lot of time thinking about him - wondering where he was, what he was doing. Sometimes, I'd look into the sky and imagine that he knew, and that... somehow, he could sense me thinking about him. So, who knows? Maybe one night, we were looking up at the same star and... you were thinking about me... and, in a way... I was thinking about you.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: [reading Lt. Riker's notes] It pulses unendingly all through the night. Seek out the crystal that powers our flight. - What the future holds, no one can know, but forward we look, and forward we go.
- Commander William T. Riker: [to Troi] The look in your eyes, I recognize it. You used to have it for me.
- Commander William T. Riker: You know, I've been thinking we should probably let Dad know what happened.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know there're two of us now.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: It's really hard for me to separate my feelings for them.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: Deanna - just because things turned out the way they did between you and *Commander* Riker doesn't mean you shouldn't let things between you and *Lieutenant* Riker take their own course.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: I knew you'd encourage me.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: We stayed in Ten Forward talking for hours.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: Then what happened?
- Counselor Deanna Troi: He walked me to my quarters.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: Then what happened?
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Beverly!
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: I'm just asking.
- Commander William T. Riker: Ever since he came on board, I find myself thinking about the choice that you and I made.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Me too.
- Commander William T. Riker: Do me a favor. Be careful.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Will, I know you and he have had some problems.
- Commander William T. Riker: That's not what I'm talking about. If he had gotten off the planet instead of me, don't you think he would've made the same choices that I made? I just don't want you to be hurt again.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: I thought if one thing were clear by now, it's that you and I play things a little differently.
- Commander William T. Riker: Why don't we wait and see who comes out on top?
- Lt. Thomas Riker: I thought you were willing to settle for second, Commander.
- Commander William T. Riker: I've never settled for anything in my life. I know what I want, I know what I've got, and you'd be lucky to do so well, Lieutenant.
- [last lines]
- Lt. Thomas Riker: [to Deanna] I waited a long time. I guess I can wait a little longer.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: [to Will] Take care of her.
- Commander William T. Riker: [playing poker against himself] Here's your fifty... and, uh, ten more.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: You didn't take any cards. You must be holding something. Why not make it a little sweeter?
- Commander William T. Riker: No, thanks.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: Playing it safe?
- Commander William T. Riker: [turning to Data] You in?
- Lt. Commander Data: I will call.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: Here's your ten, and it will cost you another one hundred.
- Commander William T. Riker: [smiling] I practiced in the mirror too long to be fooled by that face. You're bluffing. Here's your hundred... and... twenty more.
- Lt. Commander Data: Dealer folds.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: I thought if one thing were clear by now it's that you and I play things a little differently.
- Commander William T. Riker: Why don't we wait and see who comes out on top.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: I thought you were willing to settle for second, Commander.
- Commander William T. Riker: I've never settled for anything in my life. I know what I want, I know what I've got, and you'd be lucky to do so well, Lieutenant.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: Here's your twenty.
- [picking up more chips]
- Lt. Thomas Riker: Three hundred more.
- Commander William T. Riker: Now I know you're bluffing.
- Lt. Thomas Riker: Are you in or not?
- Commander William T. Riker: Why don't we get this over with? I'll call your three and I'll raise you anything you've got left. Well?
- Lt. Thomas Riker: Take it. You always had the better hand... in everything.
- [first lines]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [voiceover] Captain's log, stardate 46915.2. The Enterprise is orbiting Nervala IV, waiting for an opportunity to retrieve scientific data left there by Starfleet researchers when they were forced to evacuate eight years ago.