Babylon 5 Quotes
John Sheridan: You know, back at the station, I was pretty surprised to see you walk into the War Room. When an ambassador comes to visit, we usually have some advance warning.
Jeffrey Sinclair: There wasn't time. And believe me, my being here is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you.
Sheridan: Is it? [pause] Delenn either knew you were here or knew you were coming. Your timing seems like more than just a coincidence.
Sinclair: There are no coincidences, Captain.
Sheridan: That's not much of an answer.
Marcus Cole: Captain, if I were you, I'd quit while I was ahead. Back on Minbar, there was a saying among the other Rangers: "The only way to get a straight answer out of Ranger One was to look at every reply in a mirror while hanging upside down from the ceiling."
Sheridan: [laughs] Did it work?
Marcus: Oddly enough, yes. Or after a while you passed out and had a vision. Either way, the result was pretty much the same.
Jeffrey Sinclair: There wasn't time. And believe me, my being here is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you.
Sheridan: Is it? [pause] Delenn either knew you were here or knew you were coming. Your timing seems like more than just a coincidence.
Sinclair: There are no coincidences, Captain.
Sheridan: That's not much of an answer.
Marcus Cole: Captain, if I were you, I'd quit while I was ahead. Back on Minbar, there was a saying among the other Rangers: "The only way to get a straight answer out of Ranger One was to look at every reply in a mirror while hanging upside down from the ceiling."
Sheridan: [laughs] Did it work?
Marcus: Oddly enough, yes. Or after a while you passed out and had a vision. Either way, the result was pretty much the same.
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Delenn explains how they need to steal Babylon 4 in order to save Babylon 5.]
Sheridan: So you believe this?
Sinclair: I believe it.
Marcus: If Entil'Zha believes it, I believe it.
Susan Ivanova: I'll be in the car.
Sheridan: So you believe this?
Sinclair: I believe it.
Marcus: If Entil'Zha believes it, I believe it.
Susan Ivanova: I'll be in the car.
TV Show: Babylon 5
Sinclair: Zathras, this is very important. When you meet me again, it will be me, but it won't be me now. So you're not to say anything to me that might change the past. Do you understand?
Zathras: Zathras understand. [pauses] No. Zathras not understand. But Zathras do! Zathras good at doings, not understandings.
. . .
[Zathras is confused about what he's not supposed to say.]
Sheridan: W-what else is on this list of things you're not supposed to mention?
Zathras: Zathras… does not remember. But if Zathras remember later, Zathras tells you.
Zathras: Zathras understand. [pauses] No. Zathras not understand. But Zathras do! Zathras good at doings, not understandings.
. . .
[Zathras is confused about what he's not supposed to say.]
Sheridan: W-what else is on this list of things you're not supposed to mention?
Zathras: Zathras… does not remember. But if Zathras remember later, Zathras tells you.
TV Show: Babylon 5
Sinclair: I need Lennier to stay on the ship. Can you get the equipment up here by yourself?
Zathras: Yes, yes! Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life! Probably have very sad death, but at least there is symmetry!
Zathras: Yes, yes! Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life! Probably have very sad death, but at least there is symmetry!
TV Show: Babylon 5
Sinclair: Ready?
Delenn: Why do your people always ask if someone is ready right before you're going to do something massively unwise?
Sinclair: [smiling] Tradition.
Delenn: Why do your people always ask if someone is ready right before you're going to do something massively unwise?
Sinclair: [smiling] Tradition.
TV Show: Babylon 5
Londo Mollari: [his last words, in a glimpse of the future] We have unfinished business between us, G'Kar. Let us make an end of it quickly, before it stops me. I am as tired of my life as you are.
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Zathras looks for parts to repair Sheridan's time stabilizer.]
Susan Ivanova: Find what you need and let's get out of here! We're running out of time.
Zathras: Cannot run out of time. There is infinite time. You are finite. Zathras is finite. This…is wrong tool.
[Zathras looks for more parts.]
Zathras: No, no, no. Not good. No, no.
[He shows a part to Ivanova.]
Zathras: Never use this.
Susan Ivanova: Find what you need and let's get out of here! We're running out of time.
Zathras: Cannot run out of time. There is infinite time. You are finite. Zathras is finite. This…is wrong tool.
[Zathras looks for more parts.]
Zathras: No, no, no. Not good. No, no.
[He shows a part to Ivanova.]
Zathras: Never use this.
TV Show: Babylon 5
Zathras: All Minbari belief is around three. Three castes–Worker, Warrior, Religious. Three languages–Light, Dark and Grey. The nine of the Grey Council, three times three. All is three. As you are three. As you are one. As you are the One. You [points to Sinclair] are the One who was. You [points at Delenn] are the One who is. And you–[points at Sheridan]–you are the One who will be. You are the beginning [Sinclair] of the story, and the middle [Delenn] of the story, and the end [Sheridan] of the story…that creates the next great story.
TV Show: Babylon 5
Na'Kal: Breen! You've managed to import breen from Homeworld! How?
G'Kar: It, uh…isn't actually breen.
Na'Kal: The smell, the taste—!
G'Kar: It's an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs. It's a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs! I suspect it's one of those great universal mysteries which will either never be explained, or which would drive you mad if you ever learned the truth.[N]
G'Kar: It, uh…isn't actually breen.
Na'Kal: The smell, the taste—!
G'Kar: It's an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs. It's a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs! I suspect it's one of those great universal mysteries which will either never be explained, or which would drive you mad if you ever learned the truth.[N]
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Franklin explains the principles of "walkabout" to Garibaldi.]
Stephen Franklin: You know, as a Foundationist, I was always taught that if you're not careful, you can lose yourself in the world. You get too busy with things, not busy enough with yourself! Spend your days and nights living someone else's agendas, fighting someone else's battles, and you're doing the work you're supposed to be doing, but every day there's less and less of you in it all! Till one day, you come to a fork in the road, and because you're distracted, you're not thinking. You lose yourself. You go right, and the rest of you, the really important part of you, goes left! And you don't even know you've done it till you realize, you finally realize, that you don't have any idea who you are when you're not doing all those things!
Michael Garibaldi: Stephen…you don't really believe there are two of you, do you?
Franklin: [chuckles] No, it's a metaphor! All right, there isn't literally another me walking around the station. But the principle is real! I realized I didn't have any idea who I was when I wasn't being a doctor, and I think I was using the stims to avoid facing that. Now I gotta fix it.
Garibaldi: How?
Franklin: By going walkabout. You just leave everything, and you start walking. I mean, the Foundation adopted the idea from the Aborigines back on Earth. The theory is, if you're separated from yourself, you start walking and you keep walking until you meet yourself. Then you sit down, and you have a long talk. Talk about everything that you've learned, everything that you've felt, and you talk until you've run out of words. Now, that's vital, because the real important things can't be said. And then, if you're lucky, you look up, and there's just you. Then you can go home.
Stephen Franklin: You know, as a Foundationist, I was always taught that if you're not careful, you can lose yourself in the world. You get too busy with things, not busy enough with yourself! Spend your days and nights living someone else's agendas, fighting someone else's battles, and you're doing the work you're supposed to be doing, but every day there's less and less of you in it all! Till one day, you come to a fork in the road, and because you're distracted, you're not thinking. You lose yourself. You go right, and the rest of you, the really important part of you, goes left! And you don't even know you've done it till you realize, you finally realize, that you don't have any idea who you are when you're not doing all those things!
Michael Garibaldi: Stephen…you don't really believe there are two of you, do you?
Franklin: [chuckles] No, it's a metaphor! All right, there isn't literally another me walking around the station. But the principle is real! I realized I didn't have any idea who I was when I wasn't being a doctor, and I think I was using the stims to avoid facing that. Now I gotta fix it.
Garibaldi: How?
Franklin: By going walkabout. You just leave everything, and you start walking. I mean, the Foundation adopted the idea from the Aborigines back on Earth. The theory is, if you're separated from yourself, you start walking and you keep walking until you meet yourself. Then you sit down, and you have a long talk. Talk about everything that you've learned, everything that you've felt, and you talk until you've run out of words. Now, that's vital, because the real important things can't be said. And then, if you're lucky, you look up, and there's just you. Then you can go home.
TV Show: Babylon 5
Garibaldi: It's easy to fight when you've got a lot of ships to work with. The real crunch comes when you're down to almost nothing! Then you either play it safe and you probably lose it all, or you take a chance! After what we've been through with your people, Sheridan was crazy to send our pilots out to fight for your ship! They didn't want to go, they didn't want to get blown out of the sky and leave B5 defenseless, and they sure as hell didn't want to die! But they did it because Sheridan told them to do it and because it was right!
G'Kar: This time it is possible he could be wrong.
Garibaldi: Yeah, it's possible. But you don't follow an order because you know for sure it's gonna work out! You do what you're told! Because your CO has the moral authority that says, "You may not come back! But the cause is just and fair and necessary!" That's why Sheridan is out there, and damn it, that's where that cruiser should be, too! It's not Na'Kal's decision, G'Kar. He doesn't see the big picture—you do! So in my book, and your book, that makes it your responsibility! Deal with it!
G'Kar: This time it is possible he could be wrong.
Garibaldi: Yeah, it's possible. But you don't follow an order because you know for sure it's gonna work out! You do what you're told! Because your CO has the moral authority that says, "You may not come back! But the cause is just and fair and necessary!" That's why Sheridan is out there, and damn it, that's where that cruiser should be, too! It's not Na'Kal's decision, G'Kar. He doesn't see the big picture—you do! So in my book, and your book, that makes it your responsibility! Deal with it!
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Lennier is alarmed about Neroon's challenge to Delenn assuming the title of Entil'Zha.]
Delenn: It should come as no surprise. We knew the warrior caste was unhappy with our activities.
Lennier: Unhappy?! Delenn, he's planning to kill you!
Delenn: That is…one interpretation.
Lennier: He said he would use any and all means necessary. I respectfully suggest that he intends to go far beyond harsh language.
Delenn: It should come as no surprise. We knew the warrior caste was unhappy with our activities.
Lennier: Unhappy?! Delenn, he's planning to kill you!
Delenn: That is…one interpretation.
Lennier: He said he would use any and all means necessary. I respectfully suggest that he intends to go far beyond harsh language.
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Beating the tar out of Marcus, Neroon suggests the human need not be bound by Minbari honor.]
Marcus Cole: I am a Ranger! We walk in the dark places no others will enter! We stand on the bridge and no one may pass! We live for the One, we die for the One!
Marcus Cole: I am a Ranger! We walk in the dark places no others will enter! We stand on the bridge and no one may pass! We live for the One, we die for the One!
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Lenier aproaches Marcus for help with Neroon]
Lennier: I'm trying to keep a promise. By breaking a promise. I was told not to mention this to anyone in the chain of command. You were not mentioned by name but that is implicit. However, by telling you, the captain need not find out about it and I will not have broken the promise.
Marcus: I'm in awe, Lennier. The way you can take a simple proposition and turn it inside out so that it says what you want it to say rather than what it actually says. Does this come naturally or did you attend some sort of…martial arts class for the philosophically inclined?
Lennier: I'm trying to keep a promise. By breaking a promise. I was told not to mention this to anyone in the chain of command. You were not mentioned by name but that is implicit. However, by telling you, the captain need not find out about it and I will not have broken the promise.
Marcus: I'm in awe, Lennier. The way you can take a simple proposition and turn it inside out so that it says what you want it to say rather than what it actually says. Does this come naturally or did you attend some sort of…martial arts class for the philosophically inclined?
TV Show: Babylon 5
Lennier: Delenn, all we know is that we will die. It is only a matter of how, when, and whether or not it is with honor.
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Neroon comes to Marcus' bed in Medlab to honor him.]
Neroon: Denn-Shar, you said. To the death…and death there was. The death was mine. To see a Human invoke the name of Valen. To be willing to die for one of my kind when I was intent upon killing one of my own. The rightness of my cause disappeared. Strange, that a human in his last moments would be more Minbari than I. Perhaps it is true what Delenn said: That we are not of the same blood, but we are of the same heart.
[Neroon turns to leave.]
Marcus: The next time…the next time you want a revelation…could you possibly find a way…that isn't quite so…uncomfortable?
[Neroon laughs out loud.]
Neroon: Denn-Shar, you said. To the death…and death there was. The death was mine. To see a Human invoke the name of Valen. To be willing to die for one of my kind when I was intent upon killing one of my own. The rightness of my cause disappeared. Strange, that a human in his last moments would be more Minbari than I. Perhaps it is true what Delenn said: That we are not of the same blood, but we are of the same heart.
[Neroon turns to leave.]
Marcus: The next time…the next time you want a revelation…could you possibly find a way…that isn't quite so…uncomfortable?
[Neroon laughs out loud.]
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Ivanova and Brother Theo are at customs to greet a group of religious leaders]
Reverend William Dexter: Are you starting in already, Theo? I tell you, in fifty years of living and forty years of serving the Lord, I have never met a sorrier soul than Brother Theo here!
Susan Ivanova: Well, I wouldn't say…
Brother Theo: Thank you! But I'd prefer to leave judgments as to the state of my soul to someone better qualified, and perhaps a bit less loud!
Rev. Dexter: But it says in the Bible to make a joyful noise unto the Lord!
Brother Theo: [grinning] I've heard you sing, Will. And take my word for it, that is not what the Good Lord had in mind when He said, "a joyful noise"!
Reverend William Dexter: Are you starting in already, Theo? I tell you, in fifty years of living and forty years of serving the Lord, I have never met a sorrier soul than Brother Theo here!
Susan Ivanova: Well, I wouldn't say…
Brother Theo: Thank you! But I'd prefer to leave judgments as to the state of my soul to someone better qualified, and perhaps a bit less loud!
Rev. Dexter: But it says in the Bible to make a joyful noise unto the Lord!
Brother Theo: [grinning] I've heard you sing, Will. And take my word for it, that is not what the Good Lord had in mind when He said, "a joyful noise"!
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Delenn finds Sheridan in the War Room, going over reports]
Delenn: Ivanova sent me to find you. She said you haven’t been sleeping, you have hardly been eating; she said that you have been, in her words, "carrying on cranky." I looked up the word "cranky." It said "grouchy." I looked up "grouchy," it said "crotchety." No wonder you have such an eccentric culture: none of your words have their own meaning! You have to look up one word to understand another. It never ends.
John Sheridan: [not paying attention] Something here doesn’t make sense.
Delenn: That is what I thought when I came across "crotchety." This cannot be a real word, I said.
Sheridan: The Shadows keep attacking random targets! Very illogical! On the other hand, once engaged, their tactics are very successful! Very logical! It's–it's a contradiction!
Delenn: Unless the random attacks are logical in some way we haven't yet determined.
Sheridan: Exactly.
Delenn: [grinning] So you have been sitting here trying to think illogically about logical possibilities, or logically about illogical possibilities.
Sheridan: Hm? Yes, yes.
Delenn: Well, no wonder you are cranky! [he looks at her in confusion, oblivious to everything she's just said] Grouchy? [still nothing] Never mind. Your face just broke the language barrier.
Sheridan: Ah…I haven't had a good night's sleep since Kosh died. I’m having the kind of nightmares that make your hair stand on end.
Delenn: Well, that would explain the Centauri. You need food…and rest!
Sheridan: [annoyed] Aah.
Delenn: The humans who you've been waiting for have arrived and would like to have dinner with us.
Sheridan: No, no, I don't have time! If they want to come here…
Delenn: So I told them yes!
S
Delenn: Ivanova sent me to find you. She said you haven’t been sleeping, you have hardly been eating; she said that you have been, in her words, "carrying on cranky." I looked up the word "cranky." It said "grouchy." I looked up "grouchy," it said "crotchety." No wonder you have such an eccentric culture: none of your words have their own meaning! You have to look up one word to understand another. It never ends.
John Sheridan: [not paying attention] Something here doesn’t make sense.
Delenn: That is what I thought when I came across "crotchety." This cannot be a real word, I said.
Sheridan: The Shadows keep attacking random targets! Very illogical! On the other hand, once engaged, their tactics are very successful! Very logical! It's–it's a contradiction!
Delenn: Unless the random attacks are logical in some way we haven't yet determined.
Sheridan: Exactly.
Delenn: [grinning] So you have been sitting here trying to think illogically about logical possibilities, or logically about illogical possibilities.
Sheridan: Hm? Yes, yes.
Delenn: Well, no wonder you are cranky! [he looks at her in confusion, oblivious to everything she's just said] Grouchy? [still nothing] Never mind. Your face just broke the language barrier.
Sheridan: Ah…I haven't had a good night's sleep since Kosh died. I’m having the kind of nightmares that make your hair stand on end.
Delenn: Well, that would explain the Centauri. You need food…and rest!
Sheridan: [annoyed] Aah.
Delenn: The humans who you've been waiting for have arrived and would like to have dinner with us.
Sheridan: No, no, I don't have time! If they want to come here…
Delenn: So I told them yes!
S
TV Show: Babylon 5
Rev. Dexter: I'd rather do something and make a mistake than be frightened into doing nothing. That's the problem back home. Folks have been conned into thinking they can't change the world. Have to accept what is. I'll tell you something, my friends, the world is changing every day. The only question is, who's doing it?
TV Show: Babylon 5
Rev. Dexter: You know, before I got married, Emily used to come by sometimes and help me clean out my apartment. Well, I asked her, "How come you're so eager to help clean up my place when your place is just as bad?" She said, "Because cleaning up your place helps me to forget what a mess I've made of mine, and…when I sweep my floor, all I've done is sweep my floor. But, when I help you clean up your place, I am helping you."
TV Show: Babylon 5
Rev. Dexter: Every day, here and at home, we are warned about the enemy. But who is the enemy? Is it the alien? Well, we are all alien to one another. Is it the one who believes differently than we do? No, oh no, my friends. The enemy is fear. The enemy is ignorance. The enemy is the one who tells you that you must hate that which is different. Because, in the end, that hate will turn on you. And that same hate will destroy you.
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Marcus and Ivanova see the Shadow fleet.]
Susan Ivanova: That's a lot of ships.
Marcus Cole: That's a bloody awful lot of ships.
Ivanova: Jump engines back on line yet?
Marcus: No. If I signal the fleet, this lot might pick it up. If they do and we can't get away…
Ivanova: Well…who wants to live forever?
Marcus: I do, actually! But what the hell…
Susan Ivanova: That's a lot of ships.
Marcus Cole: That's a bloody awful lot of ships.
Ivanova: Jump engines back on line yet?
Marcus: No. If I signal the fleet, this lot might pick it up. If they do and we can't get away…
Ivanova: Well…who wants to live forever?
Marcus: I do, actually! But what the hell…
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Marcus teaches Ivanova a little of the Minbari language.]
Marcus: Nu'zen fel'ani in-a lis'e medran.[translation: You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.]
Ivanova: And what does that mean?
Marcus: It's…just a greeting. It means…"My words are inadequate to the burden of my heart."
Ivanova: Well, that's an unusual greeting.
Marcus: Well…they're an unusual people.
Marcus: Nu'zen fel'ani in-a lis'e medran.[translation: You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.]
Ivanova: And what does that mean?
Marcus: It's…just a greeting. It means…"My words are inadequate to the burden of my heart."
Ivanova: Well, that's an unusual greeting.
Marcus: Well…they're an unusual people.
TV Show: Babylon 5
Stephen Franklin: I can't go back, but I can appreciate what I have right now, and I can define myself by what I am, instead of what I'm not.
John Sheridan: And what are you?
Franklin: Alive. Everything else is negotiable.
John Sheridan: And what are you?
Franklin: Alive. Everything else is negotiable.
TV Show: Babylon 5
[A surprise visitor makes her way to Sheridan's quarters.]
Anna Sheridan: Hello. You must be Delenn. I'm Anna Sheridan. John's wife.
Anna Sheridan: Hello. You must be Delenn. I'm Anna Sheridan. John's wife.
TV Show: Babylon 5
Delenn: Humans have a phrase: "What is past, is prologue." […] Minbari also have a phrase: "What is past, is also sometimes the future."
TV Show: Babylon 5
[G'Kar is showing Ivanova the shipment of high-yield thermonuclear bombs]
Susan Ivanova: So the next time we find out where the Shadows plan to strike, we can mine the area. And as soon as they come out of hyperspace—
G'Kar: Then, as you so concisely say, "Boom!"
Susan Ivanova: So the next time we find out where the Shadows plan to strike, we can mine the area. And as soon as they come out of hyperspace—
G'Kar: Then, as you so concisely say, "Boom!"
TV Show: Babylon 5
John Sheridan: I trusted you, Delenn. I cared for you. I let myself start to love you. Do you know what that means? Do you know how hard that was for me? All along a little part of me was still in love with Anna, even though she was gone. I had to fight that part off every time I…I thought about you, about holding you, about building a life with the two of us.
TV Show: Babylon 5
[last lines of the season]
G'Kar: It was the end of the Earth year 2260, and the war had paused, suddenly and unexpectedly. All around us, it was as if the universe were holding its breath…waiting. All of life can be broken down into moments of transition, or moments…of revelation. This had the feeling of both. […] G'Quan wrote, "There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope. The death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender." The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born…in pain.
G'Kar: It was the end of the Earth year 2260, and the war had paused, suddenly and unexpectedly. All around us, it was as if the universe were holding its breath…waiting. All of life can be broken down into moments of transition, or moments…of revelation. This had the feeling of both. […] G'Quan wrote, "There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope. The death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender." The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born…in pain.
TV Show: Babylon 5
[Opening credits voiceover.]
Lennier: It was the year of fire…
Zack Allan: …the year of destruction…
G'Kar: …the year we took back what was ours.
Lyta Alexander: It was the year of rebirth…
Vir Cotto: …the year of great sadness…
Marcus Cole: …the year of pain…
Delenn: …and a year of joy.
Londo Mollari: It was…a new age.
Stephen Franklin: It was the end of history.
Susan Ivanova: It was the year everything changed.
Michael Garibaldi: The year is 2261.
John Sheridan: The place, Babylon 5.
Lennier: It was the year of fire…
Zack Allan: …the year of destruction…
G'Kar: …the year we took back what was ours.
Lyta Alexander: It was the year of rebirth…
Vir Cotto: …the year of great sadness…
Marcus Cole: …the year of pain…
Delenn: …and a year of joy.
Londo Mollari: It was…a new age.
Stephen Franklin: It was the end of history.
Susan Ivanova: It was the year everything changed.
Michael Garibaldi: The year is 2261.
John Sheridan: The place, Babylon 5.
TV Show: Babylon 5