Let us make sure history never forgets the name ... Enterprise.

Jean-Luc Picard (13 July 2305–) is a character in the Star Trek fictional universe, the captain of the USS Enterprise-D and the Enterprise-E. He was played by British actor Patrick Stewart in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent films.

Quotes

Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived.

That is what it is to be human. To make yourself more than you are.

There can be no justice so long as laws are absolute. Even life itself is an exercise in exceptions.

Seize the time... Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.

Things are only impossible until they're not!

Shall I tell you what true evil is? It is to submit to you. It is when we surrender our freedom, our dignity instead of defying you.

There is a way out of every box, a solution to every puzzle; it's just a matter of finding it.

The Prime Directive is not just a set of rules; it is a philosophy ... and a very correct one. History has proven again and again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed civilization, no matter how well intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous.

We are what we are, and we're doing the best we can. It is not for you to set the standards by which we should be judged!

And the sky's the limit.

• Make it so.
  • Catchphrase first used in "Encounter At Farpoint" (28 September 1987) by Gene Roddenberry

• Engage.
  • Catchphrase first used in "Encounter At Farpoint" (28 September 1987) by Gene Roddenberry

• Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
  • Catchphrase first used in "Encounter At Farpoint" (28 September 1987) by Gene Roddenberry

• Part of having feelings is learning to integrate them into your life, Data, ...learning to live with them. No matter what the circumstances ... Sometimes it takes courage to try, Data. Courage can be an emotion too.
  • Star Trek Generations (1994) story by Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore and Rick Berman

• Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived. After all, Number One, we're only mortal.
  • Star Trek Generations (1994) story by Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore and Rick Berman

• Reports of my assimilation are greatly exaggerated.
  • Star Trek: First Contact (1996) story by Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore and Rick Berman
  • Derivative of the statement "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" attributed to Mark Twain, paraphrasing his remark: "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

• The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!
  • Star Trek: First Contact (1996) story by Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore and Rick Berman

• If there is one ideal that the Federation holds most dear, it is that all men, all races can be united.
  • Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) story by John Logan, Rick Berman and Brent Spiner; On Equality and Peace

• Buried deep within you, beneath all the years of pain and anger, there is something that has never been nurtured: the potential to make yourself a better man. And that is what it is to be human. To make yourself more than you are. Oh, yes — I know you. There was a time you looked at the stars and dreamed of what might be.
  • Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) story by John Logan, Rick Berman and Brent Spiner

Quotes about Picard

The bridge of the Enterprise, under the moderate and controlled command of Captain Picard, is a locus of "enlightened understanding."

Alphabetized by author

• Jean-Luc Picard taught me how to speak. I’m pretty sure that I already knew how to say words by the time that I was watching ‘’Star Trek: The Next Generation’’ with my parents, but Patrick Stewart’s captain is how I remember learning that words and communication are noble and important. That you can be strong without imposing yourself physically on others. That making an effort to unite yourself with other people is powerful as well as merely desirable.
  • George Ankers, “50 years on, we need Star Trek’s optimism more than ever”, ‘’Medium’’, (Jul 27, 2016)

• Captain Picard, is the exact opposite of a Hollywood action-hero.
  • Dirk Baecker, in Inclusion/ Exclusiom (2002), p. 76

• Captain Picard is the hero we need right now. He exemplifies in some ways even more then James Kirk—and I’m not gonna get into the Kirk vs Picard argument because I love Captain Kirk, he was my first captain—but Picard is even more of an exemplar of everything that is best about Star Trek’s vision for the future.
  • Michael Chabon, "Captain Picard is the hero we need, says Star Trek writer Michael Chabon", by Richard Trenholm, CNET, (11/7/2018); as quoted in "Michael Chabon on Honoring Star Trek Canon and How Picard Is 'The Hero We Need Right Now'", by Beth Elderkin, IO9, (11/9/2018).

• Picard stands as the bearer of Starfleet's conscience and an exemplar of moral autonomy.
  • Kevin Decker and Jason Eberl Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008), p. 141

• Captain Picard is perceived to be a gentler soul than Captain Kirk.
  • Marc Dipaol, in War, Politics and Superheroes : Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film (2011), p. 30

• When I was in middle school and watching “Star Trek” I imagined we were moving closer toward the show’s version of the future: egalitarian, democratic, creative. Now when I watch the show, I vacillate between hope and escapism. I want to believe that “Star Trek” is predictive of how things will turn out for humanity. I want us to wander the universe in brightly colored uniforms, listening to operas sung by sentient robots. I hope we will find our way to peace. But if that’s not what the future holds, if it’s more war and injustice and greed that we’re headed for, then all I want is to watch Captain Picard hold court on the bridge one more time.
  • Miriam Francisco, “The optimism of ‘Star Trek’”, Michigan Daily, (September 16, 2019)

• The new captain of the Enterprise, Jean-Luc Picard, is the wise man. He rules the Enterprise with a sagely wisdom.
  • Pallab Ghosh, in "Klingons on the Starship Bow" in New Scientist Vo. 117, issue 1605 (24 March 1988), p. 63

• As shown in his speech and actions, Picard is a man of intelligence, courage, integrity, compassion, courtesy.
  • Mark Jancovich and James Lyons, in Quality Popular Television : Cult TV, The Industry and Fans (2003), p. 111

• Patrick Stewart's identification with Jean-Luc Picard is a prime exemplar of the extreme entanglement between actor and character produced by cult television programs, yet in Stewart's case this entanglement has not precluded a very active and successful post-Star Trek career.
  • Sara Gwenllian-Jones and Roberta E. Pearson, in Cult Television (2004), p. 65

• Those ... who are familiar with the character Captain Picard, already know him to be the leader that we all wish we worked for, whose leadership gives us confidence and comfort in meeting the challenges we face each and every day, and the type of leader that we should strive to become.
  • Wess Roberts and Bill Ross in Make It So : Leadership Lessons from Star Trek, The Next Generation (1995), p. xi

• Picard and his crew were all human carbon copies of Spock—even-keeled, rational, and almost impossibly ethical. (Spock himself says so of Picard in “Unification,” the one “Next Generation” episode in which he appears.) That left little room for identification. You could aspire to be more like Picard, the very model of compassion and culture, but you could never truly understand his moral universe. He was nothing like us twenty-first-century humans. He was too alien.
  • Manu Saadia, “The Enduring Lessons of “Star Trek””, The New Yorker, (September 8, 2016).

• The bridge of the Enterprise, under the moderate and controlled command of Captain Picard, is a locus of "enlightened understanding."
  • Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Freakery: cultural spectacles of the extraordinary body (1996), p. 334

• The new captain, Jean-Luc Picard, was French and enjoyed reading, classical music, William Shakespeare, archaeology, and theatre.
  • Gary Westfahl, in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy : Themes, Works, and Wonders (2005) Vol. 3, p. 1264

• Captain Picard is not the swashbuckler that Captain Kirk was.
  • Grace Lee Whitney, Jim Denney, and Leonard Nimoy in The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy (1998), p. 81

• Only question I
  Ever thought was hard
  Was do I like Kirk,
  Or do I like Picard?
  • Weird Al Yankovic, "White & Nerdy", Straight Outta Lynwood (2006)

External links

• Biography of Jean-Luc Picard at the official Star Trek website
• Jean-Luc Picard at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

Creator	Gene Roddenberry  (1921–1991)
Television series	Star Trek  (1966–1969) · The Animated Series  (1973–1974) · The Next Generation  (1987–1994) · Deep Space Nine  (1993–1999) · Voyager  (1995–2001) · Enterprise  (2001–2005) · Discovery  (2017–) · Picard  (2020–)
Feature films	The Original Series		The Motion Picture  (1979) · The Wrath of Khan  (1982) · The Search for Spock  (1984) · The Voyage Home  (1986) · The Final Frontier  (1989) · The Undiscovered Country  (1991)
	The Next Generation		Generations  (1994) · First Contact  (1996) · Insurrection  (1998) · Nemesis  (2002)
	Reboot series		Star Trek  (2009) · Into Darkness  (2013) · Beyond  (2016)
Video games	Borg  (1996) · Klingon Academy  (2000)
Proverbs	Klingon · Vulcan
Other	Star Trek franchise · Last words in Star Trek media · Jean-Luc Picard· Phase II