Star Trek (TV Series)

Patterns of Force (1968)

DeForest Kelley: Dr. McCoy

Quotes 

• Spock : Captain, I never will understand Humans. How could a man as brilliant, a mind as logical as John Gill's, have made such a fatal error?

  Capt. Kirk : He drew the wrong conclusion from history. The problem with the Nazis wasn't simply that their leaders were evil, psychotic men. They were. But the main problem, I think, was the leader principle.

  McCoy : What he's saying, Spock, is that a man who holds that much power, even with the best intentions, just can't resist the urge to play God.

  Spock : Thank you, Doctor. I was able to gather the meaning.

  McCoy : It also proves another Earth saying: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Darn clever, these Earthmen, wouldn't you say?

  Spock : Yes. Earthmen like Ramses, Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Lee Kuan. Your whole Earth history is made up of men seeking absolute power.

  McCoy : [defensively]  Now, Spock, you obviously don't under...

  Spock : Obviously, Doctor, you fail to accept...

  Capt. Kirk : Gentlemen - gentlemen, we've just been through one civil war; let's not start another.

• Spock : [the Enterprise has detonated a missile launched at them from a nearby planet]  Fascinating. A thermonuclear warhead.

  McCoy : That's generations ahead of where these people should be technically. How did they manage that?

  Capt. Kirk : Maybe they had help.

  [referring to a picture of John Gill, a Federation member the Enterprise has been sent to locate] 

• McCoy : [has beamed down in a Nazi uniform]  Stupid computer made a mistake in the measurements. The right boot's too tight.

  Spock : There is a logical way to proceed, Doctor. Point your toe, apply equal pressure to either side of the boot and push. We have no time for emotionalism.

• John Gill : Ekosians, the road ahead is difficult. It requires courage and dedication. It requires faith. The Zeon colony has existed for nearly a half a century. If we fulfill our own greatness, that will all be ended. Working together will at times be difficult to reach that goal. And we will reach that goal!

  Spock : Captain, the speech follows no logical pattern.

  Capt. Kirk : Random sentences strung together.

  McCoy : He looks drugged, Jim. Almost at a cataleptic state.