- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I don't know how to communicate this, or even if it is possible to do so... but the question of justice has concerned me greatly of late. And so I say to any creature who may be listening: There can be no justice, so long as laws are absolute. Life itself is an exercise in exceptions.
- Edo God (voice): [CUTTING-ROOM FLOOR-LINE] How can there be justice, unless laws are consistent? Was it not one of your own people who said, "Lawlessness anywhere endangers lawfulness everywhere"? Without absolute law, my people would be inundated with exceptions: appeals, plea bargains - I believe your people have a term for it - with "red tape". Nobody could be punished for anything anymore. Thus, if I yield to these requests of yours, what will you yield in return?
- Commander William T. Riker: When has justice ever been as simple as a rulebook?
- [the transporter activates, and the away team is beamed up]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Seems the Edo Lord agrees with you, Number One.
- Lieutenant Worf: I am not concerned with pleasure, Commander. I am a warrior.
- Commander William T. Riker: Even Klingons need love now and then.
- Lieutenant Worf: For what we consider love, sir, I would need a Klingon woman.
- Commander William T. Riker: What about plain old basic sex? You must have some need for that.
- Lieutenant Worf: Of course, but with the females available to me, sir - Earth females - I must restrain myself too much. They are quite fragile, sir.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: It was probably unwise of us to attempt to place a human colony in this area. Of course, there are 3,004 other planets in this star cluster in which we could have colonized. The largest and closest...
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Data, don't babble.
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: Babble, sir? I'm not aware that I ever babble, sir. It may be that from time to time I have considerable information to communicate, and you may question the way in which I organize it...
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Please, organize it into brief answers to my questions.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: The Edo want to execute my son. I will not allow that to happen, Jean-Luc!
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: [to Picard] Most interesting, sir. The emotion of motherhood is, compared to all others felt by human...
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: SHUT UP!
- [runs out]
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: You were right, sir. I do tend to babble.
- Lieutenant Geordi La Forge: [about the Edo] They're wild in some ways, actually puritanical in others. Neat as pins, ultra-lawful; and they make love at the drop of a hat.
- Lieutenant Tasha Yar: Any... hat.
- Wesley Crusher: [describing the action that warrants his execution] I was chasing a ball, and I fell into that.
- Conn: Intruder relays do show something.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Why has everything become a "something" or a "whatever"?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Whatever the object or vessel in orbit with us, it hangs there like a nemesis.
- Edo God (voice): Do Not Interfere With My Children Below!
- Edo God (voice): Return My Child!
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Capital punishment in our world is no longer considered a justifiable deterrent.
- Liator: [with sarcasm] In other words... We are not yet as "advanced" as you are. I suppose, if somebody commits murder in your world, he is simply warned not to do it again and then sent on his way. Well, since you are advanced in so many ways, I suggest you use your superior powers to rescue the boy. We will record him as a convicted criminal out of our reach - one who luckily escaped the barbarism of this backward little world.
- [CUTTING-ROOM FLOOR-LINE]
- Liator: Or you could show us how your people detect the seeds of criminal behavior, so that we can prevent such chaos by way of mandatory abortions.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [CUTTING-ROOM FLOOR-LINE, appalled by this suggestion] No. *I will teach you nothing of the sort, and that is final*.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: How do I explain my refusing to obey their laws down there, not permitting the Crusher boy... to be executed? And by so doing, do I endanger this vessel and more than a thousand other lives?
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: Would you choose one life over one thousand, sir?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I refuse to let arithmetic decide questions like that.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: Your God is unfair. My son had no warning that his act was criminal.
- 2nd Mediator: We cannot allow ignorance of the law to become a defense.
- [last lines]
- Lieutenant Geordi La Forge: [after the Edo god ship vanishes] Is that a signal?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I suppose. I suppose it must be. I was hoping for more.
- Lieutenant Geordi La Forge: More of what, sir? I'm glad it's gone.
- Commander William T. Riker: Agreed, sir. Short and sweet. God-like efficiency.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I was hoping we'd learn more about it. But since we can't, take us out of here, Number One.
- Commander William T. Riker: Gladly, sir.