This list is comprised of my favorite literary quotes from Star Trek. There are a plethora I could have chosen from, (in fact I have 61 total quotes lining the walls of my classroom) but I had to perform the difficult job of narrowing it down. If you have others you think should be on the list, by all means add them in the comments.
Now, without further ado…
#10 from Star Trek VII: Generations
“What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.”
-Captain Jean-Luc Picard
from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
“How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.”
–Captain James T. Kirk
(These aren’t literary quotes, but I love the ideas behind them. Plus, I needed to fill one more spot.)
#9 from Star Trek VIII: First Contact
“Rumors of my assimilation have been greatly exaggerated.”
–Captain Jean-Luc Picard quoted from a letter by Mark Twain
#8 from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
“Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!”
-General Chang quoted from “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare
#7 from Star Trek Deep Space Nine: “Favor the Bold”
“Fortune favors the bold.”
-Captain Benjamin Sisko quoted from “Phormio” by Terence
#6 from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
“If you eliminate the impossible, whateer remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
-Spock quoted from The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#5 from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
“Second star to the right and straight on until morning.”
-Captain James T. Kirk quoted from Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
#4 from Star Trek VIII: First Contact
“And he piled upon the whale’s white hump. A sum of all the rage and hatred felt by his race. If his chest had been a cannon, he would have shot his heart upon it.”
-Captain Jean-Luc Picard quoted from Moby Dick by Herman Melville
#3 from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier/The Ultimate Computer
“All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.”
-Captain James T. Kirk quoted from “Sea Fever” by John Masefield
#2 from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
“It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. A far better resting place that I go to than I have ever known.”
-Captain James T. Kirk quoted from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
#1 from Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan
“He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I’ll chase him round the moons of Nibia, and around the Antares Maelstrom, and around Perdition’s Flames before I give him up!”
“To the last I grapple with thee. From hell’s heart I stab at thee. For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.”
–Khan Noonien Singh quoted and geniusly adapted from Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Let the debate begin…
Justin Scott Sargeant 
Love these quotes (though I didn’t love some of the Star Trek movies with William Shatner).
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Reblogged this on The Worlds top 10 of Anything and Everything!!! and commented:
Today is Sunday which means it is guest post day! Today’s post is from ‘Justin Sargeant’ and brings us a top 9+1 of the best literary quotes in Startrek , so I hope you enjoy it and show it as much love as you do my own top 10′s. But if you think you can do better or interested in doing the same please drop me an E-Mail: turtle4578588@gmail.com But until then here is today’s….
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I definitely agree with No. 1. My husband likes requoting Khan’s dialog but I don’t think he knew it was adapted from Moby Dick. This is a good list. It goes hand and hand with wall art I’ve seen many times that says “Everything I learned in life, I learned on Star Trek”. Not that I would bump any of the others off the list because this is not from literature, but Spock’s phrase from the Undiscovered Country, “Only Nixon could go to China” has always been a favorite of mine. I suppose not all generations would get the reference though.
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Yeah, it is the one quote I find myself repeating over and over again, so to me it had to be number 1. Thank you for stopping by!
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Isn’t it odd that Patrick Stewart went on to play Ahab in Moby Dick 🙂
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I know right?! Perfection.
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He did First Contact in 1996 and Moby Dick in 1998. I wonder if he decided “I know, I’ll be Ahab” as a result of the former
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I’m not certain, but I think he did stage productions of Moby Dick at one point before ST. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he just told his agent he wanted to do the movie and someone wrote a script, and gathered a cast and crew just do he could do it. He is that fantastic.
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Reblogged this on teabeaknits blog and commented:
I may be fully ‘out’ in terms of my knitting and crochet – but until now I’d kept one little secret back…..yes, I’m, a closet Trekkie. And since I also love books and reading I found this little collection fascinating! I know Patrick Stewart’s Shakesperian background gave him a head start but even Captain Kirk has a literary bent it seems 😉
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I LOVE IT! 🙂
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Reblogged this on archangelmichael777 and commented:
Wonderful STAR TREK Quotes by Justin Sergeant 🙂 CAPTAIN PICARD!
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Really lovely to see and remember the brilliant outer space voyages of Spock and Kirk. The bald guy is an abomination, I could never watch it again. Whatever faults others may have found with Kirk he was pure astronaut, proudly human, endlessly decent, and knew a villain when he saw one. The stuff of heroes. Spock, too.
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I agree with you about Kirk, flipping fantastic. But I also think that Picard was Kirk’s antithesis. Where Kirk flew by the seat if his pants, Picard hung to regulations, yet both inspired and archive greatness. (And don’t forget both Shatner and Stewart studied at Royal Shakespeare Company😉)
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I like these! I wouldn’t take any out, but if I were to add an eleventh it would be this one:
“They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!” From Star Trek VIII: First Contact
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That is another one of my favorites. Nicely done!
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Thank you.
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‘Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.’
Khan quoting Milton – more exactly than he does Melville.
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Nicely done!
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I loved this. My family is here for the annual ComiCon pilgrimage and this fits right in with our breakfast discussion.
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Awesome! I’m glad I could provide a topic!
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Fascinating!!!! I have seen all TV series and movies and love them all.
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Truly great quotes!!
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Very cool. I didn’t realize how many of the great lines were quotes from known authors.
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Was “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” by Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn mentioned?
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Absolutely love the quote! I cry every time I think of it because I think of Spock telling Kirk from behind the glass. However, I kept it off the list because it is not from any literary work that I know.
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I checked it out, it’s “essence” is from a verse in the Bible, John 11:49-50. But not an exact quote. Who knew?
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Very cool, very cool! Thank you!
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I came across the John 11 verse the other day and did a face palm. I knew Star Trek quoted Shakespeare and others, but the Bible too! Loved it!
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O…M…G….A freaking brilliant collection!
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Absolutely fantastic; I love it!
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I am a star Trek nerd from the very beginning of the series! Love the quotes!
Thanks for following!
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Please post the rest of the quotes. To save time, you don’t have to include the pictures.
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