- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I understand you've been discussing alternative adversarial engagement strategy with Mr. Mot.
- Commander William T. Riker: It'd be more accurate to say he was discussing them with me. He's the best barber in Starfleet. What can you do?
- Guinan: So you sit alone in crowded rooms staring at your drink.
- [pause]
- Guinan: I think you enjoy it.
- Ensign Ro Laren: I enjoy it?
- Guinan: Well, you work so hard at torturing yourself, I can only think you must enjoy it.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Who *are* you?
- Guinan: I told you. I'm Guinan. I tend bar and I listen.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Well, you're not like any bartender I've ever met before.
- Guinan: Hm. And you're not like any Starfleet officer I've ever met before. But that sounds like the beginning of a... very interesting friendship.
- Ensign Ro Laren: I don't stay anywhere long enough to make friends.
- Guinan: Too late. You just did.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Yes, Ensign Laren, please sit down.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Ensign Ro, sir.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I beg your pardon?
- Ensign Ro Laren: The Bajoran custom has the family name first, the individual's name second. I am properly addressed as 'Ensign Ro'.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I'm sorry, I didn't know.
- Ensign Ro Laren: No, there's no reason you should. It's an old custom. Most Bajora these days accept the distortion of their names in order to assimilate. I do not.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: In an age when their technology should be able to clothe and feed all of them; that they should live like this.
- Ensign Ro Laren: I couldn't. And I wouldn't. That's one reason I ran away. They're lost, defeated. I will never be.
- Ensign Ro Laren: When I was seven years old, I was given a piece of sugar candy. And I was led by a Cardassian into a room where my father was sitting. And he looked at me with eyes I'd never seen. The Cardassian began to ask him questions. And during the next two hours - as I was forced to watch - my father was tortured until he died. And I remember feeling... so ashamed of him as he begged for mercy. I was ashamed of him for being weak. I was ashamed of being Bajoran. Later I began to understand how misguided those feelings were, and... and yet somehow, they have remained a part of me. I don't want to be ashamed of my heritage any longer, Captain. I serve the Federation. But I am Bajoran. A Starfleet admiral presented me with an opportunity to help my people in their fight against the Cardassians. I had to accept it.
- Admiral Kennelly: I can't tell you how difficult it was to get her out of prison.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: It's that important to you?
- Admiral Kennelly: It's that important to the mission.
- Guinan: I heard you got grounded.
- Ensign Ro Laren: I really don't feel like talking right now.
- Guinan: Come on, sure you do.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Why is it every time I tell you something, you tell me I mean the exact opposite?
- Guinan: Because you're one of those people who's got their poles reversed.
- Guinan: Am I disturbing you?
- Ensign Ro Laren: Yes.
- Guinan: Good. You look like someone who wants to be disturbed.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Who-who are you?
- Guinan: My name is Guinan. I tend bar, and I listen.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Huh... You heard anything interesting?
- Guinan: Everyone's talking about you.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Heard anything interesting?
- Guinan: M-hm.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Well... it's all true.
- Guinan: I believe truth is in the eye of the beholder.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Isn't that supposed to be... beauty?
- Guinan: Truth, beauty - works for a lot of things.
- Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: [about Ensign Ro] She doesn't belong here. She doesn't even belong in the uniform, as far as I'm concerned.
- Guinan: Really?
- Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Really.
- Guinan: Sounds like someone I'd like to know.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Captain's log, supplemental. I read about the achievements of the ancient Bajoran civilization in my fifth grade reader. They were architects and artists, builders and philosophers, when Humans were not yet standing erect. Now I see how history has rewarded them.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I'm not here to debate Federation policy. I am prepared to offer assistance...
- Keeve Falor: Simply because of one terrorist attack? Then perhaps I have been wrong. We should have attacked the Federation long ago. What do you think of that, Ro?
- Ensign Ro Laren: I think you are a small man who feels a rush of power in his belly and enjoys it far too much, Keeve. Stop talking and listen.
- [first lines]
- Mr. Mot: There's a time when you want to call a Romulan's bluff and there's a time when you don't, wouldn't you say?
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: I met Holza at a symposium a few years ago.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: What can you tell us about him, Doctor?
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: I found him to be a very concerned leader and a good spokesman for his people... and a terrific dancer.
- Ensign Ro Laren: There's more going on here than anybody on this ship realizes. It's more than I know how to deal with. And I really don't know who to trust anymore.
- Guinan: Including yourself?
- Ensign Ro Laren: Oh... especially myself.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Seems like everybody's just pulling my strings, you know, like I've got no control.
- Guinan: Hm... For people like you and me, who've lost their homes, sometimes that's the way life feels.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Captain, I-I don't know who to trust anymore. But that strange bartender of yours has a way of getting to you, and... and she said that you were her friend.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Then we have one thing in common.
- Keeve Falor: I'm sorry, I don't wish to help you. Don't misunderstand; I for one believe the raid on the Federation outpost was poor judgment. You are innocent bystanders. And I cannot condone violence against those who are not our enemies.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Then I... I don't understand why you're unwilling.
- Keeve Falor: Because you're innocent bystanders. You were innocent bystanders for decades, as the Cardassians took our homes. As they violated and tortured our people in the most hideous ways imaginable. As we were forced to flee.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: We were saddened by those events, but they occurred within the designated borders of the Cardassian Empire.
- Keeve Falor: And the Federation is pledged not to interfere in the internal affairs of others. How convenient that must be for you, to turn a deaf ear to those who suffer behind a line on a map.
- Gul Dolak: You are protecting the enemies of the Cardassian people. If you do not withdraw, we will take great offense.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I'm sorry to offend you, Gul Dolak. But we cannot withdraw.
- Gul Dolak: We are prepared to take any steps necessary.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Is that intended as a threat?
- Gul Dolak: It is a complaint - from your Cardassian neighbors.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I think you've got a great deal to learn from Starfleet.
- Ensign Ro Laren: I always thought Starfleet had a lot to learn from me, Captain.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: That's an attitude that I've found common among the best officers I've ever served with.
- Ensign Ro Laren: Captain, I know the routine. You don't have to worry about me. We're stuck with each other. So let's just get this over with as quickly as possible and go our own separate ways, okay?
- [leaves Picard's ready room unasked]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Dismissed.
- Ensign Ro Laren: I would go to the camp on the southern continent of Valo II. Find a man named Keeve Falor. He has no diplomatic experience; and he won't ask you to dance.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I'm not here to debate Federation policy with you. But I can offer you assistance.
- Keeve Falor: Simply because of one terrorist attack? Well... perhaps I should have known. We should have attacked the Federation long ago.
- Keeve Falor: We live in different universes, you and I. Yours is about diplomacy, politics, strategy. Mine is about blankets. If we were to exchange places for one night, you might better understand.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: [entering Ten Forward with Crusher and sighting Ro] Do you mind if we join you?
- Ensign Ro Laren: Yes.