Galactica.com - Top 15 Battlestar Galactica Quotes

By Chris Jensen, on 03-04-2008

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Top 15 Battlestar Galactica Quotes
Posted by Chris Jensen | Apr. 02, 2008 11:06AM PT

Top 15 Battlestar Galactica Quotes

I make no secret of my unbridled love for Battlestar Galactica. Great acting, superb plots, top-notch special-effects, twists and turns, but above all else: excellent dialog.

With the Season 4 premiere inching its way towards us, I thought I'd collect some of my favorite quotes from the first three seasons, presented in order of greatness. Beg to differ? Did I miss something obvious? Let me know in the comments and share some of your favorites. 1. “Did the defendant make mistakes? Sure, he did. Serious mistakes. But did he actually commit any crimes? Did he commit treason? No. I mean, it was an impossible situation. When the Cylons arrived, what could he possibly do? What could anyone have done? I mean, ask yourself, what would you have done? What would you have done? If he had refused to surrender, the Cylons would've probably nuked the planet right then and there. So did he appear to cooperate with the Cylons? Sure. So did hundreds of others. What's the difference between him and them? The President issued a blanket pardon. They were all forgiven. No questions asked. Colonel Tigh. Colonel Tigh used suicide bombers, killed dozens of people. Forgiven. Lieutenant Agathon and Chief Tyrol. They murdered an officer on the Pegasus. Forgiven. The Admiral? The Admiral instituted a military coup d'etat against the President. Forgiven. And me? Well, where do I begin? I shot down a civilian passenger ship, the Olympic Carrier. Over a thousand people on board. Forgiven. I raised my weapon to a superior officer, committed an act of mutiny. Forgiven. And then on the very day when Baltar surrendered to those Cylons, I, as Commander of Pegasus, jumped away. I left everybody on that planet alone, undefended, for months! I even tried to persuade the Admiral never to return. To abandon you all there for good. If I'd had my way, nobody would've made it off that planet. I'm the coward. I'm the traitor. I'm forgiven. I'd say we're very forgiving of mistakes. We make our own laws now, our own justice. We've been pretty creative at finding ways to let people off the hook for everything from theft to murder. And we've had to be. Because... Because we're not a civilization anymore. We are a gang. And we're on the run. And we have to fight to survive. We have to break rules. We have to bend laws. We have to improvise. But not this time, no. Not this time. Not for Gaius Baltar. No. You, you have to die. You have to die, because... Well, because we don't like you very much. Because you're arrogant. Because you're weak. Because you're a coward. And we the mob, we want to throw you out the airlock because you didn't stand up to the Cylons, and get yourself killed in the process. That's justice now. You should've been killed back on New Caprica, but since you had the temerity to live, we're gonna execute you now. That's justice!” --Lee Adama

2. “You're full of bile, hatred, poison. And I know that it has something to do with Ellen. And I'm sorry for that. And if you need time, Saul, well, you take all the time you want. But I gotta run a ship. The last thing I need is a one-eyed drunk sitting down here sowing discontent and disobedience. So I'll tell you once again, Saul. You can pick up that weapon and kill me...or you can get your ass back into your quarters, and not leave until you're ready to act like the man that I've known for the past thirty years.” --Commander Adama

3. “The Cylon War is long over, yet we must not forget the reasons why so many sacrificed so much in the cause of freedom. The cost of wearing the uniform can be high, but... sometimes it's too high. You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question Why? Why are we as a people worth saving? We still commit murder because of greed and spite and jealousy, and we still visit all of our sins upon our children. We refuse to accept the responsibility for anything we've done, like we did with the Cylons. We decided to play God, create life. When that life turned against us, we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn't our fault, not really. You cannot play God and then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore.” --Commander Adama

4. “You know, sometimes I think that you've got ice water in those veins, and other times I think you're just a naive little schoolteacher. I've sent men on suicide missions in two wars now, and let me tell you something. It don't make a Godsdamn bit of difference whether they're riding in a Viper or walking out onto a parade ground, in the end they're just as dead. So take your piety and your moralizing and your high-minded principles and stick 'em someplace safe until you're off this rock and you're sitting in your nice cushy chair on Colonial one again. I've got a war to fight.” --Colonel Tigh

5. Apollo: “I will not serve under a man who questions my integrity.”

Adama: “And I won't have an officer under my command who doesn't have any.”

6. "The whole fleet knows this man tried to stab me through the neck. And you missed! Butterfingers!" --Gaius Baltar

7. "You're born, you live and you die. There are no do-overs, no second chances to make things right if you frak 'em up the first time. Not in this life anyway. Like I said, you make your choices and you live with them. And in end you are those choices." --Kendra Shaw

8. “But there comes a time when you realize that the engine you've built with your blood and your sweat and your tears is being used for something so foul, so perverted that it makes you sick in your heart. And it's then that you must throw your body on the gears and on the levers and on the machine itself and make it stop. And you have to show the people who run it, the people who control it, that unless we're free, that machine will be prevented from working at all.” --Tyrol

9. “You think he gave a flying frak? Joe Adama cared about one thing. Understanding why people do what they do. Why we cheat our friends, why we reward our enemies. Why we go to war, sacrificing our lives for lost causes. Why we build machines in the hope of correcting our flaws and our shortcomings. Why we forgive, defying logic and the laws of nature with one stupid little act of compassion. We're flawed. All of us. I wanted to know why, so I did what he did. I spend my life with the fallen. The corrupt. The damaged. Look at you, you were so ready to get on that Raptor with me today.” --Lampkin

10. “When you stand on this deck, you be ready to fight, or you dishonor the reason why we're here. Now remember this: When you fight a man, he's not your friend. Same goes when you lead men. I forgot that once. I let you get too close. All of you. I dropped my guard. I gave some of you breaks, let some of you go, before the fight was really over. I let this crew and this family disband. And we paid the price in lives. That can't happen again.” --Commander Adama

11. Starbuck: I have my flaws, too.

Colonel Tigh: The difference is my flaws are personal. Yours are professional.

12. “There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.” --Commander Adama

13. "The mob is not usually in the habit of electing ungodly apostates who denigrate people of faith." --Gaius Baltar

14. “Sometimes terrible things have to be done. Inevitably, each and every one of us will have to face a moment where we have to commit that horrible sin. And if we flinch in that moment, if we hesitate for one second, if we let our conscience get in the way, you know what happens? There are more kids in those body bags. More kids floating out that airlock. I don't know why... but I have a lot of faith in you. And I want you to promise me that when that moment comes you won't flinch. Do not flinch.” --Cain

15. “I just don't respond to the title 'Doc.' A dock is a platform for loading and unloading material. My title is "Doctor" or "Mr. Vice President," if you don't mind. --Gaius Baltar

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