- Lt. Commander Worf: Curzon's name is an honored one among my people.
- [Curzon was the Dax symbiont's previous host, and was central to peace negotiations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire]
- Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax: [in Klingon] Yeah, but I'm a lot better looking than he was.
- Lt. Commander Worf: I suppose so. Excuse me.
- Major Kira: [after Dax has spoken to Worf in Klingon] What did you say to him?
- Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax: It loses something in the translation.
- Quark: I want you to try something for me. Take a sip of this.
- Elim Garak: What is it?
- Quark: A human drink. It's called root beer.
- Elim Garak: [unwilling] Uh, I don't know...
- Quark: Come on, aren't you just a little bit curious?
- [Garak sighs, takes a sip and gags]
- Quark: What do you think?
- Elim Garak: It's *vile*!
- Quark: I know. It's so bubbly, and cloying, and *happy*.
- Elim Garak: Just like the Federation.
- Quark: But you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to *like* it.
- Elim Garak: It's insidious!
- Quark: *Just* like the Federation.
- Doctor Bashir: They broke seven of your transverse ribs and fractured your clavicle.
- Elim Garak: But I got off several cutting remarks which no doubt did serious damage to their egos.
- Doctor Bashir: Garak, this isn't funny.
- Elim Garak: I'm serious, Doctor. Thanks to your ministrations, I am almost completely healed. But the damage I did to them will last a lifetime.
- Quark: [Worf arrives at the promenade for the first time] Let me guess, Kilngon bloodwine.
- Lt. Commander Worf: Prune juice. Chilled.
- Quark: [laughs] Prune juice!
- [Worf glares at him]
- Quark: If you say so.
- Lt. Commander Worf: Kahless himself said "Destroying an Empire to win a war is no victory."
- Gowron: "And ending a battle to save an Empire is no defeat."
- [Worf and O'Brien are reminiscing about their days on the Enterprise]
- Lt. Commander Worf: We were like warriors from the ancient sagas. There was nothing we could not do.
- Chief O'Brien: Except keep the holodecks working right.
- Doctor Bashir: I'm sure there's more than one Klingon who thinks that slaying a changeling would be worthy of a song or two.
- Odo: Doctor, if a Klingon were to kill me, I'd expect nothing less than an entire opera on the subject.
- Doctor Bashir: Maybe. I just don't want to have to listen to it. Watch your back.
- [Worf has decided to resign from Starfleet, not unlike Sisko had almost done once]
- Captain Sisko: I understand you're headed for the Nyberrite Alliance?
- Lt. Commander Worf: Yes, I leave this afternoon.
- Captain Sisko: For me, it was a job on Earth - directing construction of orbital habitats.
- Lt. Commander Worf: Why did you change your mind?
- Captain Sisko: I finally realized that it wasn't Starfleet I wanted to get away from. I was trying to escape the pain I felt, after my wife's death. I thought I could take the uniform, wrap it around that pain and toss them both away. But it doesn't work like that. Running may help for a little while. But sooner or later, the pain catches up with you; and the only way to get rid of it is to stand your ground, and face it.
- Lt. Commander Worf: But wearing that uniform must remind you of what you have lost.
- Captain Sisko: Sometimes. But it also reminds me of what I've gained, and who I am. Oh, I can throw away the uniform, resign my commission, run all the way to the Nyberrite Alliance. But it really wouldn't matter. A Starfleet officer - that's what I am, and that's what I'll always be.
- Captain Sisko: Curzon told me once that in the long run, the only people who can really handle the Klingons... are Klingons.
- Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax: [ordering two holo-bat'leths for herself and Worf] I thought you might be tired of fighting holograms.
- Lt. Commander Worf: It would not be a fair match.
- Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax: I'll go easy on you.
- [Dukat enters the Defiant's bridge with an armed guard in tow, after Sisko has rescued him from the Klingons]
- Gul Dukat: Captain, would you kindly inform this security guard that he does not have to monitor my every move? It makes me feel unwelcome.
- Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax: Looks like I won, Benjamin. You owe me dinner.
- Gul Dukat: And what is that supposed to mean?
- Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax: Captain Sisko bet me that you would thank him for the rescue before you started complaining.
- Captain Sisko: I lost.
- Gul Dukat: [Garak is hurrying down a corridor to help defend the members of the Detapa Council when he runs into an armed Dukat and a Starfleet security detachment] That's close enough, Garak.
- Elim Garak: I just wanted to make sure the council members were safe.
- Gul Dukat: Hoping, no doubt, that your concern would curry political favour?
- Elim Garak: Oh, and I take it your concern for the council members is motivated strictly by patriotism?
- Gul Dukat: The council members are well aware of my patriotism. And the sacrifices I was willing to make in order to save them. Now, why don't you go back to your tailor shop and sew something?
- Elim Garak: Because if the Klingons do invade the station, you may just need my help.
- [Garak draws a weapon of his own and stands next to Dukat]
- Elim Garak: Who would have thought the two of us would be fighting side by side?
- Gul Dukat: Just be sure when you fire that thing you're aiming it at a Klingon.
- Elim Garak: I'll try to keep that in mind.
- [a group of Klingons invade the tailor's shop]
- Elim Garak: Well, let me guess. You're either lost, or desperately searching for a good tailor.
- Drex: Guess again!
- [knocks Garak down]
- Elim Garak: How thoughtless of me not to consider the effects the destruction of my home world would have on your business; These must be trying times for you, be brave.
- Odo: I didn't know you spoke Klingon.
- Elim Garak: Oh, you'd be surprised at the things you can learn when you're doing alterations.
- Doctor Bashir: Care for a game of darts?
- Lt. Commander Worf: I do not play games.
- Chief O'Brien: It's like poker... with pointed tips!
- Martok: You robbed my son of his honor just to get my attention?
- Lt. Commander Worf: You cannot take away what someone does not have.
- Elim Garak: What I can't understand is that inexplicable hostility toward me. Maligning Constable Odo was one thing; after all he's a changeling. The Klingons don't know him as well as we do. But relations between the Klingon and Cardassian Empires have never been anything but amicable.
- Doctor Bashir: With the exception of the Betreka Nebula incident.
- Elim Garak: A minor skirmish.
- Doctor Bashir: It lasted eighteen years!
- Elim Garak: It was ages ago. Perhaps... they've decided they just didn't like me.
- Doctor Bashir: [ironic] Not like you? Impossible.
- Quark: Am I glad we finally got rid of all those Klingons - er, present company excepted, of course.
- [Worf stares at him, then gets up and leaves]
- Chief O'Brien: I gotta hand it to you, Quark. You really know how to make your customers feel welcome.
- [gets up and leaves as well]
- Quark: What do I care? All he ever drinks is prune juice.
- Gowron: Worf, why do you stand there like a mute d'blok? I have offered you a chance for glory. All you have to do is take it.
- Lt. Commander Worf: If there's any glory to be won, Gowron... it'll have to be yours alone. I cannot come with you.
- Gowron: [surprised] Of course you can. It is where you belong.
- Lt. Commander Worf: No, I cannot abandon my post.
- Gowron: You no longer have a post. You have no place on that station... and no business wearing that uniform.
- Lt. Commander Worf: I have sworn an oath of allegiance.
- Gowron: [disgusted] To the Federation?
- Lt. Commander Worf: You would have me break my word?
- Gowron: You're word? What good is your word when you give it to people who care nothing for honour? Who refuse to lift a finger while Klingon warriors shed blood for they're protection? I tell you... they are without honour! You do not owe them anything!
- Lt. Commander Worf: It is not what I owe them that matters! It is what I owe myself! Worf, son of Mogh does not break his word!
- Gowron: And what of you're debt to me? Are you saying you owe me nothing? I gave you back you're name... restored your House... gave your family a seat on the High Council... and this is how you repay me?
- Lt. Commander Worf: It is true - I owe you a great debt. I would give up my life for you. But invading Cardassia is wrong and I cannot support it!
- Gowron: Worf, I have always considered you a friend and an ally. And because you are my friend, I am giving you this one last chance to redeem yourself.
- [places a hand on his shoulder]
- Gowron: Come with me.
- Lt. Commander Worf: [a part of Worf wants to, but...] I cannot.
- Gowron: [he removes his hand] Think about what you're doing. If you turn your back on me now... for as long as I live... you will not be welcome anywhere in the Klingon Empire. You're family... will be removed from the High Council... you're lands seized... and you're House stripped of its titles! You will have nothing!
- Lt. Commander Worf: [the lines are drawn] Except my honour.
- Gowron: So be it.
- [Gowron leaves Worf standing there, both knowing things will never be the same again]
- [O'Brien is making upgrades on the station]
- Chief O'Brien: I just hope everything works okay.
- Major Kira: You're saying you're not sure?
- Chief O'Brien: The way I see it, there are two possibilities: either everything will be fine, or...
- Major Kira: Or?
- Chief O'Brien: Or we'll end up blowing the station to pieces.
- Major Kira: Oh... Well, let's hope we don't have to find out.
- Doctor Bashir: Sir, I hate to bring this up, but our agreement with the Romulans expressly prohibits use of the cloaking device in the Alpha Quadrant.
- Captain Sisko: You're right, it does. But there are hundreds of Klingon ships between us and Dukat, and I intend to make that rendezvous in one piece.
- Doctor Bashir: Well, I won't tell the Romulans if you don't.
- Gowron: Surrender the council members, or we will have no choice but to take them by force.
- Captain Sisko: And risk an all-out war with the Federation?
- Gowron: If a war starts here, the blame will be yours.
- Captain Sisko: I doubt very much history will agree.
- Gowron: History is written by the victors.
- Gowron: You're like a toothless old Grishnar cat trying to frighten us with your roar.
- Captain Sisko: I can assure you, this 'old cat' may not be as toothless as you think.
- [last lines]
- Major Kira: Looks like the Klingons are here to stay.
- Captain Sisko: Maybe they are. But so are we.
- Captain Sisko: This is exactly what the Founders want: Klingon against Cardassian! Federation against Klingon! The more we fight each other, the weaker we'll get, and the less chance we have against the Dominion!
- Elim Garak: [after Drex has insulted Odo in Klingon] Actually, I'm not sure Constable Odo *has* a mother.
- Captain Sisko: Dukat? I was trying to reach someone in the civilian government.
- Gul Dukat: And you have succeeded. You are speaking to the new chief military advisor to the Detapa Council.
- Captain Sisko: Does this mean you've turned your back on the Central Command?
- Gul Dukat: It means that as a loyal officer of the Cardassian military, I am pledged to serve the legitimate ruling body of the empire, whoever that may be.
- Captain Sisko: In other words, you saw which way the wind was blowing and switched sides.
- Gul Dukat: It seemed like a good idea at the time.