Season 1

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Midnight on the Firing Line

Vir Cotto: "... why are you doing this?" 
Londo: "Because, we are a race of lunatics and cowards."

Delenn: "To start a war over blood spilled so long ago.... Where does it end? You kill them and take their land. They kill you and take the land back. On and on and on. The cycle of hatred." 
G'Kar: "Justice, not hatred. We have no desire to start a war."

G'Kar (to Londo): "The wheel turns, does it not...?"

G'Kar (to Londo): "Listen to me.... Your time has come and gone. It's our turn now! One night you'll wake up and find our teeth at your throat. Sleep well.... Sleep lightly."

G'Kar: "I will confess that I look forward to the day when we have cleansed the Universe of the Centauri and carved their bones into little flutes for Narn children. It is a dream I have." 
Sinclair: "Be careful, Ambassador. Not every dream I've heard lately ends well for you."

Garibladi: "Appearances aside, we are two completely different species."  
Londo: "A clerical error."

Garibaldi: "If you ask me, the universe is going to hell in a hand basket."

Garibaldi (to Winters): "Well, unlike me, the Lieutenant Commander takes a while to warm up to people, especially when she's working."

Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova: "Your diligence is commendable. Anything else?" 
Talia Winters: "No, I just--" 
Ivanova: "Then, if you will excuse me, but I'm in the middle of fifteen things, all of them annoying. Thank you for coming by."

Ivanova: "You eat like a starving man." 
Garibladi: "Seeing death has the way of doing that to me."

Ivanova: "Mr. Garibaldi, you are sitting in my station, using my equipment. Is there a reason for this, or to save time should I just go ahead and snap your hands off at the wrist?"

Ivanova (to Winters re: her mother after refusing to join Psi Corps): " The light in her eyes just went out bit by bit; and when we thought she could go no further, she took her own life."

Ambassador Kosh: "They are alone. They are a dying people. We should let them pass."  
Sinclair: "Who? The Narn or the Centauri?" 
Kosh: "Yes."

Londo: "All I'm asking is that you trust me." 
Garibladi: "Trust you?  ... my brain will be five days dead before I ever trust a Centauri. The first time we met you people, the first time we met any other civilization, you told us you practically ran the entire galaxy."

Londo: "Okay, we made a mistake. I'm sorry. Here, open my wrist."  
Garibaldi: "Centauri don't have major arteries in their wrist."  
Londo: "Of course we don't. What do you think, I'm stupid?"

Londo (to G'Kar): "You bastard! You won't get away with this. We'll strike back and we'll strike back hard!"

Londo: "We should've wiped out your kind when we had the chance."  
G'Kar: "What happened? Run out of small children to butcher?"

Londo: "I apologize for the ... the incident with G'Kar.... It was a mistake. I will not repeat it. I will kill him though. Sooner or later. Somewhere. My people ... We have a way you see. We know how, and sometimes even when, we are going to die. Comes in a dream. In my dream I am an old man, it's 20 years from now, and I am dying. My hands wrapped around someone's throat, and his around mine. We have squeezed the life out of each other. The first time I saw G'Kar I recognized him as the one from the dream. It will happen. 20 years from now, we'll die with hands around each others' throats." 

Londo: "It seems I am still on target for my appointment twenty years from now."

Londo: "... On the issue of galactic peace, I'm long past innocence and fast approaching apathy. It's all a game -- a paper fantasy of names and borders. Only one thing matters.... Blood calls out for blood."

Londo: "If Carn is dead, then there will be war. Today, tomorrow, the day after, it doesn't matter. If it's the last thing I do, if it's the last breath I take, there will be war.... This I swear."

Londo (to Vir): "The Council, the Council can go to hell. And the emergency session can go to hell. And you, you can go to hell too. I wouldn't want you to feel left out!"

Londo: "The great Centauri Republic, the lion of the galaxy, will do nothing!"

Londo: "... Just now, would you really have killed me?" 
Garibaldi: "... Yes, I would've, but I'm just as glad I didn't have to. The paperwork's a pain in the butt."

Senator: "The Earth Alliance can't go around being the galaxy's policemen."

Sinclair: "It was the Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal .. all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last, best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5."

Sinclair: "Not the Minbari, it's not their way. They are too honorable to pull something like this." 
Ivanova: "I'm surprised to hear you describe the Minbari that way. After all, you fought them during the war."

Sinclair: "My father always told me: 'The best way to understand someone is to fight him, make him angry. That's when you see the real person.'"

Sinclair: "He taught me everything I know about flying, and combat. He said to ignore the propaganda, focus on what you see. I've never seen the Minbari fight dishonorably. They never pull a sneak attack."

Sinclair: "So, who are you voting for?" 
Ivanova: "I think I'll vote for Marie Crane. ... I do not like Santiago. I always thought that a leader should have a strong chin. He has no chin and his vice-president has several. This, to me, is not a good combination."

Sinclair (to G'Kar): "We've had plenty of experience with sneak attacks. Pearl Harbor, the terrorists' nuking of San Diego, the destruction of our first Mars colony. It's a long and bloody history. Do you know what we learned from it? That a sneak attack is the first resort of a coward."

Sinclair (to G'Kar): "What's wrong...? Don't have the guts for a fair fight?"

Winters: "Perhaps tomorrow we can start over on better terms."  
Ivanova: "I very much doubt it."

Soul Hunter

Delenn: "Kill it!  It is a Soul Hunter."

Delenn: "Remove [Minbari] souls and the whole suffers."

Delenn (to Sinclair): "I knew you would come.  We were right about you."

Dr. Stephen Franklin: "Always this busy around here?" 
Ivanova: "Yes. We like it that way."

Dr. Franklin: "It's all so brief, isn't it? Typical human lifespan is almost a hundred years, but it's barely a second compared to what's out there. It wouldn't be so bad if life didn't take so long to figure out. Seems you just start to get it right and then ... it's over." 
Ivanova: "Doesn't matter. If we lived two hundred years, we'd still be human. We'd still make the same mistakes."  
Dr. Franklin: "You're a pessimist." 
Ivanova: "I'm Russian, Doctor. We understand these things."

Garibaldi (to Sinclair): "I hate it when you get heroic. It cuts into my business. A man's gotta earn a living, you know?"

Sinclair: "If I can't make it, you'll have to blow up that ship before it hits." 
Ivanova: "Why not destroy it now?" 
Sinclair: "First contact protocol.... Only when conditions present a clear and present danger. If this is a new technology, a new race, I want that ship intact." 
Ivanova: "This isn't a clear and present danger? I must read the rulebook again."

Sinclair: "... There's always time"

Sinclair: "Life's full of mysteries. ..."

Sinclair (re: Delenn): "Why would a member of their ruling body be assigned to ambassadorial duties?"

Sole Hunter: "A shadow.  The long exhalation of the spirit."

Sole Hunter (to Sinclair re: Delenn): "Don't you understand?  She is Satai ....  They're using you."

Soul Hunter: "We are not thieves. We are preservers. ... We act only for the greater good."

Soul Hunter 2: "Someone is about to die, Commander....  And it will be at his hands."

Born to the Purple

Adira Tyree: "What if we are seen together? What will people say?" 
Londo: "... they'll say Ambassador Mollari is a most fortunate man. We Centauri live our lives for appearances, possessions, status, title. These are the things by which we define ourselves. But when I look beneath the mask I am forced to wear, I see only emptiness. And then I think of you ... and I say: to hell with appearances."

G'Kar: "Oh, the gratitude of the Narn is well known throughout the galaxy."

G'Kar: "I never knew you could be so devious...." 
Sinclair: "Coming from you ... that's a real compliment."

Londo: "Gentlemen, of all things in life, are females not the finest?"  
G'Kar: "On that, Mollari, we can at least agree."

Londo (to Vir): "What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?"

Londo: "And after spending a day dealing with Ambassador G'Kar, I long to sink my teeth into something...."

Londo: "I'll even seal it with a kiss." 
Sinclair: "That should make G'Kar's day."

Sinclair: "Keep them talking. I'm going to find Londo and bring him here."  
Winters: "What if he refuses?" 
Sinclair: "Then I hurt him."

Trakis (to Adira): "When you've done your job, you'll have your freedom...."

Infection

Mary Ann Cramer (ISN Reporter): "You still haven't told me when the commander is due back?" 
Garibaldi: "Soon." 
Cramer: "How soon is soon?" 
Garibaldi: "Longer than a little while, faster than later."

Cramer: "Is it worth it? Should we just pull back, forget the whole thing as a bad idea and take care of our own problems at home?" 
Sinclair: "No. We have to stay here and there's a simple reason why. Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics and you'll get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe and Lao-Tzu and Einstein and Morobuto and Buddy Holly and Aristophenes ... all of this was for nothing unless we go to the stars."

Franklin: "But people can be fooled. So to prevent them from being confused by any misleading instructions from the enemy, they hardwired the machine half of the weapons not to respond to anyone who wasn't pure Ikarran. There's one problem, Commander. How do you define a pure Ikarran, or a pure human? No one is pure. No one."

Garibaldi: "Nothing in his personnel jacket to suggest a heart condition...."  
Franklin: "Yes, and exactly which medical school did you attend, Mr. Garibaldi?"

Garibaldi: "Win, lose or draw, this thing's going to know it was in a fight."

Garibaldi: "I know a lot of guys who came out of the war changed. Some came out better, some came out worse. A lot of them had this problem. The war gave them definition, direction, purpose. Without it they don't know how to fit in anymore, so they keep looking for ways to go out in a blaze of glory. Some people call that being a hero, maybe so. I don't know, I've never been one. Me, I think they're looking for something worth dying for because it's easier than finding something worth living for." 
Sinclair: "Finished?" 
Garibaldi: "Yeah. I guess that covers it."  
Sinclair: "Michael. I don't have an answer for you. And ... I think maybe I should. Thanks."

Vance Hendricks: "Savor the mystery, Stephen. We don't get nearly enough of them."

Hendricks (re: organic technology): "The one trick that Earth hasn't yet been able to crack."

Hendricks: "This is a blueprint for living machines. The Vorlons have one. Some people even say the Minbari have them. We haven't seen enough of them up close to get any idea of how they work."

Hendricks: "Stephen. It's been 15 hours. We are going to grow old and die in here. Stephen? Stephen, there's a Martian war machine parked outside. They'd like to have a word with you about the common cold."

Hendricks: "In the last five years, I've seen things off-world you can't even imagine. I've stood in the Abendi desert and watched all seven moons go into eclipse. I've walked in vaults that have been sealed longer than there's been a human race, breathing air that's five million years old. You call that a shortcut, if you will, but I've lived. By God, Stephen, I have lived."

Ivanova (to Cramer): "Don't. You're too young to experience that much pain."

Ivanova (to Franklin) "If you'll excuse me. If you need me, I'll be over there, getting drunk with the rest of the aliens."

Sinclair: "The last time I gave an interview they told me to just relax and say what I really felt. Ten minutes after the broadcast I got transferred to an outpost so far off the star maps you couldn't find it with a hunting dog and an ouiji board."  
Garibaldi: "Don't sweat it. Just be that charming, efflorescent commander we've all come to know and love. What's the worst that could happen? They fire you, ship you off to the Rim and I get promoted to Commander. I don't see a problem here."

Sinclair: "You forgot the first rule of a fanatic. When you become obsessed with the enemy, you become the enemy."

The Parliament of Dreams

Delenn (to Lennier): "I can not have an aide who will not look up. You will be forever walking into things."

Delenn: "You will not use my title Satai. You will address me only as Delenn. Do you understand?" 
Lennier: "No, but understanding is not required, only obedience."

Delenn: "Will you follow me into fire, into storm, into darkness, into death? And the nine said: 'yes.' Then do this in testimony to the one who will follow, will bring death couched into promise of new life, and renewal disguised as defeat. ... From birth, through death and renewal, you must put aside old things, old fears, old lives. This is your death, the death of flesh, the death of pain, the death of yesterday. Taste of it and be not afraid, for I am with you to the end of time. ... Taste of it. ... And so it begins."

Garibaldi (to pilgrim): "I don't care if you're the Easter bunny. You're not bringing this [knife] on the station."

Garibaldi: "Just trying to get your story down...." 
G'Kar: "It's not my story, it's the truth!"

Garibaldi (to G'Kar): "And just let me say, ... from the bottom of my heart: Hot pink is definitely your color."

G'Kar: "I fight my own battles! I survived our war of independence, five years on the council and two prior assassination attempts. I can survive this."

G'Kar: "Earthers have a phrase: 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' I believe they stole it from us."

G'Kar: "That hurt." 
Na'Toth: "... it was the only way to disable the pain-givers. I had to hit them as hard as possible, as often as possible and still make it appear as though I were beating you into another incarnation." 
G'Kar: "And you didn't enjoy it in the least." 
Na'Toth: "I didn't say that."

Londo: "Do you know what the last Xon said just before he died? AAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!!!"

Londo: "Oh, come on, Commander! Loosen up! You are supposed to enjoy yourself!" 
Sinclair: "I am! Words just can't express how much I'm enjoying this."

Londo: "Ah, our household gods. In a world where every day is a struggle for survival, you need all the gods you can get."

Londo: "Gods by the bushel! Gods by the pound! Gods for all occasions!"

Londo: "(to Delenn) Did I ever tell you that you are very cute for a Minbari? (to Garibaldi) Even you are cute, in an annoying sort of way. Everybody's cute! Everybody's cute! Even me. But in purple ... I'm stunning!"

Na'Toth (to G'Kar): "... it is not my place to speculate on how anything gets into your bed."

Catherine Sakai: "I usually think about you in summer." 
Sinclair: "I think about you in the fall." 
Sakai: "We never could agree on anything."

Sakai (to Sinclair): "The dance goes something like this.  You ask about my aunt, I ask about your brother, we lie about not missing each other, then we end up in bed together."

Sakai (to Sinclair): "Don't touch me unless you mean it!"

Sakai: "Oh, it's a rebirth ceremony, all right. It also doubles as a marriage ceremony. Depending on how seriously anyone took it, somebody got married the other day." 
Sinclair: "Maybe that's why G'Kar was smiling. Funny. I didn't think Londo was his type."

Tu'Pari: "Are you Ambassador G'Kar?" 
G'Kar: "This is Ambassador G'Kar's quarters. This is Ambassador G'Kar's table. This is Ambassador G'Kar's dinner. What part of this progression escapes you?"

Tu'Pari (to G'Kar): "My orders are quite specific. You are to know pain. You are to know fear. And then you are to die at the required hour. I confess I'll be happy when this assignment is finished. Delaying the target's suspicions can be so time-consuming."

Tu'Pari: "The pain must be overwhelming. Why hold it in? Cry out.... With luck, someone will hear you." 
G'Kar: "I would die before giving you that satisfaction."

Vir: "It's a celebration of life. It comes from a time in our world history when two dominant species were fighting for supremecy. Our people, and a species we called Xon. At year's end we'd count how many of our people survived and we celebrated our good fortune."

Vir (re: Londo) "Ah! He has become one with his inner self!" 
Garibaldi: "He's passed out." 
Vir: "That too."

Mind War

G'Kar: "There are things in the universe billions of years older than either of our races. They are vast, timeless. And if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants. And we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know, we've tried. And we've learned that we can either stay out from underfoot or be stepped on. They are a mystery. And I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the universe, that we have not yet explained everything."

Jason Ironheart: "We all thought the Psi Corps was controlled by the government, but that's changing.  The Corps is starting to pull the strings behind the scenes.  They're more powerful than you can begin to imagine."

The War Prayer

G'Kar: "We can no longer stand idly by as our peoples are slaughtered by these cowardly Humans."

Ivanova: "You're a vicious man." 
Garibaldi: "I'm Head of Security. It's in the job description."

Ivanova (to Biggs, aiming her PPG): "Give me an excuse, and you're dead."

Londo: "What has love got to do with marriage?"

Londo: "My shoes are too tight, but it doesn't matter because I have forgotten how to dance."

Londo (to Kiron re: postponing marriage): "... you are still children, and children should be allowed to dance."

And the Sky Full of Stars

Ivanova: "Mr. Garibaldi, there're days I'm very glad I don't have to think the way you do."

Deathwalker

Believers

Kosh: "The avalanche has started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."

 

Sinclair: "Who asked you to play God ?" 
Franklin: "Every damn patient who comes through that door, that's who! People come to doctors because they want us to be gods. They want us to make it better or make it not so. They want to be healed and they come to me when their prayers aren't enough. Well, if I have to take the responsibility, then I claim the authority too. I did good. And we both know it. And no-one is going to take that away."

 

Franklin: "I'm waiting. For an apology." 
Sinclair: "You better check the temperature in Hell first."

Survivors

G'Kar: "The universe is driven by the complex interaction between three ingredients: matter, energy, and enlightened self-interest."

By any Means Necessary

G'Kar: "We all believe in something greater than ourselves, even if it's just the blind forces of chance." 
Na'toth: "Chance favors the warrior."

Signs and Portents

Ivanova: "Sleeping is not the problem. Waking up! That is a problem. I've always had hard time getting up when it's dark outside." 
Sinclair: "But in space it's always dark." 
Ivanova: "I know, I know."

TKO

Ivanova: "So, how are things back home?" 
Rabbi Koslov: "They change, they stay the same. Russia is Russia. Your father used to say: 'If regret could be harvested, Russia would be the world's fruit-basket.'"

Grail

Delenn: "It doesn't matter that his Grail may or may not exist, what matters is that he strives for the perfection of his soul and the salvation of his race and that he has never wavered a lost faith."

Eyes

Ivanova: "Mr. Gray, I'm grateful the Psi Corps give you purpose in life, but when that purpose includes scanning my mind to prove my loyalty, it's not only an invasion of my privacy, but my honor. As for fear, if you enter my mind for any reason I will twist your head off and use it for a chamber pot. If you'll excuse me."

Legacies

Ivanova: "There is nothing more annoying than Mr. Garibaldi when he's right."

A Voice in the Wilderness (Part 1)

Ivanova: "... I'd like you to take the time to learn the Babylon 5 mantra: 'Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And, if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out! Babylon control out. ... Just kidding about the God part; no offense."

A Voice in the Wilderness (Part 2)

Ivanova: "It's a Russian thing. When we're about to do something stupid, we like to catalog the full extent of our stupidity for future reference."

Babylon Squared

Zathras: "You take, Zathras die. You leave, Zathras die. Either way, it is bad for Zathras."

The Quality of Mercy

Franklin: "Next! We start by removing your clothes." 
Ivanova: "Not without dinner and flowers."

Chrysalis

Delenn (to Sinclair): "There are things you should know.  Come to my quarters, and I will tell you as much as I can.  But do not wait too long...."

Garibaldi: "They're going to kill ... the president."

Kosh (to Sinclair): "You have forgotten something."

Lennier: "[Delenn] is changing."

Londo: "There comes a time when you look into the mirror and realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. Then you accept it, or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking into mirrors."

Londo (to Morden): "You killed ten thousand Narns!  I didn't know you cared.   Your name is being spoken at the highest levels of the Centauri government. ... You're a hero."

Morden (to Londo): "We can fix it for you."

 

Sinclair: "Nothing's the same anymore."