"It was the year of fire, the year of destruction, the year we took back what was ours. It was the year of rebirth, the year of great sadness, the year of pain, and the year of joy. It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed. The year is 2261; the place: Babylon 5."

My Favorite B5 quotes

[G'Kar lets an ant walk off his hand and on to a flower]

"That ant meets another ant and asks, what was that?...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 explained everything."

Ambassador G'Kar to Miss. Sakai, Mind War

No other quote comes so close to explaining my own spiritual beliefs.

"What does the candle represent?"

"Life."

"Whose life?"

"All life, every life. We're all born as molecules in the hearts of a billion stars, molecules that do not understand politics, policies and differences. In a billion years we, foolish molecules forget who we are and where we came from. Desperate acts of ego. We give ourselves names, fight over lines on maps. And pretend our light is better than everyone else's. The flame reminds us of the piece of those stars that live inside us. A spark that tells us: you should know better. The flame also reminds us that life is precious, as each flame is unique. When it goes out, it's gone forever. And there will never be another quite like it. So many candles will go out tonight. I wonder some days if we can see anything at all."

Sheridan and Delenn, And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder

Another quote that touches the core of my own spiritual beliefs.

"That's a lie."

"Yes, it is. What's your point?"

Psi-Cop Alfred Bester and Sinclair, Mind War

In Bester, Walter Keonig found his perfect creation, a true believer who would slay millions for the salvation of his sub-species, incredible acting.

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

G'Kar, Survivors

The sad thing is that this is all too true.

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

Kosh, Believers

A quote that simply states something as perfectly as it ever could, and creates a perfect visual image.

"Why does any advanced civilization seek to destroy less advanced one? Because the land is strategically valuable, because there are resources that can be cultivated and exploited, but most of all, simply because they can."

G'Kar, And Now For a Word

The truth hurts. Avatar has made billions and billions telling this story.

"What do you want?"

"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I'd look up at your lifeless eyes and wave like this. Can you and your associates arrange it for me, Mr. Morden?"

Morden and Vir, In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum

In the end Vir was a true hero. This moment was a defining one for him as he stood up to pure evil...he later got his wish

"This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw, .. or be destroyed."

"Negative. We have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ship."

"Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."

Delenn and Captain Drake, Severed Dreams

You have to see this moment to feel the power. One of the greatest bitch-slaps ever delivered. Needless to say, they left!

"No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by the force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power governments, and tyrants, and armies can not stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free."

G'Kar, The Long, Twilight Struggle

So great a truth, so well stated

"Denn Shar, you said. To the death. And death there was. The death was mine. To see a human invoke the name of Valen, be willing to die for one of my kind when I was intent upon killing one of my own, the rightness of my cause disappeared. Strange, that a human in his last moments should be more of a Minbari than I. Perhaps it is true what Delenn said. That we are not of the same blood, but we are of the same heart."

"The next time .. the next time .. you want a revelation .. could you possibly find a way .. that isn't .. quite so .. uncomfortable?"

Neroon and Marcus, Grey 17 is Missing

Neroon was a great character, and Marcus laying in agony could never have said anything funnier

"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."

Marcus Cole to Franklin, A Late Delivery from Avalon

Too true, words I have often pondered

"My dad always told me that's the only way you deal with pain; you don't surrender, you don't fight it, you turn it into something positive. He used to say: 'If you are falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You've got nothing to lose.'"

Sheridan's log, Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?

In the end what other choice really makes sense?

"Yes, of course I care. It's a terrible thing when your children fight. I warned the others, but they didn't listen. They never listen."

...

"How long have you been here?"

"A long time. So long. I was old when the molecules of your world joined and called themselves land and sea and fish .. and man."

"You're one of the First Ones?"

"No. Not one of the First Ones. I am .. the First One."

Sheridan and Lorien, Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?

It was the delivery, it was the awe that it inspired

"To live on as we have is to leave behind joy, and love, and companionship, because we know it to be transitory, of the moment. We know it will turn to ash. Only those, whose lives are brief can imagine that love .. is eternal. .. You should embrace that remarkable illusion. It may be the greatest gift your race has ever received."

Lorien to Ivanova, Into the Fire

We are born, we die, and in between we search