From The West Wing, Season 3, Episode 13 (The Two Bartlets), as said by Toby Ziegler…
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“Quando dio, ole castigarci ci manda, quello che desideriamo.”
When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.
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From The West Wing, Season 2, Episode 22 (Two Cathedrals), as said by President Bartlett while he’s walking to the altar, alone, inside the empty cathedral during the funeral… he was speaking to God…
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You’re a son of a bitch, you know that?
She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What, was that supposed to be funny?
“You can’t conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God,” says Graham Greene. I don’t know whose ass he was kissing there ’cause I think you’re just vindictive. What was Josh Lyman? A warning shot? That was my son. What did I ever do to yours but praise his glory and praise his name?
There’s a tropical storm that’s gaining speed and power. They say we haven’t had a storm this bad since you took out that tender ship of mine in the north Atlantic last year… 68 crew. You know what a tender ship does? Fixes the other ships. Doesn’t even carry guns. Just goes around, fixes the other ships and delivers that mail. That’s all it can do.
Gratias tibi ago, domine. Yes, I lied. It was a sin. I’ve committed many sins. Have I displeased you, you feckless thug? 3.8 million new jobs, that wasn’t good? Bailed out Mexico, increased foreign trade, 30 million new acres of land for conservation, put Mendoza on the bench, we’re not fighting a war, I’ve raised three children…
That’s not enough to buy me out of the doghouse?
Haec credam a deo pio? A deo iusto? A deo scito?
Cruciatus in crucem!
Tuus in terra servus nuntius fui officium perfeci.
Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem!
Am I to believe these things from a righteous god? A just god? A wise god?
To hell with your punishments!
I was your servant, your messenger on the earth; I did my duty.
To hell with your punishments! And to hell with you!
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(Bartlet turns away in anger. He descends to the lower sanctuary and lights a cigarette. He takes a single puff, drops the butt to the floor, and grinds it defiantly with his shoe…)
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I am now on Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, and I have to say that this is the best written season, so far. The episodes are very well written, and the themes are very inspiring. Darmok is one episode that lingers, and The Unification is a nostalgic trip – with Spock making his first (and probably only) appearance in TNG. This exchange between him and Data deserves to be my best quote in Star Trek so far 
Data: .. Captain Picard has been a role model in my quest to be more human.
Spock: More human?
Data: Yes Ambassador.
Spock: …. Fascinating … you have an efficient intellect, superior physical skills, no emotional impediments … there are Vulcans who aspire all their lives to achieve what you’ve been given, by design.
Data: Hmm. You are half human?
Spock: Yes.
Data: Yet you have chosen a Vulcan way of life.
Spock: I have.
Data: In effect .. you have abandoned what I have sought … all my life.
Data: Ambassador Spock, may I ask a personal question?
Spock: Please.
Data: As you examine your life, do you find that you have missed humanity?
Spock: I have no regrets.
Data: No regrets. That is a human expression.
Spock: Yes …. fascinating…
Another Star Trek: The Next Generation (3rd Season) DVD night for me, and another good exchange between Picard and Data. In the episode entitled “The High Ground”, they are discussing the terrorist activities in a planet wherein some of their crew have been thrown in the middle:
Data: … why are their methods often successful? I have been reviewing the history of armed rebellion, and it appears that terrorism is an effective way to promote political change.
Picard: Yes it can be… but I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows through the barrel of a gun.
Data: Yet, there are numerous examples when it was successful… the independence of the Mexican state from Spain…
Picard: Yes, I am aware of them.
Data: Then, would it be accurate to say that terrorism is acceptable, when all options for a peaceful settlement have been foreclosed?
Picard: (sigh) Data, these are questions that mankind has been struggling with throughout history. Your confusion is … only human…
Watching Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 3) on DVD tonight, and I just found this hilarious exchange between Picard, Worf and Data at the transporter room, where the three men will be beaming onto an ancient ship (in an episode titled Booby Trap). Here is Picard telling Worf and Data to step into the transporter:
Picard: Get in the bottle…
(Blank, confused looks on Worf and Data)
Picard: Ship in a bottle … good lord … didn’t anybody here build ships in bottles when they were boys?
Worf: I did not play with toys.
Data: I was never a boy.
From The Majestic:
I thought this was a democracy?
The Declaration of Independence? The Constitution? Just pieces of paper with signatures on them. And you know what a signed paper is? A contract. Something that can be renegotiated at any time…
“I think nature is supremely indifferent to whether we live or die. I mean, if you’re lucky you get 75 years, if you’re really lucky you get 80. And if you’re extraordinarily lucky, you get 50 of those years with a decent head of hair.” - Agent Fox Mulder, The X-Files.
“Life is like a box of chocolates – a cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. Unreturnable because all you get back is another box of chocolates. So you’re stuck with this undefinable whipped mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there’s nothing else left to eat. Sure, once in a while there’s a peanut butter cup, or an English toffee, but they’re gone too fast and the taste is fleeting. So you end up with nothing but broken bits filled with hardened jelly and teeth shattering nuts. If you’re desperate enough to eat those, all you’ve got left is an empty box, filled with useless brown paper wrappers…” - The Cigarette Smoking Man, The X-Files
“But what science may never be able to explain is our ineffable fear of the alien among us; a fear which often drives us, not to search for understanding, but to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate; to obscure the truth not only from others, but from ourselves…” - Agent Dana Scully, The X-Files.
“I can kill you whenever I please. But not today…” The Cigarette Smoking Man, The X-Files.
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