Scientific Exploration
“What seems to be impossible often is possible given the scientific analysis of the phenomenon.” - Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series
“The most elementary and valuable statement in science, the beginning of wisdom, is I do not know.” - Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Omega’s too dangerous. I won’t risk half the quadrant to satisfy our curiosity. It’s arrogant, and it’s irresponsible. The final frontier has some boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed, and we’re looking at one.” - Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager
Artificial Intelligence
“Consider that in the history of many worlds there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do, because it’s too difficult and too hazardous. With an army of Datas, all disposable, you don’t have to think about their welfare, or you don’t think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people.” - Guinan, Star Trek: The Next Generation
“A single Data is a curiosity, a wonder, but a thousand Datas, doesn’t that become a new race? And aren’t we going to be judged as a species about how we treat these creations? If they’re expendable, disposable, aren’t we? What is Data?” - Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Centuries ago in most places on Earth, only landowners of a particular gender and race had any rights at all. Over time, those rights were extended to all humans, and later, as we explored the galaxy, to thousands of other sentient species. Our definition of what constitutes a person has continued to evolve. Now we’re asking that you expand that definition once more, to include our Doctor.” - Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager
“Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them.” - Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series
“Compassion: that’s the one things no machine ever had. Maybe it’s the one thing that keeps men ahead of them.” - Leonard McCoy, Star Trek: The Original Series
“There are certain things men must do to remain men. Your computer would take that away.” - James T. Kirk, Star Trek: The Original Series
Politics
“The road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think.” - Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
“ ‘With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.’ Those words were uttered as wisdom and warning. The first time any man’s freedom is trodden on, we’re all damaged.” - Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Villains who twirl their moustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well-camouflaged. Vigilance is the price we must continually pay.” - Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Diversity
“The prejudices people feel about each other disappear when they get to know each other.” - James T. Kirk, Star Trek: The Original Series
“Change is the essential process of all existence.” - Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series
“Understanding has made friends of many different people.” - Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
“It is the differences that have made us strong.” - Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Utopian Future
“One day soon, man is going to be able to harness incredible energies, maybe even the atom … energies that could ultimately hurl us to other worlds in … in some sort of spaceship. And the men that reach out into space will be able to find ways to feed the hungry millions of the world and to cure their diseases. They will be able to find a way to give each man hope and a common future. And those are the days worth living for.” - Edith Keeler, Star Trek: The Original Series