50 Best Guinan Quotes

Guinan: Data, if I didn't know you better, I would say you were a little... preoccupied.
Lt. Cmdr. Data: Lieutenant D'Sora just gave me what could be considered a very passionate kiss in the torpedo bay.

[Dr. Crusher is treating Guinan's arm]
Doctor: Make a fist.
Guinan: Do I have to hit you with my fist before you tell me what happened?

Guinan: [seeing Data's severed head in the cavern] What's that?
Captain: That's history fulfilling itself.

- Visit the ship?
- In my opinion, that's the only choice.
- Assemble a minimal away team.
Guinan: What?
- Mr. Worf, transporter room 3.
- Data.
- I wouldn't go there if I were you.
- I don't know, they paid us a visit.
- It seems only fair that we return the courtesy.

[La Forge inquires Guinan on her views about men]
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: As a woman, what's the first thing you look at?
Guinan: His head.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: His mind, of course.
Guinan: No - his head. I'm attracted to bald men.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Seriously?
Guinan: Seriously.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Why?
Guinan: Maybe because a bald man was kind to me once, when I was hurting. Took care of me.
[arguably alluding to the events in 'Time's Arrow']

[the man and woman are kissing]
Lal: He's biting that female!
Guinan: No, he's not biting her. They're pressing lips; it's called kissing.
[the couple leaves]
Lal: Why are they leaving?
Guinan: Lal, there are some things your father's just gonna have to explain to you when he thinks you're ready.

[Riker prepares to beam over to the Borg ship with an away team]
Guinan: I wouldn't go there if I were you.
Commander William T. Riker: I don't know, Guinan. They paid us a visit; it seems only fair that we return the courtesy.

Guinan: Am I disturbing you?
Ensign: Yes.
Guinan: Good. You look like someone who wants to be disturbed.

Guinan: I need to hear you say that you are sure... you're doing the right thing.
Captain: If you're here to persuade me not to use the invasive program...
Guinan: No. I think I need you to persuade me.
Captain: Two days ago, you were so upset about the Borg even being on the ship that you tore my foil out of my hand. And now you're here questioning whether it should be treated as the enemy.
Guinan: No. But when you talk to him face to face, can you honestly say you don't have any doubt?
Captain: I haven't talked to it.
Guinan: Why not?
Captain: I saw no need.
Guinan: If you're gonna use this person...
Captain: It's not a person, dammit, it's a Borg!
Guinan: If you are going to use this person to destroy his race, you should at least look him in the eye once, before you do it. Because I am not sure he is still a Borg.

Guinan: Every fiber in my being says this is a mistake. I can't explain it to myself, so I can't explain it to you. I only know that I'm right.

Captain: Look at these fragments! They're... they're very nearly in perfect condition, and yet they're 700 years old.
Guinan: So is my father.

Guinan: I was thinking how you said the other day that my foil was dipping. That I should get some exercise and strengthen my arm.
Captain: Well, a strong forearm is certainly an advantage in fencing.
Guinan: And bartending.

Capt. Picard: You must have some idea how things have changed.
Guinan: I look at things, I look at people, and... they just don't feel right.
Capt. Picard: What things? What people?
Guinan: You. Your uniform, the bridge...
Capt. Picard: What's the matter with the bridge?
Guinan: It's not right!
Capt. Picard: It's the same bridge. Nothing has changed.
Guinan: I know that. I also know it's wrong.
Capt. Picard: [sighs] What else?
Guinan: Families. There should be children on this ship.
Capt. Picard: What? Children on the Enterprise? Guinan, we're at war!
Guinan: No we're not! At least we're not... supposed to be. This is not a ship of war. This is a ship of peace.
Capt. Picard: [ponders this] What you're suggesting...
Guinan: I'm not suggesting. That ship from the past is not supposed to be here. It's got to go back.

Capt. Picard: They will be coming.
Guinan: You can bet on it.

Guinan: Trouble sleeping?
Capt. Picard: It's something of a tradition, Guinan - Captain touring the ship before a battle.
Guinan: Hmm. Before a *hopeless* battle, if I remember the tradition correctly.
Capt. Picard: Not necessarily. Nelson toured the HMS Victory before Trafalgar.
Guinan: Yes, but Nelson never returned from Trafalgar, did he?
Capt. Picard: No, but the battle was won.
Guinan: Do you expect this battle to be won?
Capt. Picard: We may yet prevail. That's a... a conceit. But... it's a healthy one. I wonder if the Emperor Honorius watching the Visigoths coming over the seventh hill truly realized that the Roman Empire was about to fall. This is just another page in history, isn't it? Will this be the end of *our* civilization? Turn the page.

Guinan: Human intuition and instinct are not always right. But they do make life interesting.
Counselor: So I'm discovering.

Guinan: Tasha, you're not supposed to be here.
Natasha: Where am I supposed to be?
Guinan: Dead.
Natasha: Do you know how?
Guinan: No. But I do know it was an empty death. A death without purpose.

Samuel: According to our best geologic estimate, the Earth is approximately 100 million years of age. Perhaps it is less, perhaps more.
Guinan: Perhaps a great deal more.
Samuel: Indeed. But regardless, it is ancient, in the extreme. Now, geology also tells us that man himself has existed but for a microscopic fraction of those years. Hm... hmhmhm... Curious, isn't it? That the world got by for such a great, long while, with no humans around to fill up space. I suppose Mr. Wallace and his supporters would say that the Earth needed all that time to prepare itself for our illustrious arrival. Why... the oyster alone probably required 15 million years to get it to come out just right.
Guinan: But if the Earth is not alone and there are millions of inhabited planets in the heavens...
Samuel: Quite my point. Man becomes a trivial creation, does he not? Lost in the vastness of the cosmic prairie, adrift on the deep ocean of time. A single one amongst... huh... countless others.
Guinan: Some may argue that a diamond is still a diamond, even if it is one amongst millions. It still shines as brightly.
Samuel: Someone might say that, dear lady, if someone thought that the human race was akin to a precious jewel. But this, er... increasingly hypothetical someone... would not be me.

[Guinan and Clara talk about imaginary friends]
Clara: If the other grown-ups don't understand, how come you do?
Guinan: Well, maybe because when I was your age, I had one.
Clara: You did?
Guinan: Mmm.
Clara: What was she like?
Guinan: It... wasn't a she.
Clara: What was *he* like?
Guinan: It wasn't a he.
Clara: 'It'?
Guinan: It was a Tarcassian razor beast. It had dark brown fur and gold eyes and huge spiny wings, and it would fly past so fast nobody could see it but me.
Clara: Sounds scary.
Guinan: Oh, it was. Especially when he smiled.

[Wesley is placing devices around Ten Forward]
Guinan: What's that?
Wesley: I'm just setting traps.
Guinan: I run a clean place.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: You remember about a year ago when we were caught in that booby trap the Menthars set?
Guinan: Mm-hmm.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Okay, while we were trying to get out of it, I went down to the holodeck to study an engine prototype that was made when the Enterprise was first designed. And the computer, well, it gave me an image of the engine, but it also created this hologram of the designer, Dr. Leah Brahms.
Guinan: So you met a computer-simulated female.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Yeah, but not an ordinary computer-simulated female. I mean, she was brilliant, of course, but warm, you know, friendly. It was like we worked as one. I would start a sentence, she'd finish it. What I didn't think of, she did. It was just so comfortable. Okay, I know it was just a holographic image, but the computer was able to incorporated personality traits from her Starfleet record.

Guinan: I heard you got grounded.
Ensign: I really don't feel like talking right now.
Guinan: Come on, sure you do.
Ensign: Why is it every time I tell you something, you tell me I mean the exact opposite?
Guinan: Because you're one of those people who's got their poles reversed.

Guinan: My people encountered them a century ago. They destroyed our cities, scattered my people throughout the galaxy. They're called the Borg. Protect yourself, Captain, or they'll destroy you.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: [about Hugh] He's nothing like what I expected.
Guinan: How so?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: I don't know, it's... it's like he's just... some kid who is far away from home.
Guinan: Do you know that you are the second person today to refer to that Borg as though it was some sort of lost child?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Anyway, I'm having second thoughts about what we're doing here. I mean, programming him like some sort of walking bomb, sending him back to destroy the others.
Guinan: Let me tell you something. When that kid's big brothers come looking for him, they're not gonna stop till they find him. And then they're gonna come looking for us. And they will destroy us. And they will not do any of the soul-searching that you are apparently doing right now.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Then why don't you go and talk to him? It might not be so clear cut then.
Guinan: Because I wouldn't have anything to say.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: [sighs] Then why don't you just listen? That is what you do best, isn't it?

[last lines]
Capt. Picard: Maybe Q did the right thing for the wrong reason.
Guinan: How so?
Capt. Picard: Well... perhaps what we most needed was a kick in our complacency - to prepare us for what lies ahead.

[Guinan enters Dixon Hill's office, dressed in an elegant 1940s dress]
Guinan: Dixon Hill around?
Madeline: He's occupied at the present moment.
Guinan: Tell him Gloria's here.
Madeline: Can't do that. He doesn't want to be disturbed.
Guinan: Tell him it's Gloria from...
[thinks hard, then remembers]
Guinan: ...Cleveland.
Madeline: Doesn't matter if you're from the moon, hon. Mr. Hill is incommunic... incommunica... ca...
Guinan: ...cado.
Madeline: That's it! Sorry, hon.
Guinan: [sighs] Look, 'hon'. Just tell him Gloria's here.
Madeline: Look, when the boss doesn't want to be disturbed, the boss doesn't want to be disturbed! Don't take it personal, like.
Guinan: I have an appointment with Mr. Hill, at...
[checks the clock]
Guinan: ...two o'clock.
Madeline: It's two ten.
Guinan: So I had a little trouble getting into the dress! It took me a little while to figure out just exactly what I was supposed to do with these.
[lifts her dress to show off her garters]

Guinan: [over intercom] Captain, this is Guinan. Is everything all right up there?
Capt. Picard: [to Riker, surprised] Guinan?
Capt. Picard: [to Guinan] Yes, everything's fine. Is something wrong?
Guinan: No. No, everything's fine. Sorry to bother you.

Guinan: I get so tired of people coming in with their problems. They come in, they want a shoulder to cry on, and generally it turns out to be mine.
Counselor: You'd make a good counselor.
Guinan: I think so too. So I'm going to talk to Picard about it.
Counselor: About what? You becoming counselor?
Guinan: Well, yes, you are leaving. That means there won't be a counselor on board. And I suppose I'll have a very long line at that bar. It would be nice to have a nice office, too.

Guinan: [seeing the past and future coming together] Full circle. Hmm...

[Lal is observing a couple in Ten Forward]
Lal: What are they doing?
Guinan: It's called flirting.
Lal: They seem to be communicating telepathically.
Guinan: They're both thinking the same thing, if that's what you mean.

[Data and Guinan view the cloud formations of a nebula]
Guinan: No, it's a Samarian coral fish with its fin unfolded.
Lt. Commander Data: I believe what you are seeing is the effect of the fluid dynamic processes inherent in the large-scale motion of rarified gas.
Guinan: No. no. First it was a fish, and now it's a Mintonian sailing ship.
Lt. Commander Data: Where?
Guinan: Right there. Don't you see the two swirls coming together to form the mast?
Lt. Commander Data: I do not see it... It is interesting that people try to find meaningful patterns in things that are essentially random. I have noticed that the images they perceive sometimes suggest what they are thinking about at that particular moment.
[he looks out at the nebula again]
Lt. Commander Data: Besides, it is clearly a bunny rabbit.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: [about Ensign Ro] She doesn't belong here. She doesn't even belong in the uniform, as far as I'm concerned.
Guinan: Really?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Really.
Guinan: Sounds like someone I'd like to know.

Capt. Picard: Who is to say that this history is any less proper than the other?
Guinan: I suppose I am.
Capt. Picard: Not good enough, damn it, not good enough! I will not ask them to die!
Guinan: Forty billion people have already died! This war's not supposed to be happening! You've got to send those people back to correct this.
Capt. Picard: And what is to guarantee that if they go back they will succeed? Every instinct is telling me this is wrong, it is dangerous, it is futile!
Guinan: We've known each other a long time. You have never known me to impose myself on anyone, or take a stance based on trivial or whimsical perceptions. This timeline must not be allowed to continue. Now, I've told you what you must do. You have only your trust in me to help you decide to do it.

Guinan: [on Q, who is crying for help after being attacked by the Calamarain] How the mighty have fallen.

[Commander Sela has claimed to be Tasha Yar's daughter]
Guinan: How much do you know about what happened to the last ship called Enterprise?
Captain: Enterprise-C? It was lost at the battle of Narendra III, defending a Klingon outpost from the Romulans.
Guinan: And the survivors?
Captain: There were stories of prisoners taken back to Romulus, but these were only rumors.
Guinan: No. There were survivors. And Tasha Yar was one of them.
Captain: Guinan - that was 23 years ago. Tasha Yar was only a child.
Guinan: I know that. But I also know she was aboard that ship. And she was not a child. And I think... you sent her there.
Captain: How can that be?
Guinan: I don't know. I just know that you did.
Captain: Tasha died - a year before you came on the Enterprise. You never met her.
Guinan: I know that.
Captain: If you have only a vague intuition...
Guinan: You can't just dismiss this. If I'm right, then you are responsible for this whole situation.
Captain: I think it's time that I met Commander Sela.

[Q is sitting with Data at the bar in Ten Forward, when Guinan enters]
Q: This is not a moment I've been looking forward to.
Guinan: [approaching] I hear they drummed you out of the Continuum.
Q: I like to think of it as a significant career change.
Guinan: Just one of the boys, eh?
Q: One of the boys with an IQ of two thousand and five.
Lt. Cmdr. Data: The Captain and many of the crew are not yet convinced he is truly human.
Guinan: Really?
[Guinan picks up a sharp-tined fork and stabs the back of Q's hand, who screams in pain]
Guinan: Seems human enough to me.

Q: My purpose is to join you.
Commander William T. Riker: To join us as what?
Q: As a member of the crew, willing and able, ready to serve. This ship is already home for the indigent, the unwanted, the unworthy. Why not for a homeless entity?
Commander William T. Riker: Homeless?
Q: Yes.
Commander William T. Riker: The other members of the Q Continuum kicked you out?
Guinan: Not all the Q are alike. Some are almost respectable.

Doctor: [after telling Guinan what happened] So that's the story. That's how I ended my career.
Guinan: Backhand volley.
Doctor: What?
Guinan: That's how I did it. Geordi kept hitting to my backhand at the net.
Doctor: Guinan, two people have died on this ship, two lives that ended horribly, and you're worried about your tennis game?
Guinan: Are you upset?
Doctor: I don't know, you tell me. You're supposed to be wise.
Guinan: Well, if you *are* upset, why are you moping around here, why don't you do something about it?
Doctor: I've done everything I could think of; it got me fired!
Guinan: Do you think Dr. Reyga killed himself?
Doctor: No.
Guinan: Do you think there's a murderer on board?
Doctor: Yes!
Guinan: Then why're you still sitting here?
Doctor: Don't you get it? If I start digging around again...
Guinan: [ironic] ... you could be relieved of duty.

Guinan: You know, I've never been to a formal inquiry.
Doctor: Well, I'll see if I can arrange one for you. All you have to do is disobey orders, violate medical ethics and cause an interstellar incident.

Guinan: Is there anything unusual happening?
- No, guinan, nothing out of the ordinary. Why do you ask?
- I'm not sure.
- It's just a feeling.
- I've had it a couple of times before.
- It's probably nothing.
- Forget that I called.
- Ten-fonnard out.

Capt. Picard: Guinan, your people have been in this part of the galaxy.
Guinan: Yes.
Commander William T. Riker: What can you tell us?
Guinan: Only that if I were you, I'd start back now.

[Guinan has served Worf a drink to taste]
Guinan: It's an Earth drink. Prune juice.
Lieutenant: A warrior's drink!

Guinan: You know an awful lot about me.
Captain: Hmm. Believe me, in the future, the tables will be turned.
Guinan: Do we become friends?
Captain: Oh - it goes far beyond friendship.

Guinan: It's not good to advise people about their first love affairs. That's kind of something people have to figure out for themselves.
Lt. Cmdr. Data: But I am not capable of love.
Guinan: Then it's gonna be a very unique experience.

Capt. Picard: How do we reason with them, let them know that we're not a threat?
Guinan: You don't. At least, I've never known anyone who did.

Ensign: Seems like everybody's just pulling my strings, you know, like I've got no control.
Guinan: Hm... For people like you and me, who've lost their homes, sometimes that's the way life feels.

Guinan: [about fencing] I don't think I like this sport.
Captain: Last week when you scored two touches, you liked it well enough.

- You're new around here, aren't you?
- Yes.
Guinan: Lal. Lal! Put him down.
- Data: Commander, what are your intentions toward my daughter?
- Your daughter?
- Nice to meet you.

Guinan: [about Worf's son] At some point, he's gonna want to know what it's like to really be a Klingon - just as you're learning now.

Guinan: Lal, how are you?
Lal: I am functioning within normal p... - I am fine, thank you.