Peter David

Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956) is an American writer of novels and comic books, best known for his contributions to the Star Trek universe, notably the New Frontier series.

Peter David in 2017

Quotes

Star Trek

A Rock and a Hard Place (1990)

Picard: And what feelings were you getting from him?

Troi: Calm. Inner peace.

Picard: Counselor, are you familiar with the concept of kamikaze pilots?

Troi: No, Captain.

Picard: Japanese pilots, particularly during the Second World War on Earth, who were perfectly willing to sacrifice their lives. I'm quite certain that they were calm and had inner peace as well, just before their planes exploded into fireballs.

Q-in-Law (1991)

Deanna: Why are you saddling yourself with this artificial bereavement? It's a pointless tradition.

Lwaxana: My dear, anyone can uphold traditions that have meaning. Upholding the pointless traditions – that, Deanna, takes style.

Vendetta (1991)

Geordi La Forge: But when the dreamers started dreaming, they had no idea where those dreams would lead them - to the madhouse, or to the stars. And Quixote was the entire spirit of human imagination in one package. His perceptions led him to-

Data: Compound fractures, if he continued battling windmills.

---

Geordi La Forge: The Borg are damned big windmills to tilt with, Captain.

Picard: Yes, and in grappling with them, we can either be smashed to the ground, or hurled upwards towards the stars.

Imzadi (1992)

Mark Roper: We all do it. Case in point: you're at a party and you run into a woman wearing a dress so ugly that it looks like a Klingon targ vomited on it. Do you say, "good evening, my dear, why are you wearing such a god-awful dress?" or "good evening, my dear, you look lovely this evening."

Will Riker: Well... the second, I suppose, just to be sociable.

Mark Roper: Save it. On Betazed they know exactly what you're thinking.

The Siege (1993)

Benjamin Sisko: If it hadn't been for me, we wouldn't have been aboard the Saratoga and Jennifer wouldn't have died. We'd have been on Earth...

Julian Bashir: I was on Earth. The Borg were heading our way, remember? The news was all over the internet. The entire planet was going berserk. It wasn't pretty, Commander. Citizens of Earth didn't exactly take it well when the end of everything they knew was barreling at light-speed right toward them. If the Enterprise crew members hadn't pulled a last-minute miracle out of their hats, I might be sitting here pasty-white with a gun instead of an arm, saying, "Drinks are irrelevant."

Original Novels

Knight Life

Morgan Le Fay: I can live again! I can breathe again! I can have my hatred! I can have my revenge! And I can get the hell out of New Jersey!

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Elvis: Hello. I'd like your support for Arthur Penn, who would like to run as an independent for mayor of New York City. Sign this or I'll cut your fucking heart out.

Narration: Elvis collected 117 signatures. Before lunch. Without breaking a sweat.

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Merlin: I scrape you up off the gutter... and this is how you repay me?

Percival: I repaid you by doing what you wanted me to do: serve Arthur Pendragon. I can't help it if he gives me orders that run contrary to your interests.

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Reporter: Hey, kid. You should be in school.

Merlin: (in a 12-year-old body) You should be in traction.

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Reporter: Gun control?

Arthur Penn: Ah. Yes, I've been thinking about that one. Seems to me it's based on the entire 'militia' business. Fine. Anyone who owns a gun should have to belong to a militia. Otherwise I don't see any reason for them to have one.

Reporter: Self-protection.

Arthur Penn: Get a sword. Broadsword, preferably. Builds the upper torso nicely, and children can't lift them because they're too heavy.

---

Arthur Penn: Yes, when I was a very young man, a long time ago... I impregnated a young woman. I could cite you chapter and verse how I was seduced into it, and how it was her doing, not mine, and it would be true to a point... but only to a point. Ultimately, one takes responsibility for one's actions. Abortion was not an option, nor was marriage. Had it been, I would have pursued either. As it was, well... To forestall any further questions... I have not seen the young woman in many, many years, and the offspring died. But I can tell you in all honesty - which is the only way I know how to deal with matters - that not a day goes by where I don't think of him, and dwell upon the many ways in which I wish things could have gone differently. Then again... what else can anyone, particularly someone who calls himself a potential leader, do, other than try to impart his own mistakes to others so that they will learn from his errors and not commit the same ones.

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Arthur Penn: And together, my friends, together... we can make it work. No... I recant that. Because I've seen what was, and I've seen what is, and I tell you that it is working. We can make it work better.

Sir Apropos of Nothing

Apropos: What struck me most about the great hall was the decor. It was furnished in a style that I could only term "Early Atrocity." Bleached bones, presumably of former enemies, decorated the walls and not only that, had been incorporated into much of the furniture. The legs of the main dining table were genuine legs, the armchairs, I'm sure you can guess. There were tapestries, but they consisted mostly of depictions of slaughter, slaughter everywhere. Women being raped, children being tossed onto fires, men being crucified. All of it, a celebration of the worst sort of brutality. Suddenly the line of demarcation between the festivals of good and evil became that much clearer for me. When good is celebrating, you don't have an overwhelming urge to run screaming into the night. Well... unless a mime is performing.