Loved Quark for being projectable to todays public(especially casual viewers/non-trek-fans). Living up to starfleet standards is neither possible for him (growing up in the Ferengi world) or for us. But very often he tried his best to stay near the border of light and dark, just to hop fast enough to the light . He actually was the most good-natured of the bad guys.
I love Kira so much. Is Quark really a bad guy? I don't know that I'd go that far. He's not a good guy, but he's not a villain, either. I'd say Quark is one of DS9's "grey areas". He'd like to be bad, but the poor guy just can't ignore his conscience. He can actually be downright sweet at times. Guess he's just been hanging around hu-mons for too long.
Nah, he was smuggling and selling food to the Bajorans during the occupation. So his nice streak was there long before the hew-mons came into the scene. Though they're a convenient target to blame.
The reason that Odo and Quark became friends was because they were fundamentally so like-minded. For that friendship alone you have to allow that Quark had to be a force for good. The lovable rogue/cop routine was just the dance they did to entertain and it took Odo longer than Quark to realise that they were friends, perhaps because Odo concealed so much even from himself.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa yea missed that one. I should have seen the sarcasm in that. I totally want that mug...
This is exactly what I was trying to convey. But if he's a flawed good guy, or a good-natured bad guy, ... is up to you. That's the thing with grey areas.
Yeah, I see that there are mugs on CafePress that say "Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House, and Holosuite Arcade", but they're just regular mugs. Not those cool raktajino mugs with the wide bases that we see on DS9.
I would imagine Quark as someone who is provisionally good. He has his own standards, which are generally well met by his compatriots, but there are some that he holds close that are at odds with his friends' values. Still, he doesn't work to actively harm anyone, and does choose to help even at a loss of profit (though he will complain, and loudly).