Greatest ever Trek speech

[JesterFace]

First speech that came to mind after reading the thread title: Picard in 'The Drumhead'.
I don't know it it's the "right" answer, I just felt like mentioning the first speech that came to mind.

 

[Brennyren]

I have always loved Kirk's great "Risk is our business" speech, from "Return to Tomorrow."

"They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this. But I'm not because, Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk. Risk is our business. That's what the starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her."

 

[Vger23]

• Risk is our business.
• We’re not going to kill…today.
• I need my pain
• Some people think the future means the end of history
• It’s easy to be a saint in Paradise
• …but I think I can live with it.

Kirk > Picard at speeches

 

[NCC-73515]

The hall is rented, the orchestra engaged - it's now time to see if you can dance!

 

[Whizkid]

Whoa!

• Risk is our business.
• We’re not going to kill…today.
• I need my pain
• Some people think the future means the end of history
• It’s easy to be a saint in Paradise
• …but I think I can live with it.

Kirk > Picard at speeches

 

[Trekker09]

Kirk > Picard at speeches

In general I’d say that’s true, Kirk had more memorable lines than Picard.
Not the greatest speeches, just a few others I like -

Kirk to Landru: Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity. Without creativity, there is no life.
Kirk to mirror Spock: In every revolution, there’s one man with a vision….
Kirk to Sulu: The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play.
Kirk to Spock: You’re a great one for logic. I’m a great one for rushing in where angels fear to tread. We’re both extremists. Reality is probably somewhere in between.

Picard to Riker: Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe time is a companion…who goes with us on the journey, reminds us to cherish every moment…because they’ll never come again.

 

[Mojochi]

I think the only reason we can even compared Picard's speeches with Kirk's at all, is Stewart's quality of delivery. I swear, if there'd been an episode where that man had read instructions on turbolift maintenance, somebody would've already picked it to cite in this thread. lol

His final moments in The Wounded are just epic

 

[XCV330]

"It IS fucking cool" -Stamets
shortest best speech

 

[Farscape One]

Great ones already mentioned. I'll also add...

Riker's entire conversation with Worf when he brings him the blade in "Ethics".

Everything Picard says to Gul Madred.

Kira's final lines in "THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT".


And possibly the greatest line of all...

"Especially the lies."
Garak, "THE WIRE"

 

[Brennyren]

A short, unsung, but still haunting little speech from an unlikely source, in Voyager's "Nemesis."

CHAKOTAY: I wish it was as easy to stop hating as it was to start.

I grant it doesn't look like much, sitting there on the screen like that, but Robert Beltran's soft, aching delivery makes it stick in the mind. It may be the single best line reading he ever did on Voyager.

 

[Farscape One]

That's one of my favorites of season 4. Great script, and clever use of similar meaning words to convey a different language translation.

 

[Falconer]

We’re not going to kill, today.

 

[F. King Daniel]

"Better to die saving lives, than live with taking them." - Jim Kirk, Star Trek Beyond.

 

[Summer Solstice]

I love Chakotay's speech to the Voth Ministry of Elders from "Distant Origin" about how re-writing history denies the achievements of those who went before us:

"I see something very different, Minister. An ancient race of Saurians, probably the first intelligent life on Earth, surrounded by some of the most terrifying creatures that ever lived. And yet they thrived, developed language and culture and technology. And when the planet was threatened with disaster, they boldly launched themselves into space, crossed what must have seemed like unimaginable distances, facing the unknown every day. But somehow they stayed together, kept going, with the same courage that had served them before, until they reached this quadrant, where they laid the foundation of what has become the great Voth culture. Deny that past, and you deny the struggles and achievements of your ancestors. Deny your origins on Earth, and you deny your true heritage."

 

[The Knappos]

While there are a plethora of candidates, one of my favourites is incredibly short:

“I’ve been dead before.”

There is so much loaded in those four words. Everything is gone wrong, no one can see a way out. And in the midst of all that despondency, Spock says the most poetic and emphatic ‘No’ possible. He doesn’t believe in the no-win scenario. Nimoy’s delivery of the line is just oozing with gravitas. It gives me chills. And honourable mention to Doohan for the feed line.

 

[Annorax849]

Archer’s “Terra Prime” speech is up there

 

[Mojochi]

Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

 

[Qonundrum]

Either Picard's speech to Q in "Hide & Q" or Picard's speech to the crew at the end of "The Best of Both Worlds" about servicing the Borg...

 

[Ghrakh]

Kirk > Picard at speeches

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[Qonundrum]

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It's not 1986 anymore; whether that's a good thing or not is subjective... That said, he was being funny (not that fans of the time took it in the same levity, among other issues, but that's the power of perception for ya... )