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Babylon 5 Philosophical phrases

"Oh, but I do understand. But that's what's got you worried, isn't it?
A Vorlon said understanding is a three-edged sword:
your side, their side .. and the truth.
-- Sheridan to 'Vorlons' in Babylon 5:"Into the Fire"

Who are you? - There is no good answer to the question.
It's not about names, titles, accomplishments, etc.
It's not about who other people see you as.
It's about who you really are inside and the constant quest
to define yourself. It's the search for the answer that matters

"Who are you?"
'How did you know about-'
"It's a dangerous question, isn't it? There's never a good answer to it.
I suppose that's the point."
-- Lorien and Sheridan, "What Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"

"Unacceptable! What a sad thing you are. Unable to answer even such a simple
question without falling back on references, and genealogies and what *other*
people call you. Have you *nothing* of your own? Nothing to stand on that is
not provided, defined, delineated, stamped, sanctioned, numbered, and
approved by others? How can you expected to fight for someone else when you
haven't the fairest idea who you are?"
-- Sebastian to Delenn in Babylon 5:"Comes the Inquisitor"

"See yourself for what you are, not what others try to make you."
-- Aldous Gajic (to Jinxo), "Grail"

"During the day, we all put on the face we think will do us the most
good. But at a certain point in your sleep as you relax, your true
face is revealed."
That's when you see the real person."
-- Delenn, "Shadow Dancing"

What do you want? - This question never ends, once you have want,
you want something else.

What do you want?"
'Never ask that question.'
-- Sheridan and Kosh, "Hunter, Prey"

"What do *you* want?"
"I'd like to live *just* long enough to be there when they cut off your head
and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next *ten* generations that some
favors come with too high a price. I'd look up at your lifeless eyes and wave
like *this*. Can you and your associates arrange it for me, Mr. Morden?"
-- Morden and Vir in Babylon 5:"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum"

Why are you here? - This is leads to purpose.

"When we are born, we are allocated a finite number of seconds. Each tick of the clock
slices off a piece of us. Tick. A possibility for joy is gone. Tock. A careless word
closes one path, opens another. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Always running out of time.
Yours is almost used up. You're between seconds, lost in the infinite possibilities
between tick and tock. Tick, you're alive. Tock, well...it was a good life, but a
short one. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock."
-- Lorien (to Sheridan), "What Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"

"Treasure the moments you have, savor them for as long as you can,
for they will never come back again."
-- Delenn (to Sheridan), "War Without End, Part 2"

"You can't turn away from death simply because you are afraid
of what might happen without you. That's not enough.
You're not embracing life, you're fleeing death.
So you're caught in between. Unable to go forward or backward.
Your friends need what you can be when you are no longer afraid.
When you know who you are and why you are and what you
want. When you are no longer looking for reasons to live,
but can simply be."
-- Lorien (to Sheridan), "What Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"

"It's easy to find something worth dying for,
do you have anything worth living for?"
-- Lorien (to Sheridan), "What Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"

"It may not work."
'But I can hope.'
"Hope is all we have."
-- Lorien and Sheridan, "What Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"

"All my life, I've had doubts about who I am, where I belong. Now, I'm
like the arrow that springs from the bow. No hesitation, no doubts.
The path is clear."
-- Sinclair (to Delenn), "War Without End, Part 1"

Where are you going? - This leads to your goals

I have always been here - People may change but the role does not.

The Three ages of man
The First age
You are too primitive or are powerless to make decisions
The Second age
You are manipulated from the outside by more powerful forces
The Third age
You are able to stand on your own and make decisions about your fate

"The Hour of the Wolf"
"It's the time between 3 and 4 in the morning when you can't sleep and
all you can see is the troubles and the problems and the ways that your
life should have gone but didn't. All you can hear is the sound of your
own heart."
-- Ivanova "The Hour of the Wolf"

"Walkabout"
In Australian aboriginal cultures, a "walkabout" is a ritual
in which a young man goes on a solitary journey through the wilderness
in an attempt to learn more about his own character and strength.

"You know, as a Foundationist, I was taught that if you're not careful,
you can lose yourself in the world. When you're too busy with things
and not busy with yourself. You spend your days and nights
living someone else's agendas, fighting someone else's battles,
and you're doing the work you're supposed to be doing, but every day
there's less and less of you in it all.
'Til one day, you come to a fork in the road and because you're
distracted, you're not thinking, you lose yourself.
You go right and the rest of you, the really important part of you
goes left and you don't even know you've done it until you realize,
you finally realize that you don't have any idea who you are
when you're not doing all those things."
-- Dr. Franklin, "Walkabout"

"The theory is, if you're separated from yourself,
you start walking and you keep walking
until you meet yourself.
Then you sit down and you have a long talk.
Talk about everything that you've learned,
everything you've felt, and you talk until
you've run out of words. Now that's vital.
Because the real important things can't be said.
Then if you're lucky, you look up,
and there's just you and you can go home."
-- Dr. Franklin, "Walkabout"

Other Thoughts

The future is always changing. We create the future with our words,
our deeds, and with our beliefs."
-- Lady Ladira, "Signs and Portents

"Our thoughts form the universe, they always matter."
-- G'Kar (to Zack), "The Hour of the Wolf"

"All I can say is that enthusiasm, sincerity, genuine compassion, and
humor can carry you through any lack of...prior experience...with high
numerical value."
-- Ivanova, "Sic Transit Vir" making a difference
"Notice the waves, each moving in its own order, predictable,
unchanging. But drop in a single stone and see how the pattern
changes. Everything around it is altered."
-- Ambassador Delenn to Sinclair in Babylon 5:"The Gathering"

"On my world, there are books, thousands of pages, about the power of
one mind to change the Universe, but none said it as clearly as this."
-- Delenn to Sinclair in Babylon 5:"The Gathering"
fate
"Vir, do you believe in fate?"
"Well, actually, I believe there are currents in the Universe. Eddies and
tides that pull us one way or the other. Some we have to fight, some we
have to embrace. Unfortunately, the currents that we have to fight look
exactly like the currents we have to embrace. The currents that we *think*
are the one that's gonna make us stronger, they are the ones that are going
to destroy us. And the ones that we think are going to destroy us, they are
the ones that are going to make us stronger. Now, the other current--"
"*Vir*! Yes or no?"
"Yes! You know, somewhat, why?"
-- Londo and Vir in Babylon 5:"The Geometry of Shadows"
"The job now is to turn this around and make it into something positive.
My dad always told me that's the one way you deal with pain. You don't
surrender. You don't fight it. You turn it into something positive. He
used to say, if you're falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly.
You've got nothing to lose."
-- Sheridan, "What Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"

"The Universe doesn't give you any points for doing things that are easy."
-- Sheridan to Garibaldi in Babylon 5:"The Geometry of Shadows"

"We are all slaves to our histories. If there is to be a ..
bright future, we must learn to break those chains."
-- Delenn to Garibaldi in Babylon 5:"GROPOS"

"How do you know the chosen ones? No greater love hath a man than he lay down
his life for his brother. Not for millions, .. not for glory, not for fame.
For one person, .. in the dark .. where no one will ever know .. or see."
-- Sebastian to Delenn & Sheridan in Babylon 5:"Comes the Inquisitor"
"Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all
time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this
station and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We
are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself
out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of
perspective."
-- Delenn to Sheridan in Babylon 5:"A Distant Star"

"Is it worth it? Should we just pull back, forget the whole thing as a
bad idea and take care of our own problems at home?"
"No. We have to stay here and there's a simple reason why. Ask ten different
scientists about the environment, population control, genetics and you'll
get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the
planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand
years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out.
When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe and
Lao-Tzu and Einstein and Morobuto and Buddy Holly and Aristophenes ..
and all of this .. all of this was for nothing unless we go to the stars."
-- Mary Ann Cramer interviews Cmdr. Sinclair in Babylon 5:"Infection"

"Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations.
There would never be another. It changed the future ..
and it changed us. It taught us that we have to create the future ..
or others will do it for us.
It showed us that we have care for one another,
because if we don't, who will?
And that true strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely places.
Mostly, though, I think it gave us hope ..
that there can always be new beginnings ..
even for people like us."
-- General Ivanova in Babylon 5:"Sleeping in Light"

for more Babylon philosophy try Creating the future