Cmdr. William Riker Quotes in Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Lt. Commander Worf: The Defiant?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Adrift but salvageable.

Cmdr. William Riker: Tough little ship.

Lt. Commander Worf: Little?

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Please! Don't tell me it's all thanks to me! I've heard enough about the great Zefram Cochrane! I don't know who writes your history books or where you get your information from, but you people got some pretty funny ideas about me!

[smirks]

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: You all look at me as if I'm some kind of... saint, or visionary or something!

Cmdr. William Riker: I don't think you're a saint, Doc. But you did have a vision. And now we're sitting in it.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: You wanna know what my vision is? Dollar signs, money! I didn't build this ship to usher in a new era for humanity. You think I wanna see the stars? I don't even like to fly! I take trains! I built this ship so I could retire to some tropical island... filled with

[smirks]

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: naked women. THAT'S Zefram Cochrane. THAT'S his vision. This other guy you keep talking about, this historical figure? I never met him. I can't imagine I ever will.

Cmdr. William Riker: Someone once said "Don't try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgements."

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: That's rhetorical nonsense. Who said that?

Cmdr. William Riker: [smiles at Cochrane] You did, ten years from now.

Cmdr. Deanna Troi: If you're looking for my professional opinion as ship's counselor: he's nuts.

Cmdr. William Riker: I'll be sure to note that in my log.

Cmdr. William Riker: We finished our first sensor sweep of the neutral zone.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Oh, fascinating. Twenty particles of space dust per cubic meter, 52 ultraviolet radiation spikes, and a class-2 comet. Well, this is certainly worthy of our attention.

Cmdr. William Riker: Captain, why are we out here chasing comets?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Let's just say Starfleet has every confidence with the Enterprise and her crew - they're just not sure about her Captain. They believe that a man who was once captured and assimilated by the Borg should not be put in a situation where he would face them again. To do so would introduce "an unstable element to a critical situation."

Cmdr. William Riker: That's ridiculous. Your experience with the Borg makes you the perfect man to lead this fight.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Admiral Hayes disagrees.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: A group of cybernetic creatures from the future have traveled back through time to enslave the human race... and you're here to stop them?

Cmdr. William Riker: That's right.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Hot damn! You're heroic.

Cmdr. William Riker: Mr. Worf, you do remember how to fire phasers?

[Riker, LaForge and Cochrane have made humanity's first warp speed test flight]

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Is that Earth?

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: That's it!

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: It's so small...

Cmdr. William Riker: It's about to get a whole lot bigger.

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: Look, Doc, we can't do this without you!

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: I don't care. I don't want to be a statue.

Cmdr. William Riker: Doctor...

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: You stay away from me!

[runs off]

Cmdr. William Riker: We don't have time for this.

[pulls out a phaser and stuns Cochrane who falls in a creekbed]

Cmdr. William Riker: [to Geordi] You told him about the statue?

Cmdr. William Riker: Deanna! Deanna!

Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Will, don't turn off the that...!

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Who is this jerk? And who told him he could turn off my music?

Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Will Riker, Zefram Cochrane.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Is he a friend of yours?

Cmdr. Deanna Troi: Yes.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Husband?

Cmdr. Deanna Troi: No.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Goood.

[Troi is drunk]

Cmdr. Deanna Troi: I'm just trying to blend in!

Cmdr. William Riker: You're blended all right.

Cmdr. William Riker: [looking up at the moon] Wow! Look at that!

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Don't tell me you've never seen the moon before.

Cmdr. William Riker: It's just looks a lot different, that's all. There are 50 million people living on the moon in my time.

Cmdr. William Riker: Doctor, tomorrow morning when they detect the warp signature from your ship and realize that humans have discovered how to travel faster than light, they decide to alter their course and make first contact with Earth, right here.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Here?

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: Well, actually, over there.

Cmdr. William Riker: It is one of the pivotal moments in human history, Doctor. You get to make first contact with an alien race! And after you do... everything begins to change.

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge: Your theories on warp drive allow fleets of starships to be built and mankind to start exploring the Galaxy.

Cmdr. Deanna Troi: It unites humanity in a way no one ever thought possible. When they realize they're not alone in the universe, poverty, disease, war - they'll all be gone within the next fifty years.

Cmdr. William Riker: But unless you make that warp flight tomorrow morning before eleven fifteen, none of it will happen.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: And you people, you're all astronauts on... some kind of star trek.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Now this, Dena...

Deanna Troi: Deanna.

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: [as he pours Deanna a drink] ... is the good stuff.

Cmdr. William Riker: Dr. Cochrane...

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: To the Phoenix... may she rest in peace.

[both drink, then choke]

Dr. Zefram Cochrane: Oohh... Okay, that wasn't so good.

[tosses bottle away]