Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

The Wounded (1991)

Colm Meaney: Chief Miles O'Brien

Photos 

Quotes 

• Chief Miles O'Brien : [about his experiences on Setlik III]  The only people left alive... were in an outlying district of the settlement. I was sent there with a squad to reinforce them. Cardassians were advancing on us, moving through the streets, destroying, killing... I was with a group of women and children when two Cardassian soldiers burst in. I stunned one of them. The other one jumped me. We struggled. One of the women threw me a phaser, and I fired.

  [he takes a sip from his drink] 

  Chief Miles O'Brien : The phaser was set at maximum. The man just... just incinerated, there before my eyes. I'd never killed anything before. When I was a kid, I'd... I'd worry about swatting a mosquito.

  [he gets up] 

  Chief Miles O'Brien : It's not you I hate, Cardassian. I hate what I became *because* of you.

• Chief Miles O'Brien , Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : [singing]  The minstrel boy to the war is gone / In the ranks of death you will find him. His father's sword he hath girded on / And his wild harp slung behind him. Land of song, said the warrior bard / Tho' all the world betrays thee. One sword at least thy rights shall guard /

  [only O'Brien finishes song] 

  Chief Miles O'Brien , Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : One faithful harp shall praise thee.

  Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : I'm not going to win this one, am I Miles?

  Chief Miles O'Brien : No, sir.

• Chief Miles O'Brien : [about dinner]  What... Wh-what is it?

  Keiko O'Brien : Kelp buds, plankton loaf and sea berries.

  Chief Miles O'Brien : Sweetheart... I'm not a fish.

• Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : What the hell has happened to this war?

  Chief Miles O'Brien : Sir... There is - no - war. The war is over!

  Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : You're wrong. The Cardassians live to make war.

  Chief Miles O'Brien : That's what everybody thinks about the enemy. That's probably what they think about *us*.

  Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : We're not the same at all. We do not *start* wars. We do not make surprise attacks on manned outposts. We do not butcher women and children in their homes! Children... who never had the chance to grow up.

• Glin Daro : We're going to your "Ten Forward." Will you join us?

  Chief Miles O'Brien : If my Commander tells me to discuss the transporter with you, I will. If Captain Picard orders me to tell you everything I know about Ben Maxwell, I will. But whom I choose to spend my free time with, that's my business.

• Chief Miles O'Brien : [about Maxwell]  I'd just like to say, sir... he was a good man. What he did was terribly wrong, I know that now. But I'm still proud to have served with him.

• Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : O'Brien has the ability to size up a situation instantly, and come up with options to fit all contingencies. Remarkable!

  Chief Miles O'Brien : Well, if that's true, I learned it from you, sir.

  Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : [laughs]  But you got that silver tongue by kissing the stone, right?

• Chief Miles O'Brien : [singing]  The minstrel boy to the war has gone / In the ranks of death you will find him.

  Chief Miles O'Brien , Capt. Benjamin Maxwell : [joint]  His father's sword he hath girded on / And his wild harp slung behind him. "Land of song", said the warrior bard / "Tho' all the world betrays thee. One sword at least thy rights shall guard...

  Chief Miles O'Brien : ...One faithful harp shall praise thee."

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : You don't care for the Cardassians?

  Chief Miles O'Brien : I like them fine. It's just... Well, I know them. You learn to watch your back when you're around those people.