Nicholas Meyer > Quotes

“Art and commerce are not irreconciliable, they are inextricably intertwined.”
― Nicholas Meyer

“At its best, Star Trek appears to function as pop-allegory/ pop metaphor, taking current events and issues (ecology, war, racism) and objectifying them for us to contemplate in a sci-fi setting. The world it presents may make no scientific sense but it is well and truly sufficient to lay out human questions for us to think about. Removed from our immediate neighborhoods, it is refreshing and even intriguing to consider earth matters from the distance of a few light years. Like the best science fiction, Star Trek does not show us other worlds so meaningfully as it shows us our own—for better or worse, in sickness and in health. In truth, Star Trek doesn’t really even pretend to show us other worlds—only humanity refracted in a vaguely hi-tech mirror.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood

“The French director Robert Bresson made the observation: “My job is not to find out what the public want and give it to them; my job is to make the public want what I want.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood

“I was responsible for a clause that is now standard in all studio DVDs, the disclaimer that states that the studio is in no way responsible for any of the content or comments made by people appearing in the interviews on the disc. It is hard to overstate the importance of this clause: It enables those supplementary DVD segments to be more than mere puff pieces but a valuable form of oral history. People can tell their differing, multiple versions and perceptions of the truth”
― Nicholas Meyer, The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood

“If canines can be conditioned to salivate over nonexistent food, may not men one day be likewise taught to salivate at the prospect of nonexistent facts?”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols: Adapted from the Journals of John H. Watson, M.D.

“I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”
― Nicholas Meyer

“Spock: "Be careful, Jim."

McCoy: "I love you too, Spock.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Undiscovered Country

“Azetbur: You have restored my father's faith.

Captain Kirk: And you have restored my son's.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Undiscovered Country

“You recall Marvell’s choice phrase, Watson? Had we but world enough, and time’?”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.

“A European war! Millions of lives! Often I had been astonished by my friend’s amazing powers, but never had I seen him infer so much on the basis of so little. And, great heavens, what if it should prove true? I do not know how Freud passed that night, but my dreams surpassed my waking fears. The gay and colourful city of Johann Strauss was no longer revolving to the stately strains of his waltzes, but swirling to the shriek of a terrible nightmare.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.

“There will always be a war between light and darkness, between science and superstition, between education and ignorance. Ignorance is easier. It requires no study. Faith is the enemy of thought.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols: Adapted from the Journals of John H. Watson, M.D.

“How can you even think of food after what you have just witnessed?'
'It is because of what I have witnessed that I find it crossing my mind. Food is one of the principal means by which death is avoided.' - from Nicholas Meyer's "West End Horror" (dialogue tags removed for ease of reading)”
― Nicholas Meyer, The West End Horror

“He may of course resume it at any time. Such is the curse of enslavement to drugs. It would be interesting to know,” he added, with seeming irrelevancy, “how he became involved with cocaine.’ “I have always known him to keep it about his rooms,” I answered truthfully. “He says he takes it because of boredom, lack of activity.” Freud turned and smiled at me, his features displaying the infinite and nameless wisdom and compassion I had noticed the moment I first set eyes on him. “That is not the reason a man pursues such a path to destruction,” he said softly.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.

“Translation is a tricky business," Holmes observed, placing the tips of his fingers together in his accustomed fashion. "Cervantes once said that reading something in translation is like looking at a Flemish tapestry wrong side out. The image may be there, but is obscured by a great many dangling threads.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols: Adapted from the Journals of John H. Watson, M.D.

“In addition to Bronson Canyon and Alaska, the company went into deepest Simi Valley, where we filmed the climatic peace conference at a Jewish community center with what we hoped would register as futuristic architecture.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood

“That night Holmes awoke in a high fever and was delirious. As Freud and I sat by his bedside, each restraining the movement of his hands, he babbled of oysters overrunning the world and similar nonsense.* Freud listened with the greatest attention. “Is he fond of oysters?” he demanded of me during a quiet interval. I shrugged, too confused to answer accurately.”
― Nicholas Meyer, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.