Context

This line was spoken by Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, directed by Nicholas Meyer (1982).

When you think about the iconic character Spock from Star Trek, the second thing that comes to mind, after pointy ears, is his obsession with logic. This predisposition has launched a thousand memes and is key to his character and decisions in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Early in the movie, Spock relinquishes control of the Enterprise to Kirk for a rescue mission, because Kirk was born to be a Starfleet captain. (Also, Vulcans aren't burdened by a pesky thing called ego.) The return of the Kirk/Spock combo comes in handy when on this "routine" mission, they run into Khan, a super-powered tyrant, who is angry because Kirk marooned him back in the Star Trek TV show.

And Spock's quote comes back to make all the Star Trek characters and fans cry as he goes into a room flooded with radiation and sacrifices himself to fix the Enterprise's warp drive and save the day. Because he cares more about saving the crew than his own life.

But, hey, Spock got brought back in the next movie and even showed up in the 2009 reboot via time travel, so things didn't turn out too badly in the end.

Where you've heard it

This quote leads to lively debates in philosophy and ethics classes, depending on how caffeinated the students are.

Do a little Googling and you'll find bloggers arguing that the dark side of this quote could be used to justify terrible things like slavery and genocide. Maybe Spock wasn't as logical as we thought.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

When your party turns into a debate about ethics, you know it's either time to drop the bass or pack your bags and go home.