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36 Years Later, Picard's 'No Mistakes' Quote Still Resonates.
Summary
Captain Jean-Luc Picard's line "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose" appears in The Next Generation episode "Peak Performance" (Season 2) and the article describes it as a defining piece of dialogue that helped shape Picard's character.
Content
Captain Jean-Luc Picard's line "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose" appears near the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 episode "Peak Performance." The episode balances a Starfleet training exercise with a sudden Ferengi threat and emphasizes character moments alongside action. Picard delivers the line to Data after Data loses at the game Strategema, framing the result as an observation about outcomes. The article presents the line as a lasting piece of dialogue that helped define Picard's character early in the series.
Key points:
- The quoted line is "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness; that is life."
- It appears in the Season 2 episode "Peak Performance," described in the source as the penultimate episode of that season.
- The line is spoken to the android officer Data after he is defeated at Strategema by visitor Sirna Kolrami.
- The article notes a parallel with a line from the film Bull Durham, saying both address outcomes that lie outside personal control.
Summary:
The article argues the line helped solidify Jean-Luc Picard's character during The Next Generation's early run and is framed as a broadly applicable observation about situations where effort does not guarantee victory. Undetermined at this time.
