- Quark: Don't you get it, Odo? We humanoids are a product of millions of years of evolution. Our ancestors learned the hard way that what you don't know might kill you. They wouldn't have survived if they hadn't jumped back when they encountered a snake coiled in the muck; and now, millions of years later, that instinct is still there. It's genetic. Our tolerance to other life forms doesn't extend beyond the two-arm, two-leg variety. I hate to break this to you; but when you're in your natural state, you're more than our poor old genes can handle.
- [last lines]
- Colonel Kira: If I ever made you feel that you couldn't be yourself with me, I'm sorry. I want to know you - the way you really are.
- Chief O'Brien: Where is all this fog coming from?
- Odo: It's not fog; it's Laas.
- Chief O'Brien: Laas?
- Doctor Bashir: What's he doing?
- Odo: Being fog. What's it look like?
- Chief O'Brien: Can't he be fog somewhere else?
- Doctor Bashir: Or at night, when nobody's around?
- Odo: He's not hurting anyone.
- Chief O'Brien: Still - it's kinda creepy.
- Doctor Bashir: Careful, Miles, he might hear you.
- Chief O'Brien: Good!
- Laas: They tolerate you, Odo, because you emulate them. What higher flattery is there - "I, who can be anything, choose to be like you"? But even when you make yourself in their image, they know you are not truly one of them. They know that what you appear to be does not reflect what you really are. It's only a mask. What lies underneath is alien to them. And so they fear it; and that fear can turn to hate in the blink of an eye.
- Captain Sisko: Martok has expressed some concerns about our security arrangements.
- Odo: Meaning?
- Captain Sisko: He's not sure it's appropriate that you should be in charge of the prisoner.
- Odo: May I ask why?
- Captain Sisko: Because you were a witness to the alleged crime.
- Odo: Well, that's a relief. For a moment, I thought you were going to say it's because... I'm a changeling.
- Laas: You've given up a great deal to remain here.
- Odo: Yes... Yes, I have. But I won't have anything to do with the Founders and their war.
- Laas: Odo - we linked. I know the truth. You stayed here because of Kira. If it weren't for her, you would be with our people. War or no war, you would be... a Founder.
- Laas: The truth is, I prefer the so-called primitive life forms. They exist as they were meant to, by following... their instincts. No words get in the way, no... lies, no deceptions.
- Chief O'Brien: We're not the ones who can disguise ourselves as anything we want.
- Odo: Meaning...?
- Laas: Meaning, shapeshifters are not to be trusted.
- Chief O'Brien: I trust Odo.
- Laas: Of course you trust Odo. Look at him. You've convinced him that he is as limited as you are.
- Odo: Look at me, Nerys. What do you see?
- Colonel Kira: I see you.
- Odo: No! No, this is... just a form I borrowed. I could just as easily be someone or some*thing* else.
- Colonel Kira: I know that. But... this... is what you have always chosen to be: a man - a good and honest man. A man I fell in love with. Are you trying to tell me that he never really existed?
- Odo: I don't know. - I care for you, more than anyone I've ever known. These last few months have been the happiest of my life. But even so, part of me wishes that Laas and I were out there right now searching for the others, existing as changelings. Because that's what I am. Not a humanoid. I'm a changeling!
- Colonel Kira: Well, then maybe you're right - maybe you do belong out there.
- Odo: Laas, humanoids are not the petty, limited creatures you perceive them to be. What Nerys did should prove that even to you.
- Laas: Love conquers all, is that it?
- Odo: I'm sorry you can't understand. You've done many things, been many things. But you've never known love.
- Laas: Compared to the link, it is a pale shadow, a feeble attempt to compensate for the isolation that mono-forms feel because they are trapped within themselves.
- Odo: Perhaps the fact that it's not easy is what makes it worthwhile.
- [the Klingons have filed charges against Laas]
- Captain Sisko: They claim he surrounded them menacingly.
- Odo: [scoffs] They felt menaced by fog.
- Captain Sisko: They weren't the only ones. There are twelve other people who filed complaints.
- Odo: Is it a crime to shapeshift on the Promenade?
- Captain Sisko: It's not a crime, but it's obviously not a good idea.
- Laas: What are you holding on to? Kira? Even she knows that this is what's best for you. Why else would she have helped me to escape?
- Odo: You really don't know, do you? You've no idea what it means to love someone enough to let them go.
- Laas: She let you go, so that you could find out where you belong.
- Odo: I know where I belong.
- [first lines]
- O'Brien: How long was I asleep?
- Odo: Almost two hours.
- O'Brien: You dropped out of warp. We must be close to home.
- Odo: We entered the Bajoran system a few minutes ago.
- O'Brien: [Noticing a glass object Odo is holding] What's that?
- Odo: The shopkeeper I bought it from called it a knick-knack.
- O'Brien: I didn't know you collected knick-knacks.
- Odo: It's a present for Kira.
- O'Brien: Oh.
- Odo: You don't think she'll like it?
- O'Brien: I'm sure she'll like it. It's just I didn't get anything for Keiko.
- Odo: Well, the conference kept you pretty busy.
- O'Brien: You found time to get something.