Risa

The Grilka episodes show this best. The House of Quark is an honorable one.

Quark: I should've listened to my cousin Gaila. He said to me, "Quark, I've got one word for you...weapons." No one ever went broke selling weapons. But did I take his advice? No. And why not? Because I'm a people person. I like interacting with my customers. Like you and I are doing right now. Talking to each other, getting to know one another...

Garak: I can see the attraction...for you.

Quark: But when you're dealing in weapons, buyers aren't interested in casual conversation. They just want their merchandise, no questions asked. It's so impersonal.

Garak: Your charms would be wasted.

Quark: Exactly. So now Gaila owns his own moon, and I'm staring into the abyss. And the worst part is, my only hope for salvation is the Federation.

At least his fortunes seemed to have changed by Lower Decks' time, judging by all the Quark signs everywhere.

I haven’t counted, but I have a suspicion that of the main cast, personally Quark kills more Jem’Hader on screen than any other character, except for maybe Worf.

Seriously. Watch with that in mind. I think Quark might be a low key badass.

I remember one episode when he is not on drugs, and starts telling truths to everybody. That one explains him.

the least tailorly way possible

I don't know, I think he usually finds a way to thread the needle.

The one thing that I always remember about Jake Sisko was an episode where he was trying to hide something from his dad, and at the end of the episode, dear old dad catches him trying to teach a young Ferengi how to read.

Everyone in-universe feels about Jake the way that everyone out of universe feels about Wesley.

Edit: I love that for a brief moment this had a higher count, but the masses being what they are, was soon surpassed. Louise Fletcher was a master at getting people's ire.

My child, don't stray from the path that the Prophets have laid out for you.

- Quark believes that he has made some profit. He loses it.

From someone who did the same: there is no way to understand what DS9 is about without watching it end to end, it's just designed differently than TNG or TOS or Voyager, which were made for people to catch individual episodes and feel like they watched something. DS9 has intricate plot points that expand over an entire season, and then on into the next. I thought I knew what the show was about, but I was so very very, wonderfully wrong! Instead of it being my least favorite, I see now that it's the deepest of them all, though they all have their individual contributions, especially for the historical time they were released in.

So my advice is to wait until you have a few hours, then watch all of season 1. You'll be glad you did, and can decide when to find time to continue with season 2.

Learning about Garak will be infinitely more satisfying that way:-). He is one of the most "interesting" characters on the show, but really when you think about it, they all are.

Garak? Why, he’s just a simple tailor