A series of piperidine-based derivatives were identified as novel and potent inhibitors of the influenza virus through structural modification of a compound that was selected from a high-throughput screen. Various analogues were synthesized and confirmed as inhibitors. The structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies suggested that the ether linkage between the quinoline and piperidine is critical for the inhibitory activity. The optimized compound tert-butyl 4-(quinolin-4-yloxy)piperidine-1-carboxylate 11e had an excellent inhibitory activity against influenza virus infection from a variety of influenza virus strains, with EC₅₀ values as low as 0.05 μM. The selectivity index value (SI = MLD₅₀/EC₅₀) of 11e is over 160 000 based on cytotoxicity, measured by MTT assays of three cell lines. We carried out a time-of-addition experiment to delineate the mechanism of inhibition. The result indicates that 11e interferes with the early to middle stage of influenza virus replication.