House of Cards 3×8

Chapter 34

& Dunbar: We need to raise the minimum wage! Cut down on corporate greed by regulating bonuses. It’s time to balance the scales.

& Kate: «When Congress refused to support a peacekeeping mission in the Jordan Valley, the president deployed troops anyway, stating his authority as Commander in Chief.»
Thomas: «The ramparts of the fort were still a mile away. But he had reached the point of no return. Turning back was no longer an option.»
    Kate: «With the world’s eyes upon him, he continues to ignore precedent, convention, and some would say the law.»
    Thomas: «Why did he cross that invisible line? Why risk his life despite the great odds stacked against him?»
    Kate: «Critics have been harsh. And yet most have stopped short of naming Underwood what he truly is: a tyrant.»
    Thomas: «What drove Napoleon to keep marching toward Moscow? Or Hannibal to cross the Alps?»
    Kate: «The warning signs are there. It’s our responsibility to heed them.»
    Thomas: «What kept a young Frank Underwood swimming onward? And what kept him from drowning?»

& Thomas: «... Was he reckless? Was he foolish? Possibly. One thing can’t be denied, however. What others saw as impossible, he refused to believe as such. The water proved him wrong. He fell far short of the other shore. And yet he made the attempt. And that... is everything.» That’s just the prologue.

& Thomas: Nobody cares about an idea. They might care about a man with an idea. I only care about the man.

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& DeShawn: I want to be president one day.
    Freddy: Well, that’s never gonna happen.
    DeShawn: But he said I could be!..
    Freddy: Listen up, boy. He lied to you. The truth is, you ain’t never gonna be president. It’s just like them basketball players you got posters of. They say you can do anything, be a superstar, too. But they were born to be seven feet tall and if they wasn’t, tell me what would they have? Nothing. Half of them can’t even read a damn book. No, boy, this place ain’t for you and me.

& Freddy: It’s good to have dreams, just so long as they’re not fantasies.

& Kate: There’s no way my story’ll get printed now.
    Thomas: Why? Because I wouldn’t give you a quote?
    Kate: No, it was a whole hurricane metaphor. Kind of takes the wind out of the sails if there’s no hurricane.
    Thomas: Well... at least you got laid.
    Kate: Yep. That... that’s poetic.
    Thomas: Yeah. I’m a writer.

& Thomas: I gotta go.
    Kate: Is that your way of getting rid of me?
    Thomas: No. It’s the president.

& Thomas: But... America Works is done.
    Underwood: Well, there’s only one way to get it back on track... I’m announcing my candidacy for 2016.
    Thomas: Wow.

& Underwood: I never tried to swim to Fort Sumter. Thomas probably knows I made it up, but he wrote about it anyway because he understands the greater truth: imagination is its own form of courage.

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+ Quotes from the IMDb