The Oath

Billions 2×4

& Wendy: This is the first one you sent into orbit.
    Craig: Yeah. We’re two generations beyond Manticore. Manticore-3...
    Wendy: «The first ship to make a manned mission to Mars.»
    Craig: That your impersonation of me?
    Wendy: Well, you’ve certainly said it enough times.
    Craig: That’s how I make it happen.

& Craig: There she is. Right on time. Does that mean anything?
Wendy: Yeah, that her watch works.

& Kornbluth: If you really want this team, you got to ask yourself... How are you gonna change hearts and minds today?

& Chuck: Well, the Japanese would be proud. You waited until the meal was done. But at this point, hit me with it, and let us both get on with our days.

& Chuck: Bryan. He’s all man. He’s John Wayne in Liberty Valance. ’Cause most fellas in his position would run and hide, but he is standing in.

& Chuck: Setback. Not a defeat. I promise.

& Axelrod: Most folks, when they get their first job on the Street, cold-calling out of phone books, they think the idea is, get the mark to yes. But the way I saw it... and it bought me a 911 my first year... is never give them a reason to say no, because if you take «no» out of their vocabulary...
    Bach: «Yes» is the only word left.

& Bach: Let’s not give him a perjury charge for nothing. I know you don’t get rattled, but if you get rattled, even for a second, don’t answer. Just ask for a break.

---

& Bensinger: When you ask a person to invest his money with you, that’s a seduction. When you ask him to pledge his net worth...
    Axelrod: That’s what the Mongols did when they sacked a village.
    Bensinger: I was gonna say it’s a marriage.
    Axelrod: Well, the Mongols called it that, too.

& Bensinger: Most people don’t like to think about giving their money away. It makes them think they’re gonna die. But you can rest assured... You are gonna die.

& Bensinger: Why do you make so much money?
    Axelrod: Because I can.
    Bensinger: Bullshit. A lot of things you can do that you don’t... bark like a seal, ride the subway. You make money because it feels good. Well, here’s the crazy thing. Giving it away feels better.

& Bensinger: Do you remember what it felt like to make that first million? I didn’t feel that good again until I pledged to give away 20,000 times that. It’s the cure. Accumulation with no end in sight is gluttony. That’s the disease.
    Axelrod: I thought it was a sin.
    Bensinger: Fuck sin. Fuck piety. I’m talking about what you can use. Gluttony hollows you out. Giving goes the other way. I know. It’s a fucking paradox, but I worked it out.

& Bensinger: The reason that nothing levers up your happiness like giving is because it puts you back in charge of the only thing that you ever really cared about... yourself. That’s why I founded the Giving Oath.

& Chuck: This is the first wave at Normandy. You know what happened on the first wave.
    Bryan: Got cut down.
    Chuck: Right. Ensuring that the second wave had a fighting chance.

& Chuck: You know, the best way to bond with someone isn’t doing a favor. It’s asking for one. That’s the Franklin Effect. You make the other person feel valued, like you’ve given them power... so you won’t hurt them.

& Axelrod: Will you draft the Giving Oath letter?
    Stephanie: What do you want in there?
    Axelrod: The usual stuff... good for people, communities.
    Stephanie: Got it.
    Axelrod: And when it’s done, you give it to Bill to read to the world.
    Stephanie: Gates or Clinton?
    Axelrod: Either. Both.

& Chuck: What’s on your mind?
    Kate: My father.... He isn’t who I thought.
    Chuck: Well, every child in the history of the world has learned that.

& Chuck: You have to protect the parent-child relationship. Anyone else in the world will fuck you over... friends, lovers... bosses... No, your father is the one person you’re gonna be able to count on when it matters.

& Craig: Look... we all have to chase our truest calling. Mine is to make this universe traversable and to leave this company a living organism that can thrive long after I’ve gone off on Manticore-IX...

& Wendy: I don’t want distance. I like getting messy. The power of the instant... That’s what excites me. Ice into steam... or back.

& Chuck: Okay, I don’t care if you spit or swallow. Just don’t keep me waiting.

& McKinnon: So, what do you want me to do now? Am I going to have to wear a wire?
    Chuck: You’re gonna be a hero.

& Axelrod: ...And if it checks out, you know, that’s the kind of giving I can get behind. I mean, this is how all charities should work.
    Taylor: You mean benefiting you more than anybody else?
    Axelrod: As much as. Not more.

& Axelrod: What the fuck is that? Is that Yosemite...

& ’Wags’: Want to hear a funny story?

& Bryan: Back the fuck off.
    Dake: That was the last song the band played on the Titanic, and it is a dreary tune.

& Dake: I offered you a lifeboat. You picked up a violin. Happy fiddling, Bryan.

& Bensinger: Sports franchises are how we knight people in this country. And you’re not royalty. You’re a robber baron.

& Axelrod: ’A wise man always listens to his lawyer.’
    Chuck: I keep my own counsel. Let’s keep going.
    Axelrod: Fucking right, we will. Fire away.

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