Quotes by Francis Underwood

There is nothing more lonely or terrifying than feeling unheard.

History is earned. You win the day, and then you win the day after, and you do the same thing every day until you're dead. And you're remembered not for the winning, but because you never lost.

People underestimate the importance of detail to the overall impact.

To mourn is not to fear. To grieve is not to admit defeat.

Conscience has an unmistakable stink to it, sort of like raw onions and morning breath. But a lie stinks even more when it's coming from someone who isn't used to lying. It's more like rotten eggs and horseshit.

A diversity of ideas makes us all wiser, and that holds true even for your president. True leadership is not running away from those who disagree with you, but embracing them.

Elizabeth Hale: "Reduced to tabloid gossip? She might as well be living in that trailer park you come from."
Francis: "Well, it was a peach farm. But you're right, I am still white trash. I just happen to be white trash that lives in the White House."

Francis: "I think what my wife is gently trying to tell me is that I've run overtime. She has a very clever nickname for me."
Claire: "Verbosity."
Francis: "Now, the main difference between Claire and me, aside from her stunning beauty, of course, is that she actually knows what that word means."

Anyone can commit suicide, or spout their mouth in front of a camera. But you wanna know what takes real courage? Keeping your mouth shut, no matter what you might be feeling.

I love that woman. I love her more than sharks love blood.

Peace should not have to be bought. Peace should be its own reward.

You can't turn a 'No' to a 'Yes' without a 'Maybe' in between.

I've always said that power is more important than money. But when it comes to elections, money gives power.

"Cry Havoc", said he who fought chaos with chaos.

I've never given someone a third chance.

I always loathed the necessity of sleep. Like death, it puts even the most powerful men on their backs.

The road to power is paved with hypocrisy and casualties. Never regret.

Presidents who obsess over history obsess about their place in it, instead of forging it.

Shake with your right hand, but hold a rock in your left.

The president is like a lone tree in an empty field. He leans whichever way the wind is blowing.

One heartbeat away from the presidency, and not a single vote cast in my name. Democracy is so overrated.

A smart man once said to me that speculation is a poor form of politics. Why don't you stick to what you know?

If she wants to be an adult, let her see how she can fly once she leaves the nest.

Harmony. It's not about what's lasting or permanent, it is about individual voices coming together for a moment. And that moment lasts the length of a breath.

If you do decide to take the coward's way out, cut along the tracks, not across them. That's a rookie mistake.

The only two words I want to hear from you when I ask you to do something are "Yes" and "Sir".

Money is the McMansion in Sarasota, that starts falling apart after ten years. Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries.

Power is a lot like real-estate. It's all about location. The closer you are to the source, the higher your property value.

The nature of promises is that they remain immune to changing circumstances.

There are two kinds of pain: The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain, the sort of pain that's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things.

I said to my professor, "Why mourn the death of presidents, or anyone for that matter? The dead can't hear us." And he asked me if I believed in heaven. I said, "No." And then he asked if I had no faith in God. I said, "You have it wrong; it's God who has no faith in us."