- Tom Larsen: [to Olivia visiting him in prison] I'm... I'm sorry. I don't... I don't mean to stare. It's just I don't get to look at you very often. Just look. I'm usually working, scanning the perimeter, protecting my president the way I do. I'm in the room, but I'm never in the room. You're usually in the corner of my eye. I've never seen you. And you are beautiful. The face that launched a thousand ships.
- Abby Whelan: I can't believe I just let you kiss me.
- Leo Bergen: Have some more bourbon and I'll touch your boob.
- [first lines]
- Olivia Pope: [answering the phone] Really?
- President Fitzgerald Grant: Really. Don't be mean.
- Olivia Pope: I'm not being mean. It's just... So I say there's hope, and this means you call me every night?
- President Fitzgerald Grant: Unless you want me to come over there and tuck you in.
- Olivia Pope: If Fitz knew...
- Abby Whelan: Not Fitz. Fitz is a man to you. The rest of us, we only know the President. The President is not a man. He's an idea.
- Leo Bergen: I just want to know where I stand. You know, with the two of us working together you and me. I mean, I figure we have two choices here, we can either pretend this unbearable sexual tension doesn't exist, or we can address it head-on.
- Abby Whelan: Is there a third choice?
- Leo Bergen: Can I close the door?
- Abby Whelan: No.
- Leo Bergen: Then no.
- Mellie Grant: [picking out china patterns] I'll tell you something, when a woman is president, they'll suddenly make First Lady an official paid position. They will hire someone to do it. The minute a man has to do it, it'll become a real job.
- Olivia Pope: I need you to get me into super-max.
- David Rosen: Liv, it's a super-max prison. They added the word "super" to the already quite clear "maximum security." Dahmer was in super-max. That place holds people who eat people. And you want to what, just waltz in there wearing all your white stuff, have a seat in one of the cells, and drink tea with Jake? This isn't jailhousemingle.com. You can't just visit Jake. Hell no. There are clearances, protocols, rules.
- David Rosen: You already have a plan, don't you? I've been Poped and I don't know it.
- Tom Larsen: I've had so many questions for so long that I've been wanting to ask. I mean, what is it that is so special about you? You have so much power over him. He revolves around you. So, I don't understand. Why did you leave him?
- Olivia Pope: I'm not answering these...
- Tom Larsen: Was it an order from Command?
- Olivia Pope: My father? My father doesn't give me orders.
- Tom Larsen: You think you... Oh, you think you have a father. I am so sorry, but you don't have a father. You have Command. You were raised by Command. Command doesn't have a family, Command has soldiers. You take orders like any other soldier. You've been taking orders from Command since the day you were born.
- Tom Larsen: I could protect him from everyone. Except you. I could never protect him from you, Ms. Pope. You are beautiful. But really, it's what's behind your eyes. I can see it. And you know they all love you. My president, Jake, Command they all love you. And I can see it. I can see why. Helen of Troy. The face that launched a thousand ships. She didn't have a father, either. Her father was a god.
- Olivia Pope: You listen to me. My father is not a god. He's a man. A very efficient man who does not like loose ends. You are a loose end. He doesn't need you anymore, so he will have you killed. I will protect you, I will save your life, if you tell me the truth.
- [getting right up in his face]
- Olivia Pope: Who ordered you to kill the president's son?
- Tom Larsen: Jake Ballard.
- Charles Putney: [about competitor's campaign] I didn't think Ross had it in her.
- Leo Bergen: She doesn't. It's Olivia Pope. The woman could sell a dual ticket of Hitler and Bin Laden.
- Abby Whelan: [holding a gun in Putney's face in a dark garage] I'm gonna shoot you. I'm gonna shoot you, and when people ask me why, I'll tell them it's because you used to beat the crap out of me. And that's what's made me so messed up. That's what made me so lonely. That's what's stolen all of my chances for normal with every single guy I've ever... Or maybe I'll just tell them you attacked me and I went crazy and shot you in the face. Either way, chalk it up to PTSD, Chip.
- Rowan Pope: I have spent a lifetime keeping you safe from harm, a lifetime worrying about your fate, a lifetime making sure that the path in front of you was clear of debris, a lifetime shining their shoes so that you might always see your reflection at every turn. You do not see this. You do not believe this. You think I am some relic, some misguided, vicious dinosaur from my museum who attacks without thinking. Let me assure you, I am not. When I strike, it is precise and it is for a reason. You do not interfere. You do not get in the way. You never, ever choose one of them over me again. I won't have it. Is that clear?
- Olivia Pope: What's clear is that you seem to have wasted a lifetime doing all the wrong things.
- Rowan Pope: [calmly cradling her face] Olivia. Against me, you will lose.
- Mellie Grant: [to Fitz] I have been holding you up for 20 years. And I never complained. But when I fall down on the job for exactly two months, you ripped me to shreds the first time it got difficult. I won't soon forget that.
- Jake Ballard: [shoved into a secure room]
- Olivia Pope: Hi.
- Jake Ballard: Hi.
- President Fitzgerald Grant: Hi.