- Francis Underwood: I like dirt - and rocks - and facts.
- Ted Brockhart: No argument here. I trust only what I can hold in my hand or see on my horizon.
- Francis Underwood: Well, but you can't just sit back and admire the view. I've learned you've got to grab the present by the balls. That's where the American people live.
- Ted Brockhart: You sound more like a salesman than a president, Mr. President.
- Francis Underwood: Well, if we're Americans, then we are salesmen, right? That's our birthright. Cars and phones and a gallon of gas.
- Ted Brockhart: That's not how I see America. I'm a patriot. I serve.
- Francis Underwood: Well, then, we salute you, General. But you serve to what purpose? So the rest of America can sell. I mean, you and I, right now, this weekend, we're here at this camp selling ourselves.
- Ted Brockhart: Character speaks for itself. People want a president they can trust.
- Francis Underwood: No, they don't. They want a president they know. And I know *them*. The only future I'm interested in is the next four years. So, yes, I'm selling tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. I'm selling a boy who used to live on a peach farm who now lives in the White House. I'm selling a tomorrow that you can see and touch and feel. Now, you take that away, and I don't know what this country has left. Except a group of grown men standing around in a circle, all staring at a small screen. Looking in instead of looking out. Heck, give me a peck of dirt any day of the week.
- Francis Underwood: History is earned. You win the day. And then you win the day after. And then you do the same thing every day until you're dead. And you're remembered not for the winning, but because you never lost.
- Francis Underwood: [standing in a nighttime field with robed cultists] This is where the real power is. No women or presidents allowed. The former, I am not. The latter, I will be again, because I have managed to reduce a national election down to one state. And while these men here can't swing the votes of an entire nation, one measly state? Well, that they can do. And that's why I'm here. So welcome to Elysian Fields.
- Mark Usher: Oppenheimer was a member. That tree right over there, right under that tree, Manhattan Project was born.
- Francis Underwood: And right under this one, I'm relieving myself.
- Ted Brockhart: Do you have an extra pair of socks, Raymond? After 30 years of military service, you'd think I'd arrive prepared.
- Francis Underwood: Oh, I'm sure someone around here could find you a *pair*.
- Francis Underwood: I don't know, Claire. You know these types of people. You should have been there. Why would they hand me... He just handed me this. Why? When they've never wanted me, not from the beginning, no matter what I do!
- Claire Underwood: Fuck 'em.
- Francis Underwood: I intend to.
- Francis Underwood: Oh, to hell with the buzzing bees. No one else is heeding it. A network president, a telecom CEO, the vice presidential candidate. What do you think they're all talking about, the last book they read?
- Viktor Petrov: Social media is a powerful tool. If there is any rescue attempt by the United States, I will tell the people of Ohio exactly how you look to them. Exactly how you disrupted their state's vote. And they will believe me.
- Claire Underwood: Have you tried calling him back?
- Doug Stamper: There's no answer. What should we do?
- Claire Underwood: Nothing. That's what the president said so that's what we'll do.
- Doug Stamper: Should we have his team pull him out?
- Claire Underwood: No. We wait.
- Doug Stamper: Ma'am, if we don't handle this rescue correctly...
- Claire Underwood: Doug.
- Doug Stamper: Let me find a way to get the president on the phone with Petrov.
- Claire Underwood: No. Francis doesn't need this distraction.
- Doug Stamper: I disagree.
- Claire Underwood: I know you do.
- Francis Underwood: I'm leaving.
- Mark Usher: You don't have to go.
- Francis Underwood: No, I know, I don't have to do anything. Do you remember when we first met? You almost joined my second campaign. We sat down at that little greasy spoon in Gaffney.
- Mark Usher: Yes, if you'd signed me on, you would have won by a landslide.
- Francis Underwood: I won anyway, because I never lose. You know why I didn't hire you back then? Because when you went to pick up the check, you told me I didn't have to pay you. That you would work for free. I don't trust that. Because no one works for free.
- Claire Underwood: What exactly was on that boat, Jane?
- Jane Davis: Uh, the Chinese and the Russians had access to technology they shouldn't have and didn't want to lose. And now they've lost it. What aren't you telling me? What did you want out of all of this? I told you what I wanted. I wanted that American off the boat. He *was* the technology.