Frank Underwood quotes from House of Cards

Frank Underwood

Marty and I have a good working relationship. Or used to. You can see he has a temper, but I can usually cut through that and reason with him. But I may have pushed him too far, which is worrisome. Friends make the worst enemies.

Frank Underwood

[to Peter] Everyone in that room wanted to cross you off the list. I said no. I stuck up for you. I said, "Peter Russo, he's got potential. He's young. He's capable. He's going places". I made them keep you in contention. You're still on that list. You show up at my house in the middle of the night, drunk, to whine, to try to shift the blame on me instead of taking responsibility for yourself and your own actions. Maybe they were right in that meeting. Maybe you are worthless. I'm the only person who believes in you, Peter, but maybe that's one too many. The hot water will open up your capillaries. The aspirin you just took will make your blood thinner. It's up to you, Peter. Oh, and if you do decide to take the coward's way out, cut along the tracks, not across them. That's a rookie mistake.

Frank Underwood

[to Meechum] From this moment on you are a rock. You absorb nothing, you say nothing, and nothing breaks you.

Frank Underwood

This is the worst possible position to be in. If I water down the bill, the president will still see me as a failure. If the strike doesn't end in a week, I forced myself into a corner. Only total victory will put me back into his good graces. The alternative is exile, which would mean the last five months were for nothing. I cannot abide falling back to square one.

Frank Underwood

There's no better way to overpower a trickle of doubt than with a flood of naked truth.

Frank Underwood

The Sentinel, South Carolina's premier military college. They taught me the values of honor, duty, and respect. They also hazed me, tried to break me, and, senior year, nearly expelled me when I volunteered for a Senate race and my studies suffered. But that didn't stop them from soliciting a hefty sum for their new library 30 years later. How quickly poor grades are forgotten in the shadow of power and wealth.

Frank Underwood

The library is a sham. Higgins asked me a favor. I asked someone else a favor. They slapped my name on it. Politics. Like everything else.

Frank Underwood

Proximity to power deludes some into believing they wield it.

Frank Underwood

A great man once said that everything in life is about sex…except sex. Sex is about power.

Frank Underwood

I'm not going to lie: I despise children. [pause] There. I said it.

Frank Underwood

I have zero tolerance for betrayal, which they will soon indelibly learn.

Frank Underwood

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."

Frank Underwood

[about Tusk] He doesn't measure his wealth in private jets, but purchased souls.

Frank Underwood

Of all the things I hold in high regards, rules are not one of them.

Frank Underwood

[speaking to God] Every time I've spoken to you, you've never spoken back, although given our mutual disdain, I can't blame you for the silent treatment. Perhaps I'm speaking to the wrong audience. [Looks downward] Can you hear me? Are you even capable of language, or do you only understand depravity? Peter, is that you? Stop hiding in my thoughts and come out. Have the courage in death that you never had in life. Come out, look me in the eye and say what you need to say. There is no solace above or below. Only us - small, solitary, striving, battling one another. I pray to myself, for myself.