Tom Hammerschmidt quotes from House of Cards

Tom Hammerschmidt

Grief demands an answer, but sometimes there isn't one.

Zoe Barnes

You can speak to me like an adult, Tom. You don't have to lecture me like I'm a little girl.

Tom Hammerschmidt

You haven't earned the right to be treated as an adult. You think a few front-page stories and some face time on TV makes you the next Judy Miller? You've got a long way to go. Don't be so arrogant.

Zoe Barnes

Okay, so you think when a woman asks to be treated with respect, that's arrogance?

Tom Hammerschmidt

Yeah. What now, are you accusing me of sexism?

Zoe Barnes

Just making an observation.

Tom Hammerschmidt

Ok, no TV for a month.

Two freshmen girls are moving into their dorm room together. One of them's from Georgia, one of them's from Connecticut. The girl from Connecticut's helping her mother put up curtains. The girl from Georgia turns to them and says, "Hi! Where y'all from?" The girl from Connecticut says, "We're from a place where we know not to end a sentence with a preposition". The girl from Georgia says, "oh, beg my pardon. Where y'all from, cunt?" You heard that one before?

Tom Hammerschmidt

A version of it. With softer language.

Tom, we don't need people who follow the rules. We need people with personality. We want Zoe's face, her energy. We want to get her on TV as much as possible. It helps us cut through the noise. See what I'm saying?

Tom Hammerschmidt

I don't think you appreciate anything. I think you're an ungrateful, self-entitled little c-

Zoe Barnes

Little what? Little what, Tom? Say it!

Tom Hammerschmidt

Cunt. You're a cunt.

Tom Hammerschmidt

What are you doing? Don't you dare-

Zoe Barnes

You don't even know what I'm typing.

Tom Hammerschmidt

Get out, Zoe.

Zoe Barnes

Just a second. I'm almost done.

Tom Hammerschmidt

Get out. You're fired.

Zoe Barnes

Whatever you have to tell yourself, Tom.

Tom Hammerschmidt

Get out!

Zoe Barnes

So should I press "send"? I think I should. Call me whatever you want, but you should remember, these days, when you're talking to one person, you're talking to a thousand.

Tom Hammerschmidt

I know how to run a paper, Margaret. What I don't know how to do is run a paper staffed with people I can't control.

Was she really out of control?! To my understanding, she simply turned down a new position.

Tom Hammerschmidt

It's her attitude. It's the way she turned it down.

Did you think to ask her what she'd rather do instead?

Tom Hammerschmidt

Is it my job to pander to all my employees--

My employees. And if they have something to offer that you don't, yes, it is your job. We've been through this, Tom. The paper's operating at a loss. We need people like Zoe.

Tom Hammerschmidt

I'm very aware of how much we're hurting, Margaret. Staff reductions, dip in circulation. Each one of those faces and every subscriber we lose, they keep me awake at night. Now, I won't argue the business side of things. It's neither my place nor my area of expertise, but know this-- Zoe Barnes, Twitter, blogs, enriched media, they're all surface. They're fads. They aren't the foundation this paper was built on, and they aren't what will keep it alive. We have a core readership that thirsts for hard news. Those are the people I work for. And I won't be distracted by what's fashionable.

My advice is to let it go. You're gonna repeat the same goose chase we did.

Kate Baldwin

I had to ask.

Tom Hammerschmidt

What does your editor say?

Kate Baldwin

To let it go.

You see?

Kate Baldwin

He's not as good as you are.

Was.

Kate Baldwin

Wish you were at The Telegraph.

Yeah, let me know if anyone gets fired.

Frank Underwood

Do you trust your instincts, Tom?

Tom Hammerschmidt

I always have.

Frank Underwood

Then look me in the eye. I've told you the truth.

Tom Hammerschmidt

What you said, is it on the record now?

Frank Underwood

Do you believe me?

Tom Hammerschmidt

Not for a second.

Frank Underwood

Then no, not a word.

Tom Hammerschmidt

This is what you wanted? A job in a corrupt administration, a presidency in ruin?

I'm in the White House. Not out there, wondering what it's like in here.

Tom Hammerschmidt

Not for long.

Once you're in, you're in. It's the American way.