When everything seems to be lacking in integrity, you find it in yourself.
S1 E15Unfinished Business
If it goes badly ...
You and the President won't protect me?
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
[about his fruitless search for a home for a portrait of Vincent Marsh] I've tried everything.
National Portrait Gallery?
Library of Congress? How about the state house in Illinois? He served there once in the...
The general assembly. I've tried everything is not a sentence I use lightly. Lest you attempt to keep saying names of museums.
What do you think it means that Russell Jackson is coming to your office?
I think it means it's a weekday during business hours... He said it was about the Senate investigation.[Looking up at Mike pacing, she asks about his dog] Where's Gordon?
He's- with my ex-wife. We share custody. It's actually a painful subject.
I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt pain.
To the inner sanctum: Colleagues. Friends. Noble warriors.
Elizabeth, you know the Chief Justice.
Madam Secretary.
Yes, I actually took your constitutional law class at UVA. [pauses then whispers] I got an A.
[Whispering back] I remember.
: [Gesturing to a large briefcase] This is the football. It's a remote device that can authorize a nuclear attack in the unlikely event that we are required to do that.
[a Colonel hands Elizabeth a small card]
This is the biscuit. It's an authenticator card containing all the launching codes. That stays with you. The football stays with the Colonel who's never far away.
[Shakes the Colonel's hand] Thank you, Colonel. I hope we never work together.
My hope as well, Ma'am.
[on phone] How bad did I make things for you?
You're still my hero.
No, I'm not. I went off like a hopped up undergrad.
You did what I have been wanting to do all day. Instead, I have to listen to my staff imply that I shouldn't be sitting down with the virgin goddess of Nepal while my slutty daughter is all over the internet. [Under her breath to Grant] Not you.
[In a hushed reverent tone] You have a meeting with the Kumari?
[to Grant, endeared and in love] He knows what a Kumari is. [to Henry] Don't ever change.
May I make a request?
What is it?
Before you finish questioning this guy... fifteen minutes alone with him. Off the radar.
You got it.
[after they left the oval office] Well, that was very Godfather. You thinking piano wire or bare hands?
I haven't decided yet.
Is it wrong that I find it kinda hot?
[Henry turns to her]
Don't answer that.
[Henry leans in, whispers in her ear, and they both laugh]
How about Markes? It's pretty crazy, huh?
What are you talking about?
It's all over the news. Markes is resigning.
Senator Markes?
Yeah.
Is resigning?
Yeah.
Senator Gregg Markes is resigning?
Why does she keep asking me that?
Processing the ramifications.
Which are?
I-I... I h-have to go. Here, go.
Yeah.
I have to go.
Your mom's about to change the world.
What's the latest?
So, Markes was...
Was pulled over for driving the wrong way down a one-way street and then failed a field sobriety test.
And the woman who he was with...
Who was not his wife.
...had half...
A half ounce of cocaine on her.
And Markes...
Then tried to bribe the arresting officer by telling him that he could give him a big promotion if he made the charges go away.
And all of that would've been bad enough except...
Okay, let me tell it.
The whole thing was caught on video by someone who recognized him. Sorry, Blake, I heard that part on the drive over.
No problem, ma'am. Being interrupted by you is a pleasure. But, uh, if I may, what does this have to do with the State Department?
Okay, what do we know about Markes?
He was a cheater.
And a liar.
Head out of the tabloids, think policy.
He was head of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Wait, so he was the man responsible for controlling what came up for a vote.
And he stymied us on Cuba last spring.
And now that he's out of the way, you're going to try...
Wait. Let Blake say it.
You're going to try to bring a bill to the floor of the senate and lift the embargo on Cuba.
And how cool would it be to announce that when we reopen the embassy?
That's in 48 hours.
(Laughs) Well, we better get to work.
At what point would you be willing to violate the cone of silence between us? What would it take? Would millions of lives have to be at stake because that's where we are.
You're gonna reveal Russia's involvement in the Air Force One hack in hopes of getting the allies to fall into place. And if you do your job well, which you have a track record of doing, then the world will be poised to go to war with the country that is just unstable enough to take the bait. If you're wrong, do you really wanna be on the side of that?
The objective is simple, convince the entire world, particularly our allies, that we are justified and willing to go to war to contain Russian aggression.
You're so much nicer than I am.
I am.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Madam Secretary pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.







