Josh Lyman quotes from The West Wing

Josh

[looking at Donna] Oh, this must be what your first smack high feels like.

CJ

Here's hoping it's not followed by a huge crash and years of rehabilitation.

Josh

Nothing could kill my mood right now, but that was a good try.

Hey Josh?

Josh

Yeah?

The congressman's briefcase: what's inside there?

Josh

Road stuff...toothbrush, electric razor, sometimes a wallet. Why?

We seem to have lost it, and he seems kinda worried.

Josh

The guy's running a tie for the presidency and he's got two weeks left, so you can expect him to look worried once in a while.

So there's nothing... bad in there.

Josh

Like?

I don't know! Heroin, porn...

Josh

No, that's all mine.

I'm going to go now.

I've got the latest Rasmussen poll.

Josh

That poll is skewed.

It's got us up by four in Ohio.

Josh

Ohio trends Santos! That's the story of the day.

Josh

Did you ever ... "come onboard"?

Donna

No.

Josh

Never had a campaign fling?

Donna

No. [sits next to Josh]

Josh

Do you want another drink?

Donna

No. [gets up, glances one last time at Josh, and slowly heads to her room.]

Josh

[to Donna] Hey, what happened to you? Two minutes. 120 seconds - I was stuck in there with Dull and Duller, counting beads in my imaginary abacus. [he notices her expression] Ohio? Texas - we won? We lost? We need a good lawyer, what?

Donna

Leo was unconscious. In his room. Annabeth found him. He wasn't... he wasn't breathing. They're taking him to the hospital in an ambulance now.

Donna

[to Josh] You've done a remarkable thing. Win or lose. An extraordinary thing.

Josh

[tearful] I talked him into this, into joining the ticket.

Donna

Nobody ever talked Leo into doing anything he didn't want to do. And he'd want you upstairs [in the campaign suite], not down here. You belong up there, it's your night. He was so proud of you, Josh.

Josh

This guy is the real deal.

Sam

You said that last time.

Josh

Yeah, and look how right I was.

Sam

I'm going to need time to think about this

Josh

Fine... You done yet?

Sam

Josh...

Josh

What's there to think about?

Sam

Well, for one thing, whether I want to end up looking like you.

Josh

When I said we needed to talk, I wasn't necessarily thinking about tonight. I'm kind of fried.

Donna

Who said anything about talking?

Josh

So last night was nice. Nice. It was really nice. On the nice scale it was way up there in terms of... you know, niceness.

Donna

Be still and listen to me. I don't know what this is. And you don't, either, which is perfectly fine and understandable. Whatever the buildup, it's all happened amid absurdly heightened emotional circumstances: the election, Leo's death. There's been... not a moment to so much as... take a breath, much less figure any of this out. And now this roller coaster's plunging into the transition, with its time-pressure demands and then the inauguration, and it's hit the ground running, and the first hundred days and, before you know it, the midterms and the new Congress, and then we're running again and four years becomes eight, and... we've never had the talk. And you can lose that look of panic in your eyes. We're not going to have it now; we don't ever have to have it. But there's a window. I'd say four weeks. If we can't get it together in that time to figure out what we want from each other, then clearly it's not worth the trouble. While last night was lovely, I've already called a cab. You should put on some coffee, and I'll see you at the office.

Donna

Not everyone's like you, so...

Josh

Dedicated?

Donna

Monomaniacal.

Rough day?

Josh

Nah, typical.

You love it, you live for it, you were born to do it, I'm the same way. Everybody tells me to get a life, although I don't know why... I find life to be terribly overrated. It's actually quite boring when it's not disappointing. Say what you will about what we do, but boring it is not.

Josh

I know that you can parlay the Santos win into a doubling of your fee.

Tripling, if it figures into your memoirs.

Josh

Nothing is going to top this. Everything else's going to be a letdown.

Letdowns that make me semi-rich, that's a tradeoff I'm willing to endure.

Josh

You don't care about money.

Who doesn't?

Josh

You!

Not as such.

Josh

As what?

Score-keeping. Quantitative evidence that I'm smarter than you. Not you.

Josh

Who?

Everybody else.

Josh

Come on board as communications director.

Thank you, but no.

Josh

Finish what you started.

I'm not interested in governing.

Josh

Campaigning's about promise; governing's about achievement. It's, it's tougher and a lot less romantic, but it's not boring. I already think you're smarter than everyone, that's why I want you down the hall. Come on, it's not like getting a life!

That's true, look at you.

Josh

[looking at a note C.J. has given him] W.W.L.D?

CJ

"What would Leo do?"