The West Wing (TV Series)
Here Today (2005)
Martin Sheen: President Josiah Bartlet
Photos
Quotes
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President Josiah Bartlet : Toby...
Toby Ziegler : Yes, sir?
President Josiah Bartlet : When you walk out of here, there'll be people out there, perhaps a great many, who'll think of you as a hero. I just don't for a moment want you thinking I'll be one of them.
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President Josiah Bartlet : Our daughter's getting engaged to the fruit fly guy.
Abbey Bartlet : He's a research scientist. Stop making him sound like something out of a horror film. Did you know that fruit flies reproduce at a prodigious rate?
President Josiah Bartlet : Well, you've been whining about more grandchildren.
Abbey Bartlet : I meant that they're more than just usually enthusiastic.
President Josiah Bartlet : All right.
Abbey Bartlet : In fact, they make bunnies look like dysfunctional prudes.
President Josiah Bartlet : That's our daughter you're talking about.
Abbey Bartlet : Indeed.
President Josiah Bartlet : Yeah, how about that?
Abbey Bartlet : Are you...?
President Josiah Bartlet : A little, how about you?
Abbey Bartlet : Astonished, actually.
President Josiah Bartlet : Why? Did you and she never discuss...?
Abbey Bartlet : Oh, no. There are some things that are outside even the mother-daughter bond, at least for us. Did you and she...?
President Josiah Bartlet : We always adhered to a strict "Don't ask, don't tell" policy; clung to it, actually.
Abbey Bartlet : It is one's daughter, and wants her to be happy in whatever.
President Josiah Bartlet : Of course, true to herself.
Abbey Bartlet : There's nothing wrong with that inclination.
President Josiah Bartlet : Nothing, whatsoever.
Abbey Bartlet : But God Herself may strike me dead, it is not to be denied that I am not unhappy that my daughter is straight after all.
President Josiah Bartlet : At least straight enough to be marrying the fruit fly guy.
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President Josiah Bartlet : Toby? Is it possible to be astonished and, at the same time, not surprised?
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President Josiah Bartlet : I haven't had much time to absorb this news, so I'll apologize in advance if I express any half-formed thoughts. But the one thought that hits the hardest is that this was somehow inevitable; that you've always been heading for this sort of crash-and-burn. That self-righteous superiority; not that you were smarter than everyone; that you were purer, morally superior.
Toby Ziegler : Due respect, sir, I don't think I'm morally superior to everyone.
President Josiah Bartlet : No, just to me.