- Thomas Yates: [from his book] The 3rd of September. That's a date which matters. It's the day, three decades past, that a red neck from Gaffney married a debutant from Dallas, and the Earth's axis tilted that day. Though neither they, nor we, knew it at the time. Here's a woman who described her vows as a suicide flirting with a bridge's edge. And a man who wears his wedding ring as a badge of shame, for the debutant deserved more. But truly, what more could she desire? Together they rule an empire without heirs. Legacy is their only child.
- Edward Meechum: Too bad about the book.
- Thomas Yates: You don't really mean that.
- Edward Meechum: No, I don't.
- Francis Underwood: [seething] She can go after me all she wants. But she goes after Claire, I'll slit her fucking throat in broad daylight!
- Francis Underwood: You're finally one of us.
- Heather Dunbar: One of who?
- Francis Underwood: [getting uncomfortable close] The men, in their smokey back rooms.
- [last lines]
- Francis Underwood: I'm not the first politician that some people don't trust.
- Claire Underwood: We've been lying for a long time, Francis.
- Francis Underwood: Of course we have. Imagine what the voters would think if we started telling the truth.
- Claire Underwood: Not to them. To each other.
- Claire Underwood: [reading from Yates' book] A cold fusion of two universal elements. Identical in weight, equal in force. United they stand. A union like none other. The un-splittable atom of American politics.
- Francis Underwood: Well, he was right about some things.
- Doug Stamper: Make me your Chief of Staff. You promised. You promised there'd be a place for me here when I was ready.
- Francis Underwood: That was before you fell off the wagon and walked in here with that journal.
- Doug Stamper: I've made mistakes. I've fallen down more than once, and you've always been there to pick me up. But you've been falling down for the past year, too, and you need someone to pick you up this time. It's not Remy. It's not Seth. It's me, Frank.
- Francis Underwood: And how can I know I can ever trust you again?
- Doug Stamper: Because I just lit two million dollars on fire.
- Doug Stamper: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Keep coming back. It works if you work it.