"I work in the White House with some of the smartest people in the world." -Charlie





CJ: There are so many days here where you can't imagine that anything good will ever happen. You're buried under a black fog of partisanship and self-promotion and stupidity and a brand of politics that's just plain mean. Yes, Hoynes had us nervous with his admonishment of Big Oil and yes, the President was making us nervous too. But that's for tomorrow. Cause tonight I've seen a man with no legs stay standing, Dad, and a guy with no voice keep shouting. And if politics brings out the worst in people, then maybe people bring out the best. Cause I'm looking at the TV right now and damn if 28 U.S. Senators haven't just walked onto the floor to help. I'll catch the first plane out in the morning, and if you wouldn't mind not turning 70 until tomorrow, that'd be great. In the meantime, I love you so much. Your daughter, Claudia. (The Stackhouse Filibuster)

Sam: Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes. We need gigantic revolutionary changes. Schools should be palaces. Competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be getting six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge for its citizens, just like national defense. That is my position. I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet.
(Six Meetings Before Lunch)

Bartlet: We hold these truths to be self-evident," they said, "that all men are created equal." Strange as it may seem, that was the first time in history that anyone had ever bothered to write that down. Decisions are made by those who show up.
(What Kind of Day has it Been?)

Bartlet: I like how you call homosexuality an abombination.
Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President, the Bible does.
Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophmore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says
he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it OK to call the police? Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting
different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing, while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tightass Club, in this building, when the President stands nobody sits.
(The Midterms)

Bartlet: You'll do fine. People have phenomenal capacity.
(He Shall, From Time to Time..)

Josh: See, you won with 52 percent, but the President took your district with 59. And I think it's high time we come back and say thanks. Do you have any idea how much noise Air Force One makes when it lands in Eau Claire, Wisconsin? Were gonna have a party Congressman, you should come, it's gonna be great. And when the watermelon's done, right in town square, right in the band gazebo...
You guys got a band gazebo? ... Doesn't matter, we'll build one. Right in the band gazebo, that's where the President's gonna drape his arm around some Assistant DA we like, and you should have your camera with you, you should get a picture of that,
because that's gonna be the moment you're finished in Democratic politics. President Bartlet's a good man, he's got a good heart, he doesn't hold a grudge. That's what he pays me for.
(Five Votes Down)

Sam: Where'd you get the bathrobe?
Carol: The gym.
Sam: They have bathrobes at the gym?
C.J.: In the women's locker room.
Sam: But not the men's.
C.J.: Yeah.
Sam: Now, that's outrageous. There's a thousand men working here and 50 women ...
C.J.: Yeah, and it's the bathrobes that's outrageous.
(Bartlet's Third State of the Union)

Leo: A man's walking down the street. There's a hole, and he falls in. It has steep sides, and he can't get out. A doctor walks by. The man says, "Hey, doctor, can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down, and walks on. A priest walks by. The man calls, "Father, I'm in this hole, can you help me?" The priest writes a prayer, throws it down, and moves on. Then his friend walks by. The man calls, "Hey, Joe, it's me, can you help me?" His friend jumps down in the hole with him. The man says, "What're you, stupid? Now we're both down here!" His friend says, "Yeah, but I've been here before, and I know the way out.'
(Noel)

CJ: Obviously, there's one story that going dominating news around the world for the next few days, and it would be easy to think that President Bartlet, Joshua Lyman, and Stephanie Abbott were the only victims of a gun crime last night. They weren't. Mark Davis and Sheila Evans of Philadelphia were killed by a gun last night. He was a Biology Teacher and she was a Nursing student. Tina Bishop and Linda Larkin were killed with a gun last night, they were 12. There were 36 homicides last night. 480 sexual assaults, 3,411 robberies, 3,685 aggravated assaults, all at gunpoint. And if anyone thinks those
crimes could have been prevented if the victims themselves had been carrying guns, I'd only remind you that the President of the United States himself was shot last night while surrounded by the best trained armed guards in the history of the world.
(In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II)

Bartlet: Tonight, what began on the commons in Concord, Massachusetts, as an alliance of farmers and workers, of cobblesman and tinsmiths, of statesmen and students, of mothers and wives, of men and boys, lives two centuries later as America! My name is Josiah Bartlet, and I accept your nomination for the Presidency of the United States!
(In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II)

Leo: Because I'm tired of it year after year after year after year having to chose between the lesser of who cares? Of trying to get myself excited about a candidate who can speak in complete sentences. Of setting the bar so low, I can hardly look at it. They say a good man can't get elected President. I don't believe that, do you?
Bartlet: And you think I'm that man.
Leo: Yes.
Bartlet: Does it matter that I'm not as sure?
Leo: Nah. Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you. Put it another way, fake it till you make it. You did good tonight.
Bartlet: Yeah.
Leo: This is the time of Jed Bartlet, old friend. You're gonna open your mouth and lift houses off the ground. Whole houses, clear off the ground...
(In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I)

Sam: Good morning. Eleven months ago a 12-hundred pound spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Eighteen hours ago it landed on the planet Mars. You, me, and 60 thousand of your fellow students across the country along with astroscientists and engineers from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California, NASA Houston, and right here, at the White House, are going to be the first to see what it sees, and to chronicle an extraordinary voyage of an unmanned ship called Galileo 5.
(Galileo)

Donna: Why is everyone walking around like they know they've already lost?
(Let Bartlet be Bartlet)

Sam: For we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill, and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean, and we pioneered the West, and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on the timeline of exploration, and this is what's next.
(Galileo)

C.J.: I think you should do the classroom either way.
Bartlet: Yeah?
C.J.: We have, at our disposal, a captive audience of schoolchildren. Some of them don't go to the black board and raise their hand because they think they're gonna be wrong. I think you should say to these kids you think you get it wrong sometimes, you should come down here and see how the big boys do it. I think you should tell them you haven't given up hope, and that it may turn up, but in the meantime, you want NASA to put its best people in the room, and you want them to start building Galileo VI. Some of them will laugh, and most of them won't care, but for some, they might honestly see that it's about going to the blackboard and raising your hand. And that's the broader theme.
(Galileo)

Josh: So that's gonna be my reaction every time I hear music?
Stanley: No.
Josh: Why not?
Stanley: Because we get better.
(Noel)

Josh: I want to be a comfort to my friends in tragedy and I want to laugh with them in triumph, and in between, i just want to be able to look them in the eye.
(The Crackpots and These Women)

Leo: If we're going to walk into walls I want us running into them at full speed.
(Let Bartlet be Bartlet)

Leo: We're going to lose some of these battles. And we might even lose the White House. But we're not going to be threatened by issues. We're gonna put them front and center. We're going to raise the level of public debate in this country. And let that be our legacy.
(Let Bartlet be Bartlet)

Donna: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Josh. You know what that means? It means you should take this time to gather your rosebuds 'cause later on you might not be able to.
(20 Hours in LA)

Bartlet: After it, therefore because of it. It means one thing follows the other, therefore it was caused by the other. But it's not always true. In fact it's hardly ever true.
(Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc)

Bartlet: I'm sleeping better. And when I sleep, I dream of a great discussion, with experts and ideas and diction and honesty. And when I wake up, I think 'I can sell that'.
(Mandatory Minimums)

CJ: We could all be better teachers.
(Take Out the Trash Day)

Toby: We're running away from ourselves. And I know we can score points that way -- I was a principal architect of the campaign strategy right along with you, Josh. But we're here now. Tomorrow night we do an immense thing. We have to say what we feel. That government, no matter what it's failures in the past, and in times to come, for that matter, government can be a place where people come together. And where no one gets left behing. No one gets left behind. An instrument of good. I have no trouble understanding why the line tested well, Josh. But I don't think that means we should say it. I think that means we should change it.
(He Shall, From Time to Time)

Sam: It's not just about abortion; it's about the next 20 years. 20's and 30's it was the role of government, 50's and 60's it was civil rights, the next two decades it's gonna be privacy. I'm talking about the Internet. I'm talking about cell phones. I'm talking about health records and who's gay and who's not. And moreover, in a country born on the right to be free, what could be more fundamental than that?
(The Short List)

Mandy: You're fighting the wrong fights and you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
(Enemies)

Bartlet: A long flight across the night. You know why late flights are good? Because we cease to be earth bound and burdened with practicality. Ask the impertinent question, talk about the ideas that nobody has thought about yet. Put it another way.
Sam: Be poets.
(The Portland Trip)

main quotes
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