You know what's interesting about being engaged? Fiancees don't like it when you get out of bed at 3 am to go see another woman. But you called, I came, and I brought our best friend Shiraz.

Stephen

Huck: Would you like me to get a gun?
Quinn: You have a gun?
Abby: I have one too.
Olivia: No guns!

[to Olivia] You and I aren't friends anymore. Don't come here again.

Cyrus

Harrison: Shut it down.
Quinn: I'm sorry?
Harrison: I saw you on your date last night.
Quinn: I don't knwo what you're talking about.
Harrison: You're lying, which isn't the problem. The problem is you suck at it. Every time you do it, you look like you're about to cry. You look like you're about to cry right now.
Quinn: I'm not going to.
Harrison: Now. You can't keep seeing this guy. There's going to come a time when you're going to have to lie to him to protect a client, and we don't lie to reporters, because once you do there's no going back. You've killed the one thing you protect at all costs--your credibility. And not just your credibility, my credibility. This firm's credibility. And that's not going to happen. So save yourself the trouble and shut it down.

Olivia: I did what I had to for my client. I made a tough call. You don't like it, Abby, too bad. It's my name on that door, not yours.
Abby: Don't talk to me about tough calls or names on the door...When Charles fractured three of my ribs and broke my jaw and threw me out into the snow in my nightgown, Olivia Pope took a tire iron and broke his knee cap and got me the best divorce attorney in the state and got me out of that marriage. It's what Olivia does. It's who you are. You are the gladiator. I would gladly follow you over a cliff, but you've gotta show up. You gotta be a warrior. You don't get to pick and choose when the real Olivia Pope walks through that door. You made the wrong call.

President: Would it be so bad if all this ended?
First Lady: What?
President: I wanted to help people. That was the point. I got in this job to help people, not for the job. I could find better ways to affect change.
First Lady: What's going on? What happened?
President: Would it be so bad if this ended?
First Lady: Yes, it would be so bad if this ended. It would be catastrophic. Now pull yourself together, dammit, you've got a speech to give.

President: The way I see it, all roads lead back to Amanda Tanner. She's saying we had an affair. She's saying she's carrying my child. Without her, there's nothing but that tape. And without her, that tape is just a guy who sounds vaguely like me. There's no proof. Nobody even takes that tape seriously without it being vouched for, which means our problem is Amanda Tanner and she's not our problem. She's a kid. Our real problem is Olivia Pope.
Cyrus: You realize--
President: I got into this job to help people, to change this country for the better. I am the President of the United States of America. It's time I acted like it.
Cyrus. Thank you, Mr. President.

Olivia: You seem awful chipper about all this, Cyrus.
Cyrus: I am. I am. I'll tell you why. I'm a workaholic and my sweet husband doesn't let me work on Sundays unless there's a war, which is why I hate Sundays and I really hate to garden. So you can see why I'd be excited because there is, in fact, a war. There's a bloody, scary war starting right now.
Olivia: You and I are going to war? That's what you want? Fine.
Cyrus: [laughs] Oh. no. I'm sorry. I wasn't clear. This isn't my war. You know who sent me here The President of the United States sent me here, to this office, to deliver these piles of dirt. I'm not the general. I'm not the bad guy. I'm just an errand boy who doesn't have to garden anymore. President Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III has declared war on you, Olivia, and he does so with the full force of the White House and the legion of men and women who work in the United States government. May God have mercy on your soul.

Scandal Season 1 Episode 4 Quotes

President: The way I see it, all roads lead back to Amanda Tanner. She's saying we had an affair. She's saying she's carrying my child. Without her, there's nothing but that tape. And without her, that tape is just a guy who sounds vaguely like me. There's no proof. Nobody even takes that tape seriously without it being vouched for, which means our problem is Amanda Tanner and she's not our problem. She's a kid. Our real problem is Olivia Pope.
Cyrus: You realize--
President: I got into this job to help people, to change this country for the better. I am the President of the United States of America. It's time I acted like it.
Cyrus. Thank you, Mr. President.

Olivia: You seem awful chipper about all this, Cyrus.
Cyrus: I am. I am. I'll tell you why. I'm a workaholic and my sweet husband doesn't let me work on Sundays unless there's a war, which is why I hate Sundays and I really hate to garden. So you can see why I'd be excited because there is, in fact, a war. There's a bloody, scary war starting right now.
Olivia: You and I are going to war? That's what you want? Fine.
Cyrus: [laughs] Oh. no. I'm sorry. I wasn't clear. This isn't my war. You know who sent me here The President of the United States sent me here, to this office, to deliver these piles of dirt. I'm not the general. I'm not the bad guy. I'm just an errand boy who doesn't have to garden anymore. President Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III has declared war on you, Olivia, and he does so with the full force of the White House and the legion of men and women who work in the United States government. May God have mercy on your soul.