Season 2

“You wanted to know who I am? This is who I am. Defiance is who I am. This is me. This is who you married. This is who you love. You made a choice. You did this. This is the man you are. And guess what? I love you anyway. Because that is the man I am.”

— Chris Van Dusen, Shonda Rhimes, Cyrus Beene, Jeff Perry, imdb.com

“You can't fix the fact that I love you. That I love you more than I love being President. I have told you that I'd give it all up for you again and again, and you know what I think? I think you don't believe me. I think you believe that I will never choose you. Well, this time, I'm fixing things. Si…”

— Zahir McGhee, Shonda Rhimes, President Fitzgerald Grant, Tony Goldwyn, imdb.com

“Olivia: I'm apolitical you know that. Cyrus: Is your vagina apolitical?”

— Heather Mitchell, Shonda Rhimes, Cyrus Beene, Jeff Perry, imdb.com

“You're frozen in time. You're holding your breath. You're a statue waiting for something that's never going to happen. Living for stolen moments in hotel hallways and coat closets and you keep telling yourself they all add up to something real because in your mind they have to but they don't. They w…”

— Shonda Rhimes, Matt Byrne, Jenna Bans, Olivia Pope, Kerry Washington, imdb.com

“It's a date. You said meeting. I'm not a client. I don't have a problem. I don't need fixing. I asked you out. You said yes. We dressed up. At the end of the evening, if all goes well, there will be kissing. This is not a meeting. This is a date.”

— Jenna Bans, Shonda Rhimes, Matt Byrne, Jake Ballard, Scott Foley, imdb.com

“I may not be able to control my erections around you, but that does not mean I want you. We are done.”

— Matt Byrne, Shonda Rhimes, President Fitzgerald Grant, Tony Goldwyn, imdb.com

“I will take every penny he has in the bank and every dollar of political capital that he has in this town. I will court feminist groups and mothers groups and religious groups. I will bury him. And I will dance on his grave. And then? I will run for office.”

— Mark Wilding, Shonda Rhimes, Mellie Grant, Bellamy Young, imdb.com

“Gladiators don't get to have feelings. We rush into battle. We're soldiers. We get hurt in the fight we suck it up and we hold the line and we don't question.”

— Mark Wilding, Shonda Rhimes, Harrison Wright, Columbus Short, imdb.com

“This doesn't make us even. Not even close. And it won't stop me from coming after you, guns blazing, both barrels, if it looks, as I strongly suspect, that you were involved in illegal activity, or worse, if you try to screw me again. In that case, God help you.”

— Peter Noah, Shonda Rhimes, David Rosen, Joshua Malina, imdb.com

“I smile at her and take off my clothes for you. I wait for you. I watch for you. My whole life is you. I can’t breathe because I’m waiting for you. You own me, you control me, I belong to you.”

— Shonda Rhimes, Olivia Pope, Kerry Washington, imdb.com

“Women like going to a nice restaurant, it's a universal truth.”

— Shonda Rhimes, Raamla Mohamed, Harrison Wright, Columbus Short, imdb.com

“Olivia: I don't like it when the bad guys get away. Cyrus: Then you shouldn't have come to Washington.”

— Shonda Rhimes, Raamla Mohamed, Cyrus Beene, Jeff Perry, imdb.com

“Because it was perfect. And that kind of perfection doesn't make me feel weak. It makes me feel strong. I looked at myself in the mirror and I finally recognized that person I once knew so well. That person who went out all the time, sometimes just for fun. And, now that I've seen that person again,…”

— Mark Fish, Shonda Rhimes, Huck, Guillermo Diaz, imdb.com

“I'm sorry. I don't. I can't. I don’t have it in me to take care of someone else. Because I'm busy taking care of the United States of America.”

— Kerry Washington, Tom Verica, Cyrus Beene, Jeff Perry, imdb.com

“Olivia Pope doesn't move Heaven and Earth and further corrupt the justice system unless she knows at the end of the day she can put on the white hat and ride out of town.”

— Shonda Rhimes, Matt Byrne, David Rosen, Joshua Malina, imdb.com

“I don't do lost causes or tilt at windmills. I don't perform miracles or do the impossible. I make cold calculations about difficult situations and I do not take on anything I know I won't win. And I will win this. I just need you to trust me. I promise you.”

— Stephen Cragg, Olivia Pope, Kerry Washington, imdb.com