The Most Powerful Quotes from House of Cards
Netflix’s House of Cards is an American political drama web television series based on the British miniseries of the same name and novel by Michael Dobbs.
The story follows the rise of scheming politician Francis Underwood and his wife, Claire Underwood, who are constantly hungry for more power. The series primarily deals with themes such as ruthless pragmatism and manipulation.
House of Cards has won numerous awards, including two Golden Globes and six Primetime Emmys.
Table of Contents
House of Cards Season 1 Quotes
There are two kinds of pain. The sort of pain that makes you strong or useless pain, the sort of pain that’s only suffering. I have no patience for useless things.Francis Underwood, S1.Ep1: Chapter 1
Power is a lot like real estate. It’s all about location, location, location. The closer you are to the source, the higher your property value.Francis Underwood, S1.Ep1: Chapter 1
You don’t want to work anywhere you’re not willing to get fired from.Francis Underwood, S1.Ep3: Chapter 3
There’s no better way to overpower a trickle of doubt than with a flood of naked truth.Francis Underwood, S1.Ep7: Chapter 7
After all, we are nothing more or less than what we choose to reveal.Francis Underwood, S1.Ep7: Chapter 7
A great man once said, everything is about sex. Except sex. Sex is about power.Francis Underwood, S1.Ep9: Chapter 9
House of Cards Season 2 Quotes
Every kitten grows up to be a cat. They seem so harmless at first, small, quiet, lapping up their saucer of milk. But once their claws get long enough, they draw blood, sometimes from the hand that feeds them.Francis Underwood, S2.Ep1: Chapter 14
For those of us climbing to the top of the food chain, there can be no mercy. There is but one rule: hunt or be hunted.Francis Underwood, S2.Ep1: Chapter 14
The president is like a lone tree in an empty field, he leans whichever way the wind is blowing.Francis Underwood, S2.Ep2: Chapter 15
When the money’s coming your way, you don’t ask any questions.Francis Underwood, S2.Ep7: Chapter 20
The road to power is paved with hypocrisy, and casualties. Never regret.Francis Underwood, S2.Ep9: Chapter 22
I’ve always loathed the necessity of sleep. Like death, it puts even the most powerful men on their backs.Francis Underwood, S2.Ep10: Chapter 23
From the lion’s den to a pack of wolves. When you’re fresh meat, kill and throw them something fresher.Francis Underwood, S2.Ep11: Chapter 24
I’ve done what I had to do. Now you do what you have to do. Seduce him. Give him your heart. Cut it out and put it in his f*****g hands.Claire Underwood, S2.Ep13: Chapter 26
House of Cards Season 3 Quotes
There’s nothing like a death in the family to separate the wheat from the bull****.Francis Underwood, S3.Ep1: Chapter 27
When the wind’s blowing at gale force, there’s no point in sailing against it.Francis Underwood, S3.Ep2: Chapter 28
What is the face of a coward? The back of his head as he runs from the battle.Francis Underwood, S3.Ep3: Chapter 29
You can’t turn a ‘no’ to a ‘yes’ without a ‘maybe’ in between.Francis Underwood, S3.Ep3: Chapter 29
No writer worth his salt can resist a good story, just as no politician can resist making promises he can’t keep.Francis Underwood, S3.Ep5: Chapter 31
Such a pity how much ruthless pragmatism gets weighed down by family values.Francis Underwood, S3.Ep11: Chapter 37
Nobody cares about an idea. They might care about a man with an idea. I only care about the man.Thomas Yates, S3.Ep8: Chapter 34
Sometimes we must be ruthless with those who hate us. And sometimes we must be ruthless with those we love.Viktor Petrov, S3.Ep10: Chapter 36
House of Cards Season 4 Quotes
Conscience has an unmistakable stink to it, sort of like raw onions and morning breath. But a lie stinks even more when it’s coming from someone who isn’t used to lying. It’s more like rotten eggs and horse****.Francis Underwood, S4.Ep7: Chapter 46
If you wanna push the sludge through Congress, it’s best to have grease on both sides of the aisle.Francis Underwood, S4.Ep7: Chapter 46
Politics is no longer just theater, it’s show business. So let’s put on the best show in town.Francis Underwood, S4.Ep8: Chapter 47
Do you know the main thing that separates a politician from the rest of the species? A politician is the one who would drown a litter of kittens for ten minutes of prime time.Francis Underwood, S4.Ep9: Chapter 48
After a dog’s bitten you, you either put it to sleep, or you put a muzzle on it.Francis Underwood, S4.Ep11: Chapter 50
You don’t ever let the opponent walk all over you. If you’re getting attacked, you fight back.Claire Underwood, S4.Ep11: Chapter 50
House of Cards Season 5 Quotes
The American people don’t know what’s best for them. I do. I know exactly what they need. They’re like little children, Claire. Children we never had. We have to hold their sticky fingers and wipe their filthy mouths. Teach them right from wrong. Tell them what to think and how to feel and what to want. They even need help writing their wildest dreams, crafting their worst fears. Lucky for them, they have me. They have you. Underwood. Underwood 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028, 2032, 2036. One nation, Underwood.Francis Underwood, S5.Ep4: Chapter 56
History is earned. You win the day, and then you win the day after, and you do the same thing every day until you’re dead. And you’re remembered not for the winning, but because you never lost.Francis Underwood, S5.Ep8: Chapter 60
Acknowledging defeat is never easy. Doing it in public is a living hell.Francis Underwood, S5.Ep9: Chapter 61
You know people. You know them for years. And then, suddenly, they’re like strangers in your kitchen. Familiar can turn foreign on a dime.Francis Underwood, S5.Ep11: Chapter 63
Oh, don’t deny it. You’ve loved it. You don’t actually need me to stand for anything. You just need me to stand. To be the strong man. The man of action. My God, you’re addicted to action and slogans. It doesn’t matter what I say. It doesn’t matter what I do. Just as long as I’m doing something, you’re happy to be along for the ride. And frankly, I don’t blame you. With all the foolishness and indecision in your lives, why not a man like me? I don’t apologize. In the end, I don’t care whether you love me or you hate me, just as long as I win. The deck is stacked. The rules are rigged. Welcome to the death of the Age of Reason. There is no right or wrong. Not anymore. There’s only being in, and then being out.Francis Underwood, S5.Ep12: Chapter 64
It’s no longer about who lives in the White House, it’s about who owns the White House.Francis Underwood, S5.Ep13: Chapter 65
When you bring yourself down before someone else can, you control the way it happens.Francis Underwood, S5.Ep13: Chapter 65
If you ignore all the pomp and circumstance, the most perverse thing is I actually believe in the presidency. Its importance. What it means around the world, even symbolically. But I believe in power even more. For its own sake. Gore Vidal once wrote that power is an end to itself, and the instinctive urge to prevail the most important single human trait. I’ve always told myself that everything I did was for her. But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I love power more.Francis Underwood, S5.Ep13: Chapter 65
You think you can erase something. Then you find out that’s not possible.Doug Stamper, S5.Ep13: Chapter 65
The past doesn’t disappear on command, Francis. Not even for presidents.Claire Underwood, S5.Ep2: Chapter 54
House of Cards Season 6 Quotes
It’s not true what he told you all those years ago. That there are two kinds, useful and useless. There’s only one kind. Pain is pain.Claire Underwood, (about Francis), S6.Ep1: Chapter 66
Once you identify the degree to which you are boxed in, you’ll see how liberating it is.Claire Underwood, S6.Ep3: Chapter 68
The dead never really stay dead. Not for the people who loved them.Claire Underwood, (to Mark), S6.Ep4: Chapter 69
Presidents aren’t allowed to be human. You have to choose. Power or love.Claire Underwood, S6.Ep4: Chapter 69
The baby was viable. Francis and I, as parents, were not.Claire Underwood, (about her abortion), S6.Ep6: Chapter 71
It’s important to be organized and ruthless. Three piles, I always say. The stuff you wanna keep, the stuff you might need later that you put in storage, and the stuff you have to destroy.Claire Underwood, S6.Ep6: Chapter 71
Everyone has problems. Especially the ones who think they don’t.Doug Stamper, (to Seth), S6.Ep1: Chapter 66
Violence is a funny thing. You know, it’s not so much the physical pain that victims can remember. It’s the feelings around it. The fear.Doug Stamper, S6.Ep5: Chapter 70
Out. What a quaint concept. When the only way out was never to get in in the first place.Jane Davis, S6.Ep6: Chapter 71