Bartlet: [to CJ] I'm noticing a distinct slackening of awe, a certain lack of trembling in my presence.

Bartlet: [to Gov. Ritchie] In the future, if you're wondering, "Crime. Boy, I don't know" is when I decided to kick your ass.

Bartlet: [to Leo, about a Russian warhead explosion:] Leo, at the time the SS-19 exploded, it was being drained of its liquid hydrogen in an attempt by deserting soldiers to � wait for it...
Leo: Steal the warhead?
Bartlet: Steal the warhead! [to the Russian Ambassador ] When were you gonna tell us about that? You realize how dangerous�
Russian Ambassador: Mr. President, you shouldn't be concerned with the welfare of the Russian people.
Bartlet: Well, I am concerned with the welfare of the Russian people, but that's not what they pay me for. You guys fall asleep at the switch in Minsk, and I've got a whole hemisphere hiding under the bed. How do you not tell us this is going on? How do you not ask us for help?
Russian Ambassador: We'll not need help finding the leaders of the black market network�
Bartlet: Yeah, thanks. We're sending in NATO inspectors.
Russian Ambassador: Leo and I were just discussing the terms.
Leo: The terms are we're sending in NATO or he's taking a walk to the press room.
Bartlet: [to the Russian Ambassador] Get your foreign minister on the phone. [pauses] I honestly don't know from where you guys get the nerve.
Russian Ambassador: From a long, hard winter, Mr. President.

Bartlet: [to Leo] Honey, if we're going to have this fight, can we not do it in front of the Joint Chiefs? It just scares the hell out of them.

Bartlet: [to Leo] I was wrong. I was. I was just...I was wrong. Come on, you know that. Lots of times we don't know what right or wrong is but lots of times we do and come on, this is one. I may not have had sinister intent at the outset but there were plenty of opportunities for me to make it right. No one in government takes responsibility for anything anymore. We foster, we obfuscate, we rationalize. "Everybody does it." That's what we say. So we come to occupy a moral safe house where everyone's to blame so no one's guilty. I'm to blame. I was wrong.

Bartlet: [trying to figure out the nuclear plant accident] I thought a degree in economics was plenty for this job. My kingdom for a plumbing license.

Bartlet: [Trying to persuade the California governor to evacuate San Andreo] Better a few fender benders on the I-5 than a generation of babies with thyroid cancer.

Bartlet: [woken by his staff, in his cabin on Air Force One] I thought you were gonna let me rest.
C.J.: I'm so sorry, sir. State just got a heads-up from the IAEA that they're gonna report tomorrow that the South Korean government has admitted to conducting an experiment to enrich uranium. [as C.J. is talking, Bartlet is looking down at his legs and his arm, in some realization] South Korea is not releasing any details. We need you to get on the phone and get the President to come clean. We can't ask China to help stop North Korean nuclear experiments if the South is doing it too. [she picks up a phone] Get us a secure line with the South Korean President.
Bartlet: [softly] C.J....hold it.
C.J.: Sir?
Bartlet: ...I can't move.
[moments later, the President is taken on a stretcher to another part of the plane]
Surgeon General Griffith: Progressive paralysis, he had trouble with his hands, now it's both legs and his right arm...
Bartlet: [sarcastically] So much for being staff-dependent in China.
Surgeon General Griffith: Fairbanks is closer, but Anchorage is better--
Bartlet: I've got better doctors up here than I do down there.
C.J.: Mr. President, we can't take the chance--
Bartlet: Let's not pretend we didn't know this was gonna happen.
C.J.: No, Mr. President, I didn't know...
Bartlet: I mean, we always knew it was gonna happen someday. I'm ready for it, you better be too.
C.J.: Mr. President, we can't land in China--
Bartlet: [sternly] This plane is going to China. That's a direct order from your Commander-in-Chief.

Bartlet: A long flight across the night. You know why late flights are good? Because we cease to be earthbound and burdened with practicality. Asking important questions. Talking about the idea that nobody has thought about yet. Put it a different way...
Sam: Be poets.

Bartlet: A martyr would rather suffer death at the hands of an oppressor than renounce his beliefs. Killing yourself and innocent people to make a point is sick, twisted, brutal, dumb-ass murder. And let me leave you with this thought before I go searching for the apples that were rightfully mine: we don't need martyrs right now. We need heroes. A hero would die for his country but he'd much rather live for it.

Bartlet: A national security leak during the Democratic convention! Are we working for the Republicans now? They're going to whack us for the security leak and then whack us again for dithering over saving the lives of brave astronauts.

Bartlet: All I have in this situation is influence. Influence and relationships. If you take that away from me, I am powerless!

Bartlet: Any ideas on how to break the logjam?
Josh: Too bad Congress isn't here. They'd just cook the books and hold a press conference.

Bartlet: Anybody got any crayons so I can color in my Ph. D.?

Bartlet: Apparently, I've arranged for an honor guard for somebody.
Toby: Yes, sir. I'm sorry.
Bartlet: No no. Just tell me, is there anything else I've arranged for? We're still in NATO right?
Toby: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: What's going on?
Toby: A homeless man died last night; a Korean War veteran, who was wearing a coat that I gave to the Goodwill. It had my card in it.
Bartlet: Toby, you're not responsible for ...
Toby: An hour and twenty minutes for the ambulance to get there. A Lance Corporal, United States Marine Corps, Second of the Seventh. The guy got better treatment at Panmunjom.
Bartlet: Toby, if we start pulling strings like this, you don't think every homeless veteran would come out of the woodworks?
Toby: I can only hope, sir.