- Steve Lascoe: See, the Young Liberty Party is not opposed to you per se. It's just that...
- Senator Hays Stowe: They just don't trust anybody over thirty except Mao Tse-Tung, is that right?
- Steve Lascoe: No, they don't so much trust Mao as accept him. I mean, they know when the real revolution comes, he'll have to go too.
- Sgt. Traynor: How about all that talk? Is there anything to it?
- Jordan Boyle: You mean, does he want to be president? Every senator has days he wants to be the president. It's like a 24-hour virus; most of the time it goes away. But, um, sometimes it doesn't.
- Hyatt: Senator, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't say this. There's a limit to protection. In this room, in this building, I can guarantee your life. But once we're out there, out in the open, the only thing I can guarantee is that we'll catch him afterwards. If he wants to trade his life for yours, he's got a deal.
- Ellen Stowe: Hays, you don't suppose the law of averages has changed over the last ten years? maybe even been repealed?
- Senator Hays Stowe: No, I don't. But you remember the Chinese blessing, don't you? "May you live in interesting times"?
- Ellen Stowe: Yes, Senator, I do. But it wasn't a blessing; it was a curse.
- Senator Hays Stowe: Sergeant, I'd like to ask you something. Are you familiar with this Crime Control bill that's coming up in the Senate next week?
- Sgt. Traynor: Senator, I have had the winning candidate in every presidential election since Willkie, and I knew he was going to lose. That's as close as I ever get to politics.