The Best Romo Lampkin Quotes

Romo: I don't suppose anyone's going to feed my dog.

Admiral: Mr. Lampkin, what are you doing here?
Romo: Writs of forfeiture for the ships you're borrowing. The captains want to be absolved of any blame should anything untoward happen.
[Adama takes the legal papers and examines them]
Romo: One of the less ennobling consequences of a legal culture. No one wants responsibility. Lee said you once gave him something before a mission. A lighter, was it?
[Adama begins signing them]
Admiral: Belonged to my father. Foolish to think a hunk of metal could keep him safe.
Romo: And yet, that's what we do, isn't it? Hang on to hope, in every hopelessly irrational way that we can.
[Romo looks at the fighter crews below them]
Romo: But not like those poor bastards, giving away their luck, just when they need it most. It's like they've given up.
Admiral: If you never been in combat, you have no idea what they're thinking.
Romo: I always imagined you a realist, Admiral, not one to indulge a vain hope at the cost of lives. But then, everyone has his limits. "Sine qua non", as they say.
Admiral: "Without which not."
Romo: Yes. Those things we deem essential, without which we cannot bear living, without which life in general loses its specific value... becomes abstract.
Admiral: You may have a point, Counselor.
Romo: And while I'm on a roll, Tom Zarek may not be an ideal president, but we could do worse.
Admiral: You're right. There are limits to my realism. Goodbye, Counselor.

[He is in his quarters, speaking out loud]
Romo: No man is perfect. No man is less perfect than a candidate for higher office. Thus, the ranks of likely suspects is winnowed to none.
[We hear a meow from Lance, Romo's cat]
Romo: What if we're going about this backwards, hey, Lance? What if, instead of picking names and finding fault, we ask ourselves the qualities that we want? No. No, what we need in a new chief executive and see who fits the that bill.
[Starts writing on a white board]
Romo: Honesty, of course. Wisdom to recognize. Correct. If unpopular choice, as well as the courage to see it through. Experience. When the wrong choices cost lives and the right ones save, it's all harder. We might as well spell out one name.
[Hisses like a cat]
Romo: Just one. One we knew from the start.
[Erases all he has written and writes something in large letters we cannot see]
Romo: Sometimes you take on a losing case and you make yourself a believer. Other times, no matter what you tell yourself... in your heart you know the outcome is fixed, and the verdict inevitable. Lance, defense rests. Come on.
[Romo leaves the room,: LEE ADAMA]

Romo: [reading letter for Baltar] There's no greater ally, no force more powerful, no enemy more resolved, than a son who chooses to step from his father's shadow.

Romo: I understand that you had a romantic relationship with my client.
Number: Gaius Baltar is a brilliant, gifted human being. In the time I've known him, he's made a sport out of mendacity and deception. He is narcissistic, feckless, self-centered, and vain. I'm the one who should have stabbed him.
President: Things are looking up.

Doctor: I knew right from the very start that if there was a way to demonstrate the sheer - what's the word I'm looking for... hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the word I'm looking for... Hypocrisy of the prosecution's case then really the judges would have no other option but to find me not guilty.
Romo: Well your boundless confidence provided us with great solace throughout the proceedings.
Doctor: Look I want to thank you both. Truly. From the bottom of my heart. I am very, very grateful for all you've done. On a personal note, if I could've seen the Admiral squirm just a little bit more, it wouldn't have hurt.
Captain: Now you listen... Don't push it, Doctor.
Doctor: Fine.
[to Lampkin]
Doctor: Romo, perhaps we could have a chat. I've thought about maybe doing a book tour around the fleet. And there's the publishing rights. And there's issues about my security, where I'm going to live, what I'm going to do. Since we forged this great relationship during the trial, I thought, you know, who better than...
Romo: Actually, now that the fleet's legal system is in place, my not-so-inconsiderable talents are required elsewhere. So I'm afraid this is the end of our journey.
Doctor: Wait a minute. What about me? Wait a minute, wait please! Think about this for a second. Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? How am I going to survive?
Romo: Much as I hate to use a cat metaphor, Doctor, I think you'll land on your feet.
Romo: Close the door on your way out.
[Adama and Lampkin leave]

Romo: Everybody has demons. Them, Baltar, you, me. Even the machines. The law is just a way of exorcising them. That's what your father's father told me. You want to know why I hated him? Because he was right.
Major: So you hated him because he was right, and I hated the law because it was wrong. Because of what... of what it put him through. I mean, he defended the worst of the worst. I remember reading about him. The outrage. Helping murderers go free. What I don't understand is why he put himself through all that abuse.
Romo: You think he gave a flying frak? Joe Adama cared about one thing. Understanding why people do what they do. Why we cheat our friends, why we reward our enemies. Why we go to war, sacrificing our lives for lost causes. Why we build machines in the hope of correcting our flaws and our shortcomings. Why we forgive, defying logic and the laws of nature with one stupid little act of compassion. We're flawed. All of us. I wanted to know why, so I did what he did. I spent my life with the fallen. The corrupt. The damaged.

[Romo told Apollo that he's the only choice for the Presidency and then pulled a pistol on him. He made Apollo open his bag to see his wife's murdered cat. He has just explained his anguish about picking up the cat and heading back to the shuttle when the war broke out instead of going home and trying to save his family]
'Lee': Romo. We've all had to make difficult choices. You don't think I know? Your wife's name was Faye. You had two daughters, Jennifer and Katie! There were over 200 passengers on that shuttle, only a handful chose to stay behind. Yeah, that's right, it was in your file when you were handed the job as Baltar's counsel. But no one blamed you, Romo, because at a certain point, we all made decisions that saved our lives at the cost of others. You think you're unique, Romo? Think your sins are so special?
Romo: Is that it, Counselor? You're gonna rest your entire case on that *pathetic* little bit of insight?
'Lee': No. Unless... The clean slate. The fresh start. Maybe they are illusions like you said. But at a certain point, faith in ourselves, in our right to survive as a species, as a people, that's not a given, that's a choice. Well, I've made mine. And if you can't stomach that, then you had damn well better squeeze that trigger right now. Go on. What are you waiting for?
[Apollo looks at him and cocks an eyebrow]
'Lee': Or you can make a choice, put your past behind you, put that gun down and help me, because I'm telling you, I'm gonna make a difference in this Fleet.
Romo: [Very menacingly] Is that your final word?
'Lee': That's up to you.
Romo: Then swear it.
[We hear Apollo's taking the oath before we cut to the scene where he is being sworn into office]
'Lee': I, Leland Joseph Adama, do now avow and affirm...

Romo: As much as I hate to use a cat metaphor... I think you'll land on your feet.