Empire

Hakeem Lyon:
With you there's always strings. Or more like ropes that choke everyone around you.

Cookie Lyon:
If you pull the trigger you're going to force me to step in front of the bullet. I'd rather die than lose you again

Hakeem Lyon:
[to Lucious] Can't be worse than the nightmare of bein' your son.

Andre Lyon:
You can reach a lot more people with the light than you can with the darkness, brother.

Lucious Lyon:
There's all kinds of vampires in this business. Some suck your blood. Others will suck your d-...

Lucious Lyon:
Fidelity - everybody ain't made for it.

Jamal Lyon:
I'm gay, and I'm an artist. But that don't make me a gay artist.

Andre Lyon:
Dad, you put me in charge!

Lucious Lyon:
No, I put you in place. Don't confuse the two.

Lucious Lyon:
I handed you an olive branch!

Hakeem Lyon:
Yeah, and the pilgrims just gave the Indians blankets.

Jameson Henthrop:
The day I found out that Lucious Lyon had a gay son is the day that I knew, I knew right then and there, that there was a God.

Cookie Lyon:
You step near me, my artists or my family again, you won't even hear the knock on the door.

Lucious Lyon:
You're asking me to come and watch somebody dunk you in tap water and pretend that it's gonna make all your sins go away?

Cookie Lyon:
Look, where we from, if snitches don't kill themselves, somebody else will.

Thirsty Rawlings:
Are you on good terms with your mama?

Andre Lyon:
Somewhat.

Thirsty Rawlings:
Lucious wants copies of Lyon Dynasty's music. Finished and unfinished, all of it. And he was thinking you might be able to work your magic, and you know...

Andre Lyon:
He wants me to steal their tracks?

Thirsty Rawlings:
He thought you might be down.

Andre Lyon:
I'm not. I'd never do anything to hurt my mother. And in the future, you can tell him to tell me directly about our family affairs.

Thirsty Rawlings:
Of course, of course. Excuse me if I overstepped.

Andre Lyon:
You did.

Thirsty Rawlings:
I'm just trying to make the boss happy. And I'd appreciate if you forgot this conversation ever happened.

Andre Lyon:
I'd appreciate it if you left the glass on the table, leave my father's office, and don't come back until he returns.

Thirsty Rawlings:
Wow. So articulate. And here I thought we made nice, digging in the dirt.

Becky:
[to Jamal] Jesus do love you, I don't care what the Bible says.

Jamal Lyon:
If you don't get up out of my house right now, swear to god, you're about to go over that balcony.

Andre Lyon:
He taught me that it was my responsibility, as the oldest, to always look out for you guys. To protect you. Instead, I made sure you guys were at each others throats. I wanted Empire so bad that I... I was prepared to let you two kill each other so I'd be the only one left.

Jamal Lyon:
Come on, Dre, what you talking about?

Andre Lyon:
It wasn't Hakeem that had you robbed at Ghetto Ass Studio, Jamal. I set that up.

Hakeem Lyon:
Wait, when Jamal almost got shot?

Andre Lyon:
I didn't think it would get as far as it did, okay?

Hakeem Lyon:
But it did. He could have got killed!

Andre Lyon:
I did... I didn't think it would go as far it... It was wrong of me. I was sick. I'm sorry.

Jamal Lyon:
It's unreal.

Andre Lyon:
There's nothing I could do to change the past. I can... I can just say that I'm sorry? I'm getting baptized this Sunday. And I'd appreciate it if you both would come.

Hakeem Lyon:
I guess we all make mistakes, right? I'll come.

Lucious Lyon:
The only commandments I want followed here are mine. Check your faith at the door, son.

Andre Lyon:
Dad, I want to make a confession to you.

Lucious Lyon:
Why? What you do now?

Andre Lyon:
When Cookie first got out prison, I'm the one who told her to blackmail you and produce Jamal.

Lucious Lyon:
...I knew she had somebody smart in her corner.

Andre Lyon:
I want you to know that I'm fully committed to you and Empire. I regret ever jeopardizing this company for my own personal gain.

Lucious Lyon:
Okay, good. I forgive you. Can we get back to work now?

Andre Lyon:
I'm not finished, Pop. When I was off my medication, before I went into treatment, I felt hated and rejected by you. I wanted to hurt you so bad... that I went into your studio, put a gun to my head, and pulled the trigger. I wanted to die.

Andre Lyon:
Reverend, my family doesn't go to a church unless somebody's in a casket.

Reverend L.C. Pryce:
Your house ain't clean if your closets are dirty.

Cookie Lyon:
[regarding Lucious] That devil walk in here, this whole place might catch fire.

Hakeem Lyon:
I don't wanna win the game. I wanna change it.

Lucious Lyon:
Dre, if you can't find the money for this, I really don't know what purpose you serve.

Lucious Lyon:
Let's look at it from a mathematical perspective. Your girlfriend has a girlfriend. Add that up. Two girlfriends. It's a mathematician's dream. It's... trigonometry.

Carol Hardaway:
[to Cookie] Your kids ain't real, they rich.

Lucious Lyon:
I'm not dying. This ain't my good-bye concert. Ain't no farewell. Man, this is my comeback concert. 'Cause I'm about to come back like the phoenix from the ashes. I'm-a rise up from the dead, like Jesus. I'm your messiah.

Michelle White:
When God sends you a blessing like this, you open up your arms and embrace it!

Andre Lyon:
My father is the Devil, and you just spread your legs for him.

Hakeem Lyon:
Hey, yo, they call me Keem. What's poppin', fellas? Way I spit it I even make my daddy jealous. Y'all think he got the power, ooh, shame the Devil, that poor fool can't even keep his family together. They say that he the king, well I'm the prince. I'm-a run the empire, an' leave with your b*tch. I'm gone.

Lucious Lyon:
Is you is or is you ain't my Mimi?

Lucious Lyon:
Are you hitting that?

Jamal Lyon:
Yeah, well, I'm still gay, alright? So don't get weird.

Cookie Lyon:
Lyon Dynasty is our company. But Empire is our legacy. And anybody that tries to steal that from us is our enemy.

Lucious Lyon:
Hakeem, I can't make you love your mother, but you will respect her. Because she's lived through a hell that you have to understand if your music is every going to elevate to the place of poetry where it resonates in the hearts of its listeners.

Billy Beretti:
If you go through with it, I will dig up the dirt of your past, and bury your Empire and everyone in it.

Lucious Lyon:
You know something, you and I always made a real good team.

Cookie Lyon:
You damn right we did. I make you better. Don't you forget that.

Lucious Lyon:
I want you guys to eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow, we war.

Lucious Lyon:
I know y'all can't eat without me, 'cause all y'all got is pride. And it's chewy, and it's hard to swallow.

Cookie Lyon:
You got me twisted, O.G. I'm always gonna eat, just not with you.

Hakeem Lyon:
[to Lucious] I'm the Lyon, you the cub!

Cookie Lyon:
[to Lucious] I doubt if Jesus Christ himself could save you without burning his hands.

Cookie Lyon:
[to Valentina] B*tch, sing the song!

[a bunch of fans are crowded on Empire HQ's footsteps]

Jamal Lyon:
Can't stop a king from speaking to his subjects.

Lucious Lyon:
That's blasphemy. I'm a god.

Andre Lyon:
Why'd you ask us here, Jamal? So you can kill us all together, instead of having to do it one at a time?

Cookie Lyon:
You keep forgetting Lucious, you can't keep Cookie down.

Cookie Lyon:
...your damn father's out of prison.

Hakeem Lyon:
Dad is out of jail?

Cookie Lyon:
I guess you missed that while you was up in here, livin' la vida loca.

Anika Calhoun:
[to Cookie] I get it, I get it. You are *the* baddest b*tch ever. You are badder than all the animals whose prints populate your wardrobe, okay?

Lucious Lyon:
[to Cookie] You and me, we done been through a whole lot. But at the end of the day, we are family. And I want my family together, and if I can have that, I'll let go of everything else.

Cookie Lyon:
My name is Cookie Lyon. My ex-husband, Lucious, and I started this company in a little garage in one of the worst ghettos in West Philadelphia. Yeah. Some of y'all probably have a few ex-wives, so you know I'm not gonna be standing up here telling you all this mushy stuff about what a fine man my ex is. Lucious Lyon is a musical god, and he's also a crazy son of a b*tch that had a dream - still has a dream - and nobody better ever try to get in between Lucious and his dreams. We were hustlers, only choice we had, but do you know what the first rule of hustling is? [Supply and demand] You create your own customer base. Give them some of that good stuff. Make 'em want more. You see, Lucious did that with music. He created a sound. They call it the 'Lucious Lyon sound.' You all know it, or else you wouldn't be here. Lucious' music took the street mainstream, and made the mainstream feel street. Everything Lucious touches turns to platinum, and that's a fact. He started out doing it with the music. Next he did it with over a dozen profitable entertainment and merchandise divisions. And now he's gonna do it with your money, if you're lucky enough and smart enough to put it in his hands. Lucious and I had three sons before he dumped me. Our oldest son, Andre, is the CFO of this company. He's brilliant, and he's gonna make every last one of you filthy rich. Our other two sons, Jamal and Hakeem Lyon, they are living proof that Empire is more than just one man's dream. It's a dream come true that's ready to be passed down to the next generation, and the next and the next, and you all can be a part of it.

Elle Dallas:
I've been around Empire so long, I'm on CP time.

[some people look on, confused]

Porsha:
Colored people time.

Cookie Lyon:
[to Lucious] So let me get this straight - last Wednesday, you come to my house and give me a rose after you propose to this b*tch?

Lucious Lyon:
Hip-hop wasn't born on Wall Street, Miss Whiteman. Where we come from, if the cops raid your house, that makes you a G. If the Feds raid your house, that makes you an O.G.

Lucious Lyon:
This isn't when we hide. This is when we ROAR!

Cookie Lyon:
If I die in police custody, I did not commit suicide!

Hakeem Lyon:
Payback's a b*tch, Lucious!

Andre Lyon:
What is that?

Thirsty Rawlings:
Just your basic corpse detector.

Rhonda Lyon:
...and you just have that handy?

Thirsty Rawlings:
Only for the holidays.

Lucious Lyon:
What's up with this 'legendary' stuff? Y'all making me sound neolithic or something.

Cookie Lyon:
Would you stop acting like Diahann Carroll, heffa? You ain't been livin' in the suburbs with that white man all yo' life.

Hakeem Lyon:
[to Anika] You will never be one of us. You will never be a Lyon, ever!

Lucious Lyon:
I want to spend the rest of my life with Cookie... I'm gonna get it right this time.

Lucious Lyon:
You know how God made man in his image? I'm making Hakeem in my image. God didn't need no help, and neither do I.

Lucious Lyon:
If you kill me, everyone in this room would applaud. You see the little pretty blonde there? She hates me. My son wants me dead because I saved him from a con artist. But the worst thing that I did - I let the mother of my children rot in jail for 17 years. So trust me, Reg, if you shoot me, you would be everybody's personal hero.

Cookie Lyon:
[to Lucious] You just don't want to die alone.

Hakeem Lyon:
[regarding him and his older girlfriend Camilla] She say we're like the new Antony and Cleopatra.

Jamal Lyon:
Y'all know that's a tragedy where they end up dying at the end, right?

Harlow Carter:
Is there a bathroom around here?

Cookie Lyon:
Yeah, straight down the hall to the right. Then jump out the window and straight down.

Jamal Lyon:
[to his father] How does it feel that your little girl can do something you couldn't?

Lucious Lyon:
[regarding his enemy's teenage daughter] I'm gonna sign your baby girl - and then I'mma slip her my bone.

Cookie Lyon:
I thought I told you to have sleep with her.

Anika Calhoun:
I did!

Cookie Lyon:
You can't even dyke right.

Cookie Lyon:
Your father's a tampon.

Lucious Lyon:
You think that being a black b*tch in cheap shoes who took down hip-hop, that's your way to victory? Well, let me share something with you, Ms. Clarence Thomas. You ain't never gonna be nothin' but a black b*tch in cheap shoes to me.

Hakeem Lyon:
I deserve to be the king!

Cookie Lyon:
[to Jamal] You're turning into your daddy. I'm watching it happen.

Lucious Lyon:
For whatever reason, I still love you. I do, and I'm so sorry I didn't come visit you while you were here. This place is hell.

Cookie Lyon:
Three months. You've been in here three months. Talk to me after five years.

Lucious Lyon:
You always were ride or die.

Cookie Lyon:
Save that for Anika. Or one of these little boys you messing around with in here.

[Lucious laughs]

Lucious Lyon:
That's crazy how I can love your ass and hate you at the same moment.

Frank Gathers:
This is between me and Cookie. You and me are cool. Unless you tell me something different.

Lucious Lyon:
[looks around at all of Frank's protection]... Yeah, we good.

Frank Gathers:
Cold-blooded. That's why I always liked you.

Lucious Lyon:
Always liked you, too. But I love Cookie, and if you got war with her, then you got war with me.

Frank Gathers:
Kill him. Make it fast and quiet. Bye!

Lucious Lyon:
I'm sorry, I think you're confused. Now, please sit down. See, Frankie, you always wanted to run the streets. But me, I wanted to rule the world. Like Mike - now, he may never see his mama again 'cause he's serving life, but he ain't got to worry about her mortgage, 'cause I took care of that. And Bamm-Bamm, his baby girl is sick. And she gonna need some help in this cold-ass world that I rule. And, Guy, wh-what was it again, Guy?

Guy:
Just the music, man.

Lucious Lyon:
That's right, he's a musician. Just like Freda.

[gets up]

Lucious Lyon:
Kill him. Make it loud, and make it long.

Cookie Lyon:
It's over. It's all over. [... ] It was an old beef. With a very dangerous man.

Hakeem Lyon:
He took care of it from prison?

Cookie Lyon:
Yeah, well, your father's a son of a b*tch.

Lucious Lyon:
This is not a family, this is a disgrace.

Lucious Lyon:
I've been with a whole lot of women, Cookie, but I was always looking for you in them.

Lucious Lyon:
Don't do it for me. Don't do it for your mama. Don't do it for your brothers. You do it for the sake of the music. You got to remember, that's why God put us on this planet, Mal. Regardless of how we fight or we feel about each other or try to hurt each other, the music, man. Music, that's forever. They'll dance to it forever. They'll sing to it forever. They'll be inspired by it forever. Put the bad blood behind us. Tell your truth in the music.

Cookie Lyon:
If you want Cookie's nookie, then ditch the b*tch.

Andre Lyon:
You know why my family hates me? I know why. Because I'm not talented. Not the way you want, right? Because I studied in school and got good grades and went to college.

Cookie Lyon:
The Lucious Lyon I knew would tell those idiots the streets aren't made for everybody. That's why they made sidewalks.

Cookie Lyon:
Just sounds like you a grew a vagina, that's all.

Hakeem Lyon:
Barack Obama ain't nothing but a sellout.

Hakeem Lyon:
[to Cookie] What are you doing looking all walk of shame like and what not?

Hakeem Lyon:
[to Laz] Anything needs to be negotiated, I'm the one to negotiate. And you're in my negotiating chair.

Reverend L.C Pryce:
Sometimes warriors have to do things on the battlefield that would be repugnant in any other context.

Cookie Lyon:
You are wasting your time, but see you can't see that because you're blinded by the ass.

Hakeem Lyon:
I ain't even touch the girl!

Hakeem Lyon:
Dad, we got this. Chicken scored some C-4. We're gonna blow Creedmoor to the ground.

Cookie Lyon:
What?

Lucious Lyon:
The heart of Empire is its family. Now like any family we've had our differences, but when a family is in crisis, they put the differences aside and they come together.

Lucious Lyon:
Sometimes you gotta be willing to sacrifice your queen to win the game.

Hakeem Lyon:
What kind of a black girl named Becky?

Becky:
Oh, my mom's white.

Lucious Lyon:
Don't let me or anybody else ever try and control you again.

Lucious Lyon:
The empire is yours, Jamal.

Lucious Lyon:
You may think you've gotten away with it, but don't fool yourselves. This is only the beginning. See, the streets couldn't defeat me. Disease couldn't stop me. Even God can't kill me. The day will come when Lucious Lyon will return. Game time, b*tches.

Cookie Lyon:
[to Hakeem] Did your daddy drop you on your head?

Lucious Lyon:
You still go to church?

Andre Lyon:
Yes, sir, every Sunday.

Lucious Lyon:
Still believe in God?

Andre Lyon:
Yes, sir.

Lucious Lyon:
Then you better pray to God that he forgives you, cause I don't.

Hakeem Lyon:
Tell Father when I play Madison Square Garden, I'm gonna comp y'all some VIP tickets.

Andre Lyon:
[to Lucious] Here I stand: contrite, remorseful, humble And yet you look at me like I'm some kind of mutant? Why do you hate me?