The Best Phillip Stroh Quotes

Phillip: You always lie. Who can trust you?

Phillip: Give me what I want, in writing. In return, you'll receive a chance to arrest a murderer, an opportunity that... won't come around again for a while.
Sharon: "Won't come around again for a while?" What's that supposed to mean? How did you know what would happen to our victim?
Phillip: The question is, how could you not? Oh. Perhaps I've said too much. That should give you something to think about, anyway.

Phillip: [drops the pen] Oh, I'm sorry.
Judge: Every damn time.
Phillip: It won't happen again.

Phillip: Rusty Beck. Please take a seat.
Rusty: I'm fine here, thanks. What do you wanna know?
Phillip: Just the basics. For example, if we end up in court... do you intend to repeat your pretrial testimony against me?
Rusty: Yeah. Every word.
Phillip: Even knowing your statement could help the state execute me?
Rusty: No one gets executed in California anymore. Actually, in the last ten years, you've killed more people than the state has. And you tried to kill me.
Phillip: Well, it was never personal, Rusty. I mean, who wants to leave witnesses behind? You're living proof of how dangerous that can be, right?
[Rusty steps back as Stroh moves his body forward]
Phillip: Relax, okay? I am incapable of reaching you from here. So, moving on, I understand Emma Rios has asked you for an Impact Statement.
Rusty: Yeah, what about it?
Phillip: I was just wondering if in addition to the dustups we've had, you might wanna include some of the positive effects I've had on your life.
Rusty: Positive effects?
Phillip: By becoming a material witness for the state, you were taken off the streets and out of a life of prostitution, an incredibly unsafe profession. You gained a mother. You got a high school degree. You think anybody around here would have given a shit about you if it hadn't been for me?
Rusty: Okay, and what about the interest Wade Weller took in me?
Phillip: Who?
Rusty: Oh, don't act like you don't know his name. Wade Weller. The freak who you had write me threatening letters and who you ordered to kill me, okay? That Wade Weller. You think I should change my Impact Statement because you changed my life? Well, get this from me, okay? If anyone in this room changed someone else's life, I changed yours, okay? I changed yours.
Phillip: Oh, and I never forget it, Rusty, but to be completely fair, to be completely honest, we changed each other's lives, as we were fated to do. And we will have the power to change each other again.
Rusty: Change each other how?
Phillip: I don't know. I can't see that far ahead, but our lives have been intertwined, yours and mine. A pattern has begun to emerge, wouldn't you say? And that pattern is destiny. And when you finally see destiny, Rusty, in all her glory, destiny is like an arrow... pointing toward the end.
Rusty: What end? The end of what?
Phillip: Heaven knows. I'm satisfied with the witness.
Rusty: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What end? What are you talking about? What end?
Phillip: I'm satisfied with the witness. Now, get me the written parts of my deal to Judge Schaeffer and I'll give you the name of the killer.
[Rusty exits directly]

Phillip: Which letter is stuck today?
Judge: The S and the D, both.
Phillip: I'll need the compressed air, please.
[Judge Schaeffer gives a compressed air duster to Stroh]
Judge: I know DDA Rios is pretty, but you don't have to creep her out.
Phillip: [cleaning behind Mac's keyboard with compressed air] Why should I be any nicer to her than she is to me? Here you go.
Judge: [tries the keys] Oh, great, thanks.

Phillip: [drops the pen] Sorry.
Judge: Every time. I think you drop that pen just to make me pick it up for you.
Phillip: It's the most fun I have all day.

Phillip: Look on the bright side, Chief. At least it's over.
Brenda: It's not over.
Phillip: It is.

Phillip: Most criminals, they do their time, and when they get out of prison they go on about their lives anonymously. Sex offenders are registered until the day they die. They're branded, like animals. Now, if the state is going to punish them more harshly than other criminals, then it also assumes a special burden to prove their continuing threat to society. It's MY job to make sure the state demonstrates that threat.

[last lines]
Driver: Dr. Tom?
Phillip: Yes, that's me.
Driver: And you want to go to the Salton Sea?
Phillip: As a first step, yes, but if you can wait, take me to my next stop, that would be lovely. Good?
Driver: So where else will you be going?
Phillip: Oh, not far. Maybe just Palm Springs. Desert is perfect for me this time of year.
Driver: Well, I will get you there, Doctor. I will get you there.
Phillip: That's what I love about Uber. You guys are always so reliable.