Political Quotes

Politics is the art of postponing decisions until they are no longer relevant.

Victory has 1,000 fathers; defeat has 1,000 kibitzers.

A man who examines each subject from a philosophical standpoint cannot neglect them: he has to omit nothing, and state the truth about each topic.

The greatest power is not money power, but political power.

The foolish wish to speak out what was spoken in secret by the master.

No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

The French have a new president, the British will soon have a new P.M., and we envy them as we endure the endless wait for this small dim man to go back to Texas and resume his life.

A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life.

No wonder politicians love government schools. Where do you think the dumb masses come from that can be so easily led and manipulated?

Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

Neither current events nor history show that the majority rule, or ever did rule.

The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.

I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.

Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit; and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in.

The economic and political roots of the conflicts are too strong. Nor can it pretend to create a lasting state of harmonious understanding between men.

Cheap medical care is one of the most expensive things there is. So long as politicians can create the illusion of something for nothing, that gets them votes, which is what it is all about, as far as they are concerned.

If your regime is not strong enough to handle a joke, then you don't have a regime.

Pro and con are opposites, that fact is clearly seen. If progress means to move forward, then what does congress mean?

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.

The challenge is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.

The cultivation - even celebration - of victimhood by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media is both cause and effect of today's culture of complaint.

Sarah Palin has decided not to run for President and go straight to the quitting part.

Most of the founders of this country had day jobs for years. They were not career politicians. ... We need leaders with experience in the real world, not experience in the phony world of politics.

He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.

I remember going through the cafeteria line and telling every kid that Nixon was in favor of school on Saturdays. It was my first political trick.

This Humanist whom no beliefs constrained Grew so broad-minded he was scatter-brained.

Confronted with economic problems, politicians always blame the private sector first ... [even] blaming the problem on the solution.

People constantly speak of 'the government' doing this or that, as they might speak of God doing it. But the government is really nothing but a group of men, and usually they are very inferior men. They may have some better man working for them, but they themselves are seldom worthy of any respect.

Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.

In politics, the truth is strictly optional and that also seems to be true in parts of the media.

Good behavior wins even an enemy.

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.

For the average person walking down a dark street late at night, a promise from a politician is worth far less than a .38 Special.

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

The only true allegiance a politician has is to his own re-election.

It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution.

My hair is an aesthetic choice… At the same time, how you wear your hair is a political statement as well.

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

Create the impression of endless willingness to compromise and you almost invite deadlines. That's the challenge we now have in North Korea and have had in North Korea for 10 years. In this sense, diplomacy and foreign policy and other elements of political activity have to be closely linked and have to be understood by the negotiators

And among the other honours and rewards our young men can win for distinguished service in war and in other activities, will be more frequent opportunities to sleep with a woman; this will give us a pretext for ensuring that most of our children are born of that parent.

We live in a world where our social system is old, our language is old, the way we acquire goods and services is outdated, our cities are detrimental to our health, chaotic and a tremendous waste of resource, and most of all our politics and values no longer serve us.

Most elected officials cling to their ideological biases, despite the real-world facts that disprove their theories time and again. Most have no common sense, and most never acknowledge that they were wrong.

If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.

It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.

It is clear that those constitutions which aim at the common good are right, as being in accord with absolute justice; while those which aim only at the good of the rulers are wrong.

Intellectual freedom is essential -- freedom to obtain and distribute information, freedom for open-minded and unfearing debate and freedom from pressure by officialdom and prejudices. Such freedom of thought is the only guarantee against an infection of people by mass myths, which, in the hands of treacherous hypocrites and demagogues, can be transformed into bloody dictatorship.

I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.