Politics Quotes

It is not for you to say - you Englishmen, who have conquered your freedom so long ago, that you have conveniently forgotten what blood you shed, and what extremities you proceeded to in the conquering - it is not for you to say how far the worst of all exasperations may, or may not, carry the maddened men of an enslaved nation. The iron that has entered into our souls has gone too deep for you to find it. Leave the refugee alone! Laugh at him, distrust him, open your eyes in wonder at the secret self which smolders in him, sometimes under the every-day respectability and tranquility of a man like me - sometimes under the grinding poverty, the fierce squalor, of men less lucky, less pliable, less patient than I am - but judge us not. In the time of your first Charles you might have done us justice - the long luxury of your freedom has made you incapable of doing us justice now.

~ Wilkie Collins

For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America.

~ George W. Bush

When they ask me to become president of the United States I'm going to say, Except for Washington D.C.

~ Len Deighton

What these men represented was not 'The West' but what was for this century a relatively new kind of monied class in America, a group devoid of social responsibilities because their ties to any one place had been so attenuated.

~ Joan Didion

Those intellectuals are our natural enemies; the only kind who are worth anything are the musicians and the dancers: they don’t insult anybody with their performances, and they neither sing nor dance politics. So I like them; but don’t let me hear a word about the rest

~ Alfred De Vigny

America is the promised land, because each generation bequeathed to its children a promise, a promise that they might not come to enjoy but which they fully expected their offspring to fulfill. So the words 'all men are created equal' took a life of its own, ultimately destined to end slavery and enfranchise women. And the words 'equal protection' and 'due process' inevitably led to the end of the words 'separate but equal,' ensuring that the walls of segregation would crumble, whether at the lunch counter or at the voting booth.

~ Joe Biden

Not one little fellow need fear that he will be forbidden to pluck his shining grape from the cluster of political Power, that fruit reputed to be so full of wealth and glory. Can’t every gang become a club? and every club an assembly? an assembly, a convention? a convention, a senate? and isn’t a senate meant to rule? And what senate ever ruled without a man to rule it? And what did it all require? – Daring! – Aha! Well said! – What! is that all it takes? – Yes, all! The ones who have arrived say so. – Then courage, numskulls, give tongue and run for it! – That’s how it’s done

~ Alfred De Vigny

quoting from Neil Kinnock, running against Thatcher in 1987:Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Is it because all our predecessors were thick? Did they lack talent? Those people who could sing, and play, and recite, and write poetry, those people who could make wonderful things with their hands? Those people who could dream dreams, see visions? Why didn't they get it? Was it because they were weak? Those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football? Weak? Those women who could survive eleven childbearings? Were they weak? Anybody really think that they didn't get what we have because they didn't have the talent, or the strength, or the endurance, or the commitment? Of course not. It was because there was no platform on which they could stand.

~ Joe Biden

1983:To my generation has now come the challenge. In the days to come we will be tested on whether we have the moral courage, the realism, the idealism, the tenacity, and the ability to sacrifice some of the current comfort to invest in the future... I believe that this generation will rise to the challenge... The experts believe that, like the Democratic Party itself, the less than forty-year-old voters are prepared to sell their souls for some security, real or illusory. They have misjudged us. Just because our political heroes were murdered does not mean that the dream does not still live, buried deep in our broken hearts.

~ Joe Biden

The conservatives could sneer about social engineering if they wanted, but I thought that most people believed as I did that government should embody our best hopes and lend a hand to people who were struggling.

~ Joe Biden

Robert Bork, at opening of Judiciary hearings:How should a judge go about finding the law? The only legitimate way, in my opinion, is by attempting to discern what those who made the law intended...As I wrote in an opinion for our court, the judge's responsibility is to discern how the framers' values, defined in the context of the world they knew, apply in the world we know.If a judge abandons intentions as his guide, there is no law available to him, and he begins to legislate a social agenda for the American people. That goes well beyond his powers..

~ Joe Biden

In 1980 candidate Reagan asked whether we were better off than we had been 4 years earlier. In 1992 we will be asked whether we expect our children to live better than we do.

~ Frank Levy

...Subordination of the state to Christian values is precisely what the early Puritans, even those in the tradition of the Mayflower Pilgrims, aimed to do. The First Amendment notwithstanding, large numbers of the American public (especially churchgoing Protestant Christians) have embodied this Puritan way of thinking, viewing America as a Christan nation. Relatively recent poll data bear out the enduring character of these Puritan convictions. According to a Pew Forum poll held just prior to the 2004 election, over one-half of the public would have reservations voting for a candidate with no religious affiliation (31 percent refusing to vote for a Muslim and 15 percent for a Catholic).

~ Mark Ellingsen

Under Capitalism the most important thing is to squeeze out more and more money for a few people to spend. This means that most of the other people -- as well as the earth and the sea and all the creatures and plants and goggas -- have to pay the price.

~ Sally Andrew

During my tenure at the Endowment, I often found that those who did us the most damage did so under the justification of helping us by 'preventing worse language.' In the military it would be called friendly fire. One ends up just as dead.

~ John Frohnmayer

I am completely opposed to the British National Party, I couldn't possibly support people who find fluorescent yellow flyers appealing.

~ Robert Clark

We’ve gone from a planet ruled by natural geography to political geography to kinetically functional geography to a cyber geography that is ruled by ideological variation rather than politically constructed boarders.

~ James Scott

The way to stifle China’s growth is to inhibit the flow of their connectivity. In order to slow down Chinese expansion, we need to cripple their cyber-kinetic-political connectivity. Indirect polarization, in all forms, must be at the forefront of the agenda when conducting influence operations on all things China.

~ James Scott

The U.K. should begin with an FAnd have a C after the U,And it should end in E DNow that we’ve left the E.U.

~ Harry Whitewolf

The bargaining position of the victor always diminishes with time. Whatever is not exacted during the shock of defeat becomes increasingly difficult to attain later.

~ Henry Kissinger

Going by current developments, India is sure to catch up - not in 50, but in another 20 years - with America... of the 1860s!Although why anyone would want to ‘catch up with’ even present day America, is beyond comprehension.

~ Dr Deepak Hiwale

Truth can only be found in a person's record of actions, not their list of intentions.

~ Suzy Kassem

A true leader is a servant.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I am far more fearful of the USA government than I am of North Korea.

~ Steven Magee

But great tragedy is universal

~ Salman Rushdie

...they all were, in the grip of a huge fantasy: the idea that men would not be judged by who they once were and what they had once done, if they only decided to be different. They wanted to step away from the responsibilities of history and be free.

~ Salman Rushdie

The alphabet is where all our secrets begin.

~ Salman Rushdie

Political or military commentators, like astrologers, can survive almost any mistake, because their more devoted followers do not look to them for an appraisal of the facts but for the stimulation of nationalistic loyalties

~ George Orwell

The power of the intelligentsia is demonstrated not only by their ability to create a general climate of opinion that strikes fear into those who oppose their agenda but also by their ability to create a climate of opinion which richly rewards those political leaders whose decisions are consonant with the vision of the intelligentsia.

~ Thomas Sowell

In politics, it often pays to be ahead of the curve. That holds true for corporate governance too, even more so when politics enter the equation.

~ Mmanti Umoh

The greatest thieves are not caught. Not because it’s not known that they are thieves but because you cannot accuse them of robbery and live. These thieves are praised as national heroes and liberators or as successful entrepreneurs.

~ Bangambiki Habyarimana

It's time, more than ever, to shrug off apathy. For Socialism not to be a dirty word any more. This is a time for heroes.

~ Jake

The parents of politics are lack of control and seeking to control. The parents of leadership are influence and trust.

~ Richie Norton

Politics is not leadership. It never has been. It never will be.

~ Richie Norton

People who make big promises can also make big lies. Trust first, but exercise smart trust. You can be the most productive and most effective, but politics show up as ego and jealousy for bosses who can’t perform. If your job or task is codependent, you can be sabotaged. Always seek interdependence and people who are authentic at the core, not blue in the face.

~ Richie Norton

When we were kids and believed that the game was not fair, we stopped playing. Well, the game of governance is not fair, so we need to stop playing along.

~ Charbel Tadros

The good thing about democracy is that every vote counts. The problem with democracy is that every vote counts.

~ Charbel Tadros

In the end, everyone came to the conclusion that however ungainly, however inefficient, however elliptical ASEAN's ways are, it's still better than not having an ASEAN. That is the genius of ASEAN foreign policy.

~ George Yeo

Even the purest of souls get ravished and consumed by the most thirsty quintessential desire to possess power.

~ Sirio Berati

In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murderer in the chest - without asking to be paid.

~ Chinua Achebe