quotations about politics
It is always important in matters of high politics to know what you do not know. Those who think they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge.
MARGARET THATCHER
Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World
I tell you folks, all politics is applesauce.
WILL ROGERS
The Illiterate Digest, 1924
Politics is not just about policy and facts, it's also about style and appeal.
ET EDIT
"For Donald Trump, politics is about style and appeal", The Economic Times, May 9, 2016
I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country. And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics.
BILL CLINTON
speech, March 20, 2008
Fanaticism displays itself in the masses; but the masses were rarely fanaticised; and the crimes ascribed to it were commonly due to the calculations of dispassionate politicians.
LORD ACTON
The History of Freedom in Christianity
They have got a con game going on, a political con game, and you and I are in the middle. It's time for you and me to wake up and start looking at it like it is, and trying to understand it like it is; and then we can deal with it like it is.
MALCOLM X
speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio, "The Ballot or the Bullet", April 3, 1964
It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate, but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle.
TOM DELAY
CNN, June 9, 2006
The fact that political ideologies are tangible realities is not a proof of their vitally necessary character. The bubonic plague was an extraordinarily powerful social reality, but no one would have regarded it as vitally necessary.
WILHELM REICH
The Mass Psychology of Fascism
Politics is the food of sense exposed to the hunger of folly.
FULKE GREVILLE
Maxims, Characters and Reflections
The moderate people of every party must combine to support the Government which, on the whole, suits every party best.
WALTER BAGEHOT
The English Constitution
Politics is just show business for ugly people.
JAY LENO
attributed, Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations
Some folks do not understand that the root of politics is compromise and that happens best in an atmosphere of mutual respect. They believe politics is a dirty business. They throw mud, do not act ethically, out and out lie, bully and threaten others with whom they do not agree. I would argue that this is not politics but ignorance.
BILL GINDLESPERGER
"Politics is about how many friends, not enemies, you can make", Public Opinion, May 6, 2016
When all three branches of government treat politics like a game or a reality show, they shouldn't be surprised when voters do as well.
ADAM BUTTON
"Suddenly politics is for serious people with serious ideas", Forex Live, May 6, 2016
When you take a stand out of deep conviction, people know. They may not even agree, but they ask, "Do I want someone who is willing to take a hard stand and someone I can trust to do that when the chips are down?" They want that.
BARBARA BOXER
Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
New Hopes for a Changing World
There's just one rule for politicians all over the world: Don't say in Power what you say in Opposition; if you do, you only have to carry out what the other fellows have found impossible.
JOHN GALSWORTHY
Maid in Waiting
They said that I should lose my ideals and begin to believe in the methods of practical politicians. Now, I have not lost my ideals in the least; my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my childlike faith in practical politics.
G. K. CHESTERTON
Orthodoxy
Everybody knows politics is a contact sport.
BARACK OBAMA
The New Yorker, May 31, 2004
I mean, what happens is, wherever you go anywhere in the world, and leaders start talking to each other you get into a competition as to who's politics is crazy. I always say to people I think we're ahead, but you know it's a lot of people are competing to catch up with us.
TONY BLAIR
interview, CNBC, November 5, 2019
I think it's a terrible system, but money in politics is like water running downhill -- it finds its way.
JONATHAN ALTER
book signing at Politics & Prose Bookstore, July 2, 2013