Whether elected or appointed he considers himself the Lord’s anointed, and indeed the ointment lingers on him so thick you can’t get your fingers on him.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
What do you want to be a sailor for? There are greater storms in politics than you will ever find at sea. Piracy, broadsides, blood on the decks. You will find them all in politics.
—David Lloyd George (1863–1945) British Liberal Statesman
This Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.
—Harold Wilson British Political Leader
At home you always have to be a politician. When you’re abroad you almost feel yourself a statesman.
—Harold Macmillan (1894–1986) British Head of State
I played by the rules of politics as I found them.
—Richard Nixon (1913–94) American Head of State, Lawyer
In the domain of Political Economy, free scientific inquiry meets not merely the same enemies as in all other domains. The peculiar nature of the material it deals with, summons as foes into the field of battle the most violent, mean and malignant passions of the human breast, the Furies of private interest.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Political success is the ability, when the inevitable occurs, to get credit for it.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
Every clique is a refuge for incompetence. It fosters corruption and disloyalty, it begets cowardice, and consequently is a burden upon and a drawback to the progress of the country. Its instincts and actions are those of the pack.
—Soong Mei-ling (1898–2003) First Lady of the Republic of China
I find myself… hoping a total end of all the unhappy divisions of mankind by party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill… we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
I do not deny that there may be other well-founded causes for the hatred which various classes feel toward politicians, but the main one seems to me that politicians are symbols of the fact that every class must take every other class into account.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
In politics, an absurdity in public business is going into it.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
If I was forced to choose between the penitentiary and White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you.
—William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–91) American Military Leader, Businessperson, Educator
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
—Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) French General, Statesman
Any 20 year-old who isn’t a liberal doesn’t have a heart, and any 40 year-old who isn’t a conservative doesn’t have a brain.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Cant is always rather nauseating; but before we condemn political hypocrisy, let us remember that it is the tribute paid by men of leather to men of God, and that the acting of the part of someone better than oneself may actually commit one to a course of behavior perceptibly less evil than what would be normal and natural in an avowed cynic.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we’d been saying they were.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The two maxims of any great man at court are, always to keep his countenance, and never to keep his word.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Politics is not an exact science.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
If it’s going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately.
—Henry Kissinger (b.1923) American Diplomat, Academician
Elected leaders who forget how they got there won’t the next time.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
We all know that Prime Ministers are wedded to the truth, but like other wedded couples they sometimes live apart.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound.
—Harold Macmillan (1894–1986) British Head of State
Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable…the art of the next best.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
If a politician isn’t doing it to his wife , then he’s doing it to his country.
—Amy Grant (b.1960) American Singer-Songwriter
When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
A man who is a politician at forty is a statesman at three score and ten. It is at this age, when he would be too old to be a clerk or a gardener or a police-court magistrate, that he is ripe to govern a country.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
It is hard to say why politicians are called servants, unless it is because a good one is hard to find.
—Gerald F. Lieberman
Half a truth is better than no politics.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
An empty stomach is not a good political advisor.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
I’m proud that I’m a politician. A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician whose been dead 10 or 15 years.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards. If you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
The Empress is legitimate, my cousin is Republican, Morny is Orleanist, I am a socialist; the only Bonapartist is Persigny, and he is mad.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
The political arena leaves one no alternative, one must either be a dunce or a rogue.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
A candidate could easily commit political suicide if he were to come up with an unconventional thought during a presidential tour.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
He speaks to Me as if I was a public meeting.
—Queen Victoria (1819–1901) British Royal
Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
Finality is not the language of politics.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
A politician is a statesman who approaches every question with an open mouth.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Son, in politics you’ve got to learn that overnight chicken shit can turn to chicken salad.
—Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73) American Head of State, Political leader
Politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows, marriage does.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.
—Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British Head of State
One can say that three pre-eminent qualities are decisive for the politician: passion, a feeling of responsibility, and a sense of proportion.
—Max Weber (1864–1920) German Sociologist
Politics is the reflex of the business and industrial world.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
He serves his party best who serves his country best.
—Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–93) President of the United States