To rely upon conviction, devotion, and other excellent spiritual qualities—that is not to be taken seriously in politics.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
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
Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
—Henry Kissinger (b.1923) American Diplomat, Academician
Politics is not an exact science.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.
—Anonymous
The chief element in the art of statesmanship under modern conditions is the ability to elucidate the confused and clamorous interests which converge upon the seat of government. It is an ability to penetrate from the naive self-interest of each group to its permanent and real interest. Statesmanship consists in giving the people not what they want but what they will learn to want.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
In politics, an absurdity in public business is going into it.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
It is silly to call fat people “gravitationally challenged”—a self-righteous fetishism of language which is no more than a symptom of political frustration.
—Terry Eagleton
Nothing is irreparable in politics.
—Jean Anouilh (1910–87) French Dramatist
Accuse American businessmen of being responsible for radicalism and they would indignantly deny the accusation. Yet, in one fundamental sense, they are responsible. They are responsible in the sense that they have utterly neglected to take part in the work and the organization which precede the choosing of candidates for political office. Local political organizations all over the land are conducted and controlled, as a rule, by politicians…. Businessmen have shirked such responsibilities, leaving an untrammeled field to others less capable of carrying on the administration of government.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
Politics is a jungle-torn between doing the right thing and staying in office.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Cicero was in politics a moderate of the most violent description.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
The violation of party faith, is, of itself, too common to excite surprise or indignation.—Political friendships are so well understood that we can hardly pity the simplicity they deceive.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
It is a very easy thing to devise good laws; the difficulty is to make them effective. The great mistake is that of looking upon men as virtuous, or thinking that they can be made so by laws; and consequently the greatest art of a politician is to render vices serviceable to the cause of virtue.
—Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) English Politician, Philosopher
In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
In America you can go on the air and kid the politicians, and the politicians can go on the air and kid the people.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
Presidents cannot always kick evil-minded persons out of the front door. Such persons are often selected by the electors to represent them.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
The art of governing mankind by deceiving them.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Only people who look dull ever get into the House of Commons, and only people who are dull ever succeed there.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
If experience teaches us anything at all, it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Conservatism stands on man’s confessed limitations; reform on his indisputable infinitude; conservatism on circumstance; liberalism on power; one goes to make an adroit member of the social frame; the other to postpone all things to the man himself.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Anyone who says they are not interested in politics is like a drowning man who insists he is not interested in water.
—Unknown
When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer “present” or “not guilty.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
When great questions end, little parties begin.
—Walter Bagehot (1826–77) English Economist, Journalist
He speaks to Me as if I was a public meeting.
—Queen Victoria (1819–1901) British Royal
It is fortunate that diplomats have long noses since they usually cannot see beyond them.
—Paul Claudel (1868–1955) French Poet, Essayist, Dramatist
There is little place in the political scheme of things for an independent, creative personality, for a fighter. Anyone who takes that role must pay a price.
—Shirley Chisholm (1924–2005) American Politician
Real political issues cannot be manufactured by the leaders of parties, and cannot be evaded by them.—They declare themselves, and come out of the depths of that deep which we call public opinion.
—James A. Garfield (1831–81) American Head of State, Lawyer, Educator
If a large city can, after intense intellectual efforts, choose for its mayor a man who merely will not steal from it, we consider it a triumph of the suffrage.
—Frank Moore Colby (1865–1925) American Encyclopedia Editor, Essayist
The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
We mustn’t be stiff and stand-off, you know. We must be thoroughly democratic, and patronize everybody without distinction of class.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
What we need in appointive positions are men of knowledge and experience with sufficient character to resist temptations.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
The most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often and in the loudest voice.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
There is an increasingly pervasive sense not only of failure, but of futility. The legislative process has become a cruel shell game and the service system has become a bureaucratic maze, inefficient, incomprehensible, and inaccessible.
—Elliot Richardson (1920–99) American Lawyer, Politician
Policies that emanate from ivory towers often have an adverse impact on the people out in the field who are fighting the wars or bringing in the revenues.
—Colin Powell (1937–2021) American Military Leader
In politics, nothing is contemptible.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.
—Indian Proverb
Until you’ve been in politics you’ve never really been alive; it’s rough and sometimes it’s dirty and it’s always hard work and tedious details. But, it’s the only sport for grown-ups all other games are for kids.
—Unknown
Politics is an excellent career, unless you get caught.
—Robert Half
If ever this free people—if this government itself is ever utterly demoralized, it will come from this incessant human wriggle and struggle for office, which is but a way to live without work.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Never answer a question from a farmer.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
It is an ancient political vehicle, held together by soft soap and hunger and with front-seat drivers and back-seat drivers contradicting each other in a bedlam of voices, shouting
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Political controls in the sense that we think of bureaus or departments of government can never operate to produce collaboration between groups in the inner wheels of our industrial organization. It must come from inner compulsions and desires.
—William O. Douglas (1898–1980) American Judge
The politicians were talking themselves red, white and blue in the face.
—Clare Boothe Luce (1903–87) American Playwright, Diplomat, Journalist, Diplomat, Elected Rep
There is scarcely anything more harmless than political or party malice. It is best to leave it to itself. Opposition and contradiction are the only means of giving it life or duration.
—John Witherspoon (1723–94) Scottish-American Presbyterian Theologian