You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985Quotes
All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
—Al Smith, 1933Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
—Mao Zedong, 1938The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1787If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882Every country has the government it deserves.
—Joseph de Maistre, 1811I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.
—George Borrow, 1843Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.
—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1515Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
—Anacharsis, c. 550 BCYou have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
—Aristophanes, c. 424 BCPower tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887