I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.
—John Maynard Keynes, 1917Quotes
Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.
—John Wilkes Booth, 1865Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.
—Arthur Miller, 2001Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.
—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1830I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
—Al Smith, 1933There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
—Aristophanes, c. 424 BCThe first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.
—Hannah Arendt, 1958Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BC