On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580Quotes
The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziThe most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCIn politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1830Envy is the basis of democracy.
—Bertrand Russell, 1930Politics is the art of the possible.
—Otto von Bismarck, 1867The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1787The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.
—John Nance Garner, c. 1967The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
—H.L. Mencken, 1921You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BC