The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970Quotes
Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
—Shimon Peres, 1995On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.
—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 BCTreaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.
—Charles de Gaulle, 1963You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
—Aristophanes, c. 424 BCNo free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
—Magna Carta, 1215He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.
—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.
—Anthony Burgess, 1972Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.
—John Wilkes Booth, 1865All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
—Al Smith, 1933Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887The 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, 1921