O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.
—Horace, c. 8 BCQuotes
You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990Whether 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, 2001Politics is the art of the possible.
—Otto von Bismarck, 1867Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCIt 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, 1625A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.
—Frederick the Great, c. 1770