Archive

Quotes

It 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. 1515

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

—Dean Acheson, 1970

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1774

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

—Henrik Ibsen, 1882

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

—David Foster Wallace, 2000

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

—Shimon Peres, 1995

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

—John Nance Garner, c. 1967

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

—Vegetius, c. 385

Written 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 BC

People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

—Robert Byrd, 2005

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.

—Michel de Montaigne, 1580