Archive

Quotes

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

—Al Smith, 1933

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

—Paul Valéry, 1943

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

—Aristophanes, c. 424 BC

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

—Lord Acton, 1887

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

—Alexander Hamilton, 1787

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1830

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

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

Whether 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, 2001

My 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

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

—Thomas Jefferson, 1787

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

—Henrik Ibsen, 1882

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

—John Nance Garner, c. 1967

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967