I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990Quotes
An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.
—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCThere is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943It 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. 1515The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.
—Judge Learned Hand, 1944I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.
—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1944What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1830Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.
—Hannah Arendt, 1958