O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.
—Horace, c. 8 BCQuotes
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, 2001I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.
—John Maynard Keynes, 1917You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882Every country has the government it deserves.
—Joseph de Maistre, 1811People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.
—Robert Byrd, 2005My 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. 1770Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.
—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832It 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, 1625I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.
—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792Politics is the art of the possible.
—Otto von Bismarck, 1867Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862