I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990Quotes
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, 1774Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.
—Robert Byrd, 2005Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.
—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 BCOut of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
—Al Smith, 1933Envy is the basis of democracy.
—Bertrand Russell, 1930An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.
—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985A 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