The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970Quotes
You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
—Aristophanes, c. 424 BCThe more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus, c. 117I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.
—H. Rap Brown, 1967On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.
—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCO citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.
—Horace, c. 8 BCA riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
—Al Smith, 1933An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.
—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865