Archive

Quotes

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

—Mario Cuomo, 1985

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

—Immanuel Kant, 1784

An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.

—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865

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

—Al Smith, 1933

The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

—G.K. Chesterton, 1908

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

—Paul Valéry, 1943

No 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

Envy is the basis of democracy.

—Bertrand Russell, 1930

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

—Lord Acton, 1887

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

—Aristophanes, c. 424 BC

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

—Dean Acheson, 1970

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

—Che Guevara, 1968

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

—H. Rap Brown, 1967