Famously Said Random quote

Quotes about politics

529 quotes from 258 people

Most readBy personPage 18 of 36

I think that the principle of the Conservative Party is jealousy of liberty and of the people, only qualified by fear; but I think the principle of the Liberal Party is trust in the people, only qualified by prudence.
William Ewart Gladstone1809–1898Speech at the opening of the Palmerston Club, Oxford (December 1878) as quoted in “Gladstone’s Conundrums; The Statesman Answers Sundry Interesting Questions” in The New York Times (9 February 1879)
When I say “capitalism,” I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism⁠—with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.
Ayn Rand1905–1982The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
- Economics
- Government
I am a man who belongs to no-one and who belongs to everyone.
Charles de Gaulle1890–1970Press conference, 19 May 1958. Quoted in “Carnets secrets de la politique” (1958) by Jean Raymond Tournoux.
The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.
Mark Twain1835–1910Mark Twain’s Notebook (1935)
- Ideas
Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)
- Wisdom
Conservative, n. A statesman enamored of existing evils, as opposed to a Liberal, who wants to replace them with others.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
- Clever Jabs
I have never known a novel that was good enough to be good in spite of its being adapted to the author’s political views.
Edith Wharton1862–1937Letter to Upton Sinclair (19 August 1927)
- Writing
Burke is so great because, almost alone in England, he brings thought to bear upon politics, he saturates politics with thought.
Matthew Arnold1822–1888The Functions of Criticism at the Present Time (1864)
- Thinking
When I was on my way to the podium a gentleman stopped me and said I was as good a politician as I was an actor. What a cheap shot.
Arnold Schwarzeneggerborn 1947Speech at the Republican National Convention (31 August 2004)
- Comedy
The secular state is the guarantee of religious pluralism. This apparent paradox, again, is the simplest and most elegant of political truths.
Christopher Hitchens1949–2011“Ireland” (1998).
- Religion
The unrestricted competition so commonly advocated does not leave us the survival of the fittest. The unscrupulous succeed best in accumulating wealth.
Rutherford B. Hayes1822–1893Diary (12 December 1890)
- Economics
- Money
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
Franklin D. Roosevelt1882–1945Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Second Inaugural Address (1937)
- Economics
- Money
The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.
Kurt Vonnegut1922–2007Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (1974)
- America
A man must be excessively stupid, as well as uncharitable, who believes that there is no virtue but on his own side, and that there are not men as honest as himself who may differ from him in political principles.
Joseph Addison1672–1719The Spectator (1711–1714), No. 243 (8 December 1711)
We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all.
Pericles494–429 BCAs quoted in David Held, Models of Democracy (2006), p. 14