Quotes about politics
529 quotes from 258 people
I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected.
William Tecumseh Sherman1820–1891Telegram sent to General Henderson in 1884, refusing to run in the United States presidential election of that year. As quoted in Sherman’s Memoirs, 4th ed. 1891Revolution only needs good dreamers who remember their dreams.
Tennessee Williams1911–1983Camino Real (1953)There are a lot of bad Republicans; there are no good Democrats.
Ann Coulterborn 1961Interview with Brian Lamb at Booknotes (August 11, 2002).I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.
Mike Penceborn 1959Vice-presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention (20 July 2016)The moral principle of revolutions is to instruct, not to destroy.
Thomas Paine1737–1809First Principles of Government (1795)Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.
William Ewart Gladstone1809–1898Speech in West Calder, Scotland (27 November 1879), quoted in W. E. Gladstone, Midlothian Speeches 1879 (Leicester University Press, 1971), p. 115.Equality may be a right, but no power on earth can convert it into fact.
Honoré de Balzac1799–1850La Duchesse de Langeais (1834), translated by Ellen Marriage, part II“Free competition enforced by law” is a grotesque contradiction in terms.
Ayn Rand1905–1982“Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason,” The Objectivist Newsletter (February 1962) p. 1I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: Go ahead, make my day.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Speech threatening to veto legislation raising taxes (13 March 1985)Education is our only political safety. Outside of this ark all is deluge.
Horace Mann1796–1859Thoughts Selected from the Writings of Horace Mann (1867), p. 220One day our grandchildren will go to museums to see what poverty was like.
Muhammad Yunusborn 1940“Interview with Prof. Muhammad Yunus” Australian Broadcasting Corporation (25 March 1997)The melancholy thing in our public life is the insane desire to get higher.
Rutherford B. Hayes1822–1893Letter “to a leading editor” (10 April 1875), as quoted in The Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes (1876) edited by James Quay Howard, ch. X, p. 144There is such a thing as society. It’s just not the same thing as the state.
David Cameronborn 1966Speech after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest (6 December 2005).
Benjamin Harrison1833–1901Speech in Rutland, Vermont (28 August 1891) as reported in The New York Times (29 August 1891), p. 5To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it.
Jean Chrétienborn 1934My Years as Prime Minister (2007), “Entre Nous”, p. 2