Politics 101

(Posted May 3, 2011)


In light of our recent election, I've complied some insightful quotes on the subject. Enjoy!


Politics, n: [Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites"] ~Larry Hardiman

Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is. -Mahatma Gandhi

It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellowmen. ~George E. MacDonald

Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour

Politics is the art of postponing decisions until they are no longer relevant. -Henri Queille

Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason. ~Author Unknown

Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against. ~W.C. Fields

We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. ~Albert Einstein

I think it's about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we've been voting for boobs long enough. ~Clarie Sargent, Arizona senatorial candidate

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. ~Charles de Gaulle

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where they is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. ~Clarence Darrow

George Washington is the only president who didn't blame the previous administration for his troubles. ~Author Unknown

Truth is not determined by majority vote. ~Doug Gwyn

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy. ~Ernest Benn

We have, I fear, confused power with greatness. ~Stewart Udall

Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John Quinton

A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time. ~Alfred E. Wiggam

Don't vote, it only encourages them. ~Author Unknown

The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning. ~Adlai E. Stevenson

I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. ~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952

The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces. ~Maureen Murphy

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. ~Oscar Ameringer

Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right? ~Robert Orben

Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. ~Author Unknown

Conservatism is the policy of make no change and consult your grandmother when in doubt. ~Woodrow Wilson

I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. ~Charles de Gaulle

He didn't say that. He was reading what was given to him in a speech. ~Richard Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, explaining why President Bush wasn't following up on his campaign pledge that there would be no loss of wetlands

Mankind will never see an end of trouble until... lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power... become lovers of wisdom. ~Plato,The Republic

The problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VII

If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. ~Jay Leno

Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party. ~Winston Churchill

A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country. ~Texas Guinan

If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. ~Emma Goldman

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America? ~Author Unknown

There ought to be one day - just one - when there is open season on senators. ~Will Rogers

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ~Aesop

Politics - I don't know why, but they seem to have a tendency to separate us, to keep us from one another, while nature is always and ever making efforts to bring us together. ~Sean O'Casey

The imbecility of men is always inviting the impudence of power. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

He's not a Republican, he's a Republican't. ~Author Unknown

A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits. ~Woodrow Wilson

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives. ~John Stuard Mill

The qualities that get a man into power are not those that lead him, once established, to use power wisely. ~Lyman Bryson

Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed. ~Mao Zedong