Politics Quotes

To view the opposition as dangerous is to misunderstand the basic concepts of democracy. To oppress the opposition is to assault the very foundation of democracy.

Let us not rest until we are free to live in dignity in the land of our birth.

Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

Well, I think the great tragedy in American politics is what is legal, not what is illegal.

I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.

If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.

Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative.

Eating is an agricultural act.

Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid.

To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.

In politics women type the letters, lick the stamps, distribute the pamphlets and get out the vote. Men get elected.

Historical determinism is a recipe for political quietism.

Three people marooned on a desert island would soon reinvent politics.

Nations and governments come and go, but people remain, and therefore people are the ultimate foundation of what is real and worthy.

In less than a year, the Bush administration will strut out of office, leaving the country in roughly the same condition a toddler leaves a diaper.

You can do a lot with diplomacy, but with diplomacy backed up by force you can get a lot more done.

It is a great danger for everyone when what is shocking changes.

I am the illegal alien of commentary. I will do the jokes that no one else will do.

Successful revolutions are those which end up by erasing all traces of themselves.

A disordered currency is one of the greatest political evils.

What people want, mainly, is to be told by some plausible authority that what they are already doing is right. I don't know know of a quicker way to become unpopular than to disagree.

It was civil disobedience that won them their civil rights.

If you think Hollywood is depressing and corrupt, politics is really depressing and corrupt -- and fueled even more than Hollywood by money -- if that's possible.

To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.

AMNESTY, n. The state's magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish.

Men in high levels of government seldom surf.

The best form of government is one that is dying, because that means it’s giving way to something else.

The French have a new president, the British will soon have a new P.M., and we envy them as we endure the endless wait for this small dim man to go back to Texas and resume his life.

Anti-Americanism may indeed have grown fiercer than it was during the cold war. It is a common phenomenon that when the angels fail to deliver, the demons become more fearsome.

But in practical affairs, particularly in politics, men are needed who combine human experience and interest in human relations with a knowledge of science and technology.

When L.A.’s schizophrenia between Dreamland and Utopia was becoming socially manifest, the United States, which was always a place, went to war with America, which was always an idea.

Diplomacy and virtue do not make easy companions.

The number one responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will follow.

Condemnation feels good and it is now a staple of religion, politics, and the media (both left and right), but it changes nothing. Compassion, on the other hand, changes everything. (p. 121)

I see myself as an old man and an unqualified teacher to the nation. I think being a teacher is probably the most important thing you can be in politics.

Music and politics are in essence about communication. Without over-stretching the analogy I do feel a sense of rhythm is important in getting your message across.

I commissioned two political experts to advise me about what I could do to oppose the re-election of President Bush.

The world is already yours - why try to conquer it?

The only way to Cuba is with the CIA.

Politics is not an exact science.

Remember that politics, colonialism, imperialism and war also originate in the human brain.

Ideology, politics and journalism, which luxuriate in failure, are impotent in the face of hope and joy.

I think there needs to be a meeting to set an agenda for more meetings about meetings.

A war for a great principle ennobles a nation.

Why should insurance companies continue to get away with limiting the skills that a health profession has always previously required of its members if they were to be considered fully trained?

American political culture quickly and always outpaces any attempt to satirize it.

Social security isn’t a ponzi scheme. It’s not bankrupting us. It’s not an outrage. It is working.

Proximity to power has an unsurprising ability to mutate a politician's spinal cord into bright yellow jelly.

Architecture is politics.