Caesar had the right idea about political control. Give the people bread and circuses [diversion] , and they will go along with it. Almost two thousand years later, the idea still seems to hold true.
It is inaccurate to say I hate everything related to politics. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
If politics is the art of the possible, compromise is the artistry of democracy.
I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made. (Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. politician who was elected four times as the 32nd US President, 1882-1945Judgment: I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.
Small islands not capable of protecting themselves are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.
Once a country is habituated to liars, it takes generations to bring the truth back.
Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.
If you pluck a chicken one feather at a time nobody notices.
If you have no will to change it, you have no right to criticize it.
It is better to arm and strengthen your hero, than to disarm and enfeeble your foe.
History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
If politics is the art of the possible, compromise is the artistry of democracy.
All the peasant revolutions of the 20th century have been against the predatory and disruptive effects of capitalism.
It is inaccurate to say I hate everything related to politics. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Money is the mother’s milk of politics.
If more politicians in this country were thinking about the next generation instead of the next election, it might be better for the United States and the world.
Those who have the ability to make you believe absurdities have the ability to make you commit atrocities.
I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.
If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake.
He serves his party best who serves the country best.
Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind.
Those who put out the people’s eyes, reproach them for their blindness.
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
Vote for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing.
Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call promising.
Some people approach every problem with an open mouth.
He serves his party best who serves the country best.
