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Politics quotes

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“Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

“Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception.” George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism

“Our political vagueness divides men, it does not fuse them.” G. K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World

“Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is, in reality, instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

“to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day...” Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography

“Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.” George Orwell, 1984

“DIPLOMACY, n. The patriotic art of lying for one's country.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

“ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

“Morality has nothing in common with politics.” Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Volume One

“It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.” Mark Twain, Following the Equator

“Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” Abraham Lincoln, State of the Union Address

“His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing.” Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

“Practical politics consists in ignoring facts, but education and politics are two different and often contradictory things.” Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams

“Our political experiment of democracy, the last refuge of cheap misgovernment, will ruin us if our citizens are ill bred.” George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

“That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.” Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of my Experiments with Truth

“Being prime minister is a lonely job.” Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years

“Civilisation had been restored to the Island. But now the political fabric which nurtured it was about to be overthrown. Hitherto strong men armed had kept the house. Now a child, a weakling, a vacillator, a faithless, feckless creature,...” Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples

“REVOLUTION, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

“The major disadvantage of the proposed negative income tax is its political implications. It establishes a system under which taxes are imposed on some to pay subsidies to others. And presumably, these others have a vote.” Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom

“In politics, my dear fellow, you know, as well as I do, there are no men, but ideas—no feelings, but interests; in politics we do not kill a man, we only remove an obstacle, that is all.” Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

“Extremes mean borders beyond which life ends, and a passion for extremism, in art and in politics, is a veiled longing for death.” Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“Politics cannot stop to study psychology. Its methods are rough; its judgments rougher still.” Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams

“The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect.” George Orwell, 1984

“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” George Orwell, 1984

“So far as I can see, all political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.” George Orwell, London Letter

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” George Orwell, 1984

“When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering...” George Orwell, 1984

“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Mao Zedong, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung

“One curious feature about political reform is that so many people feel it is “disloyal” to attempt to rectify the abuses in one’s own party. And yet it is obvious that political morality is dependent upon the awakened conscience and private...” Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“Politics can be strengthened by music, but music has a potency that defies politics.” Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“It can therefore be said that politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” Mao Zedong, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung

“Political work is the life-blood of all economic work.” Mao Zedong, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung

“On the one hand, freedom in economic arrangements is itself a component of freedom broadly understood, so economic freedom is an end in itself. In the second place, economic freedom is also an indispensable means toward the achievement of...” Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom

“We still have great comedy out there. There's always rambling Joe Biden.” Robin Williams, Weapons of Self Destruction

“Not to have a correct political point of view is like having no soul.” Mao Zedong, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung

“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.” Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.” Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples

“What is the city but the people?” William Shakespeare, Coriolanus

“Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.” Frank Zappa, The Real Frank Zappa Book

“If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war.” Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

“They said that I should lose my ideals and begin to believe in the methods of practical politicians. Now, I have not lost my ideals in the least; my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my old childlike faith...” G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

“The failure of global summits on the environment make it plain that our politics are subject to technology and finance.” Pope Francis, Laudato si'

“The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“The public life of every political figure is a continual struggle to rescue an element of choice from the pressure of circumstance.” Henry Kissinger, White House Years

“Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, had always been the systematic organization of hatreds, and Massachusetts politics had been as harsh as the climate.” Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams

“We have come to a political deification of Mammon.” Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography

“There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics.” Mao Zedong, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung

“The double pleasure of pulling down an opponent, and of raising oneself, is the charm of a politician's life.” Anthony Trollope, Phineas Redux

“As in other departments of science, so in politics, the compound should always be resolved into the simple elements or least parts of the whole.” Aristotle, Politics

“Our conclusion, then, is that political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship.” Aristotle, Politics

Related topics

totalitarianism revolution freedom ignorance power language courage truth government war speech rebellion economy method control future democracy tyranny lies religion

Related authors

G. K. Chesterton (2)
Mao Zedong (5)
Winston Churchill (2)
Theodore Roosevelt (2)
Mark Twain (1)
George Orwell (8)
Ambrose Bierce (3)
Henry Adams (3)
Milton Friedman (2)
Nelson Mandela (2)
Aristotle (2)
Adam Smith (1)
Abraham Lincoln (1)
Bob Dylan (1)
William Shakespeare (1)
Mahatma Gandhi (1)
Margaret Thatcher (1)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1)
Ray Bradbury (1)
George Bernard Shaw (1)

Related sources

The Devil's Dictionary (3)
Long Walk to Freedom (2)
Politics and the English Language (1)
The Wealth of Nations (1)
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (5)
1984 (5)
The Education of Henry Adams (3)
Capitalism and Freedom (2)
Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography (2)
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (2)
Politics (2)
Notes on Nationalism (1)
London Letter (1)
Following the Equator (1)
The Story of my Experiments with Truth (1)
Chronicles, Volume One (1)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1)
Man and Superman (1)
State of the Union Address (1)
What's Wrong with the World (1)