A wise man does not try to hurry history.
— Adlai E. Stevenson
Bandits and governments ’ave so much in common that they might be interchangeable anywhere in the world…
— Terry Pratchett
Division is how evil operates.
— Lenny Duncan
Fear of finding oneself in bad company is not an expression of political purity; it is an expression of a lack of self-confidence.
— Arthur Koestler
For forms of government let fools contest, that which is best administered is best.
— Alexander Pope
Great reforms offend great interests.
— Winston Churchill
Ignorance and design are difficult to combat.
— George Washington
In politics the influence of imponderables is often greater than that of either military power or money.
Politics is the art of the possible.
— Otto von Bismarck
It is not power that corrupts but fear.
— Aung San Suu Kyi
It seems part of the human condition to always simplify in rhetoric while complicating in practice.
Political systems remain in flux because the dedicated moderate must always give way, eventually, to the passionate extremist.
— Proctor Charlie
Memory is inherently contentious and partisan: one man’s acknowledgment is another’s omission.
— Tony Judt
Never build a dungeon you wouldn’t be happy to spend the night in yourself.
— Terry Pratchett
People have a need for the externalization of evil. They have the need to think that there is somewhere an enemy boundlessly evil because this makes them feel boundlessly good.
Writing history is the common refuge of those who find themselves helpless in the face of the present.
— George Kennan
Politics brought forth, if not the worst in men, at least the worst in what people said about men.
— Benjamin Franklin
Politics is a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by a slow progression.
— Charles de Montesquieu
Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I’m worried about the difference between wrong and fun.
What this country needs is fewer people who know what this country needs.
Politics is one more way to achieve power without merit or risk.
— P.J. O’Rourke (Editorial note: so is journalism – PC)
The best politics is right action.
— Mahatma Gandhi
The punishment of wise men who refuse to take part in the affairs of government is to live under the government of unwise men.
— Plato
The really dangerous people believe that they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous.
— Neil Gaiman
The spirit of place has an undeniable effect upon all of the ideas, as well as art and literature of a people.
— D. H. Lawrence
There is a great deal to be said for the status quo but this isn’t a position we could take publicly.
— John Foster Dulles
There is some danger in public life from stupid politicians; there is even more from politicians who are too clever.
— A.J.P. Taylor
Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
— George Bernard Shaw
To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the captain, and a positive crime in the statesman.
— George Santayana
Truth tellers transcend partisan affiliations.
— Andrew J. Bacevich
War cannot be divorced from politics for a single moment.
— Mao Tse-tung
Washington is a place where politicians don’t know which way is up and taxes don’t know which way is down.
— Robert Orben
