Quotes About Politics

The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.

When wicked or ignorant men govern, it is not surprising that virtue and goodness are not esteemed. For the former hate them, and the latter do not know them.

All men want peace but, as St. Augustine remarked, they want it on their own terms; hence the prevalence of wars. It is doubtful if anyone ever brought about peace simply by being for it or prevented war by being against war as such. On the contrary, turning peace into a political slogan may help to bring on a war.

At a political science convention which I attended some years ago, one of the speakers mentioned toward the end of his talk that the education code of every state in the Union gives the public schools a mandate to form moral character. In the discussion period that followed a young woman with a marked Southern accent protested: Ah am shocked by what Ah just heard—it goes against everything Ah learned in graduate school!

Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect any who seek it.

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities.

Religion, too, is a weapon. What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?

You cannot avoid the interplay of politics within an orthodox religion. The power struggle permeates the training, education and disciplining of the orthodox community. Because of this pressure, the leaders of such a community inevitably much face that ultimate internal question: to succumb to complete opportunism as the price of maintaining their rule, or risk sacrificing themselves for the sake of the orthodox ethic.

People don't vote. Instinct tells them it's useless.

You can't build politics on love, he said. People aren't concerned with love; it's too disordered. They prefer despotism. Too much freedom breeds chaos.

In politics, the tripod is the most unstable of all structures.

Power and fear, he said. The tools of statecraft.

We are plagued by a corrupt polity which promotes unlawful and/or immoral behaviour. Public interest has no practical significance in everyday behaviour among the ruling factions. The real problems of our world are not being confronted by those in power. In the guise of public service, they use whatever comes to hand for personal gain. They are insane with and for power.

Schools were started to train human talents... The Guild... emphasizes almost pure mathematics. Bene Gesserit performs... politics. The original Bene Gesserit school was directed by those who saw the need of a thread of continuity in human affairs. They saw there count be no such continuity without separating human stock from animal stock - for breeding purposes.

Deceit is a tool of statecraft, Irulan agreed. There are limits to power, as those who put their hopes in a constitution always discover, Paul said.

Scratch a conservative and you find someone who prefers the past over any future. Scratch a liberal and find a closet aristocrat.

You seldom learn the names of the truly wealthy and powerful. You see only their spokesmen. The political arena makes a few exceptions to this but does not reveal the full power structure.

governments lie to protect themselves and they make incredibly stupid decisions.

When religion and politics ride the same cart, when that cart is driven by a living holy man (baraka), nothing can stand in their path.

You cannot avoid the interplay of politics within an orthodox religion. This power struggle permeates the training, educating and disciplining of the orthodox community. Because of this pressure, the leaders of such a community inevitably must face that ultimate internal question: to succumb to complete opportunism as the price of maintaining their rule, or risk sacrificing themselves for the sake of the orthodox ethic.

Often, I must speak otherwise than I think. That is called diplomacy.

As long as my Duke remains unmarried some of the Great Houses can still hope for alliance.

Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles—the CHOAM Company.

In politics, the tripod is he most unstable of all structures. It's be bad enough without the complication of a feudal trade culture which turns its back on most science.