Quotes About Politics

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15.

Shouldn't someone tag Mr Kennedy's bold new imaginative program with its proper age Under the tousled boyish haircut is still old Karl Marx-first launched a century ago. There is nothing new in the idea of a government being Big Brother.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.

The Soviet Union would remain a one-party nation even if an opposition party were permitted-because everyone would join that party.

The thought of being president frightens me. I do not think I want the job.

The vote on the Peacekeeper is also a vote on Geneva. Rejecting the Peacekeeper will knock the legs out from under the negotiating table. (On importance of the MX missile)

The White House is the leakiest place I've ever been in. (On special measures to ensure secrecy of plans to bomb Libya)

There were so many candidates on the platform that there were not enough promises to go around.

We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.

I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.

As government expands, liberty contracts.

How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.

It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

The thought of being President frightens me and I do not think I want the job.

A democracy cannot rule an empire. Neither can one man, though empire may appear to presuppose monarchy. There is always an oligarchy somewhere, open or concealed.

Individuals capture attention and engross history, but the most revolutionary changes in Roman politics were the work of families or of a few men.

In all ages, whatever the form and name of government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the façade; and Roman history, Republican or Imperial, is the history of the governing class.

Es gibt etwas Wichtigeres als politische Freiheit, und politische Rechte sind ein Mittel, kein Selbstzweck. Ihr Zweck ist Sicherheit für Leben und Eigentum, und diese Sicherheit konnte durch die Verfassung im republikanischen Rom nicht garantiert werden. Das durch Bürgerkriege und Unruhen verbrauchte und gebrochene römische Volk war bereit, das zerstörerische Privileg der Freiheit aufzugeben und sich wie am Anfang der Zeiten einer strengen Regierung unterzuordnen.

The last year of Cicero's life, full of glory and eloquence no doubt, was ruinous to the Roman People.

It takes a whole government to really screw up a war. A dollop of American hubris goes a long way too.

total spent on Defense-related activities is close to $1 trillion a year.19 Even in this era of fiscal austerity, proposing significant cuts to military compensation and benefits is still considered political suicide for national politicians.

We tell ourselves that a central project of law and political institutions is the reduction of violence, but this is mostly a fairly tale. Law and politics play a role in structuring violence, but rarely "reduce" it.