Quotes About Rhetoric

It is part of politics to make things look better than they really are. What is a spin doctor but a serial euphemiser?

Be a politician; no training necessary.

One of the many dreadful aspects of the Kennedy 'legacy' is the now-unbreakable grip of celebrity politics, image-doctoring, stage management, and "torch-passing" rhetoric in general.

When you cover politics, you realize that knowing how to talk about character matters more and more. The way we hold ideas is more important than the ideas.

There is literally no such thing as an idea that cannot be expressed well and articulately to today's voters in thirty seconds.

I think it's good politics to beat up on big companies and rich people.

I'm afraid that's in the nature of modern politics - it's as much conducted by abuse as argument.

If you attempt an actual argument with a modern paper of opposite politics, you will have no answer except slanging or silence.

I could throw 56-pound words clear across the Grand Canyon. As a matter of course, I went into politics.

I looked up the word POLITICS in the dictionary, and it's actually a combination of two words: poli, which means 'many,' and tics, which means 'bloodsuckers.'

In politics, when you're explaining, you're losing.

Politics, in a sense, has always been a con game.

The golden rule has no place in a political campaign.

This has always been the way of presidential politics. The president rises above the fray while his surrogates go on the attack. They throw the spears and fling the mud; he sits upon the throne.

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens then everybody disagrees.

Populist promises to reverse every tough decision are nothing but empty rhetoric, irresponsible leadership, and bad politics. They are not the solution to Ireland's problems.

The statesman shears the sheep the politician skins them.

Politics is the art of making the people believe that they are in power, when in fact, they have none.

Oratory is the power of beating down your adversary's arguments and putting better in their place.

What does democracy come down to? The persuasive power of slogans invented by wily self-seeking politicians.

A mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery will be more impressive than the best speech unaccompanied by such power.

He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.

I guess truth can hurt you worse in an election than about anything that can happen to you.