Politician Quotes & Sayings

I realise that, strutting around in power corridors for political coverage, a journalist becomes half a politician. — Rajeev Shukla

Hey, I'm not a politician. I'm a ham. I love to give speeches. — Norman Schwarzkopf

If I say I am not a politician, it is because I did not go to school to do political science. But at the end of the day, I think we are all born politicians. It's practical. All you gotta do is practice. — George Weah

The philanthropist, the politician, and the pimp are inevitably found in alliance because they have the same motives, they seek the same ends, to exist for, through, and by others. — Isabel Paterson

If politicians all told the truth, we'd be out of business. — Jay Leno

There's a suspicion always about politicians. The suspicion level is really elevated and it just feels like people do not trust their institutions. — Christopher Michael Cillizza

So now you know why I think all talk of borders and colors and nationalities is absurd. People try to pin you down on a map and paint you a certain color to make everything simple. But the world is far from simple, and intelligent human beings don't like to be pinned down and painted by some hand in the sky, whether it belongs to a god, a priest, or a politician. — Anne Fortier

He was a consummate politician
which is to say he was given to expedient speech and lacked even a vestigial spine. — Nick Taylor

I burnt for the more active life of the world--for the more exciting toils of a literary career--for the destiny of an artist, author, orator; anything rather than that of a priest: yes, the heart of a politician, of a soldier, of a votary of glory, a lover of renown, a luster after power, beat under my curate's surplice. I considered; my life was so wretched, it must be changed, or I must die. After a season of darkness and struggling, light broke and relief fell: my cramped existence all at once spread out to a plain without bounds--my powers heard a call from heaven to rise, gather their full strength, spread their wings, and mount beyond ken. — Charlotte Bronte

No politician would ever comment on a cartoon unless it was to show what a great sense of humour they have, that they can laugh at themselves. — Chris Riddell

I could never be a career politician, because I believe in telling the truth. — Jesse Ventura

And the creature run from the cur? There thou mightst behold the great image of authority: a dog's obeyed in office.
Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand.
Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back.
Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind
For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.
Through tattered clothes great vices do appear;
Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks.
Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.
None does offend - none, I say, none. I'll able 'em.
Take that of me, my friend, who have the power
To seal th' accuser's lips. Get thee glass eyes,
And like a scurvy politician seem
To see the things thou dost not. — William Shakespeare

I want to be a politician. I think I understand how the system works, I think a lot of politicians are corrupt, and it's about time we put some people in there who are going to look out for the majority of the people instead of the rich people. — Charles Barkley

The politician being interviewed clearly takes a great deal of trouble to imagine an ending to his sentence: and if he stopped short? His entire policy would be jeopardized! — Roland Barthes

One has to be a lowbrow, a bit of a murderer, to be a politician, ready and willing to see people sacrificed, slaughtered, for the sake of an idea, whether a good one or a bad one. — Henry Miller

We need to remind politicians they don't work for the big banks - they work for us. — Elizabeth Warren

All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher. — Lucretius

We've seen over time that countries that have the best economic growth are those that have good governance, and good governance comes from freedom of communication. It comes from ending corruption. It comes from a populace that can go online and say, 'This politician is corrupt, this administrator, or this public official is corrupt.' — Ramez Naam

The only thing worse than a silly politician analyzing art is a silly artist analyzing politics — Jonathan Alter

In business, people are held accountable. In Washington, nobody is held accountable. In business, people are judged on results. In Washington, people are measured by their ability to get reelected. — Ross Perot

A figure who receives money from abroad for his political work, and thus serves some foreign interest, cannot be a politician in Russia. — Vladimir Putin

Though I'm a congresswoman by title, a politician I've never been. — Michele Bachmann

Wes Clark is a man of whom you can ask a question, and he will look you directly in the eye, and give you the most truthful and complete answer you can imagine. You will know the absolute truth of the statement as well as the thought process behind the answer. You will have no doubt as to the intellect of the speaker and meaning of the answer to this question ... So you can see, as a politician, he has a lot to learn. — Mario Cuomo

They wouldn't be politicians if they knew what they were doing. — Jim Rogers

Communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence I'm inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men. Most of the confidences were unsought - frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile — F Scott Fitzgerald

God was executed by people painfully like us, in a society very similar to our own ... by a corrupt church, a timid politician, and a fickle proletariat led by professional agitators. — Dorothy L. Sayers

In Louisiana, we don't bet on football games, we bet on whether a politician is going to be indicted or not. — Mark Duffy

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie Which we ascribe to heaven; the fated sky Gives us free scope; and only backward pulls Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull. How much I could do if I only tried. * (1803-1873) English dramatist, novelist, and politician. — Napoleon Hill

There is a difference between the typical politician and the statesman. A typical politician is that person who tells people what people want to hear, while the statesman tells people what people need to know. — Oscar Arias

I want to be mayor, but I don't need to be mayor. I'm not a career politician. — Dick Murphy

I wanted to prove that a son of a politician can be a successful businessman. — Sunil Mittal

Behind every corrupt politician are 10-20 corrupt businessmen. — Mo Ibrahim

The news of any politician's death should be listed under 'Public Improvements.' — Frank Dane

If football were managed as democratically as the Athenian government the students to play for their university would be chosen by lot. But in matters of government it is difficult to know who has the most skill, and very far from certain that a politician will use his skill in the public interest rather than in his own or in that of his class or party or creed. — Anonymous

I consider that women who are authors, lawyers, and politicians are monsters. — Pierre-Auguste Renoir

In the high school classroom you are a drill sergent, a rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a low-level scholar, a clerk, a referee, a clown, a counselor, a dress-code enforcer, a conductor, an apologist, a philosopher, a collaborator, a tap dancer, a politician, a therapist, a fool, a traffic cop, a priest, a mother-father-brother-sister-uncle-aunt, a bookeeper, a critic, a psychologist, the last straw. — Frank McCourt

Washington was no politician as we understand the word," replied Ratcliffe abruptly. "He stood outside of politics. The thing couldn't be done today. The people don't like that sort of royal airs. — Henry Adams

The IPCC summary for policymakers is used to scare politicians and goad the public into action. The UN is all about politics. — Marc Morano

In politics, the connection between what you pay for and what you actually get is problematic at best ...
This is another way of asserting that your vote in the marketplace counts for so much more than your vote in the polling booth. Cast your dollars for the washing machine of your choice and that is what you get
nothing more and nothing less. Pull the lever for the politician of your choice and, most of the time (if you're lucky), you will get some of what you do want and much of what you don't. The votes of a special interest lobby may ultimately cancel out yours. As someone much wiser than me once said, "[P]olitics may not be the oldest profession, but the results are often the same."
— Lawrence W. Reed

The ruling idea of the politician - stated rather bluntly - is that those who are opposed to him exist for the purpose of being made to serve his ends, if he can get power enough in his hands to force these ends upon them. — Auberon Herbert

I have always liked the Kennedys as politicians. They had such great hair. — Pamela Anderson

As the master politician navigates the ship of state, he both creates and responds to public opinion. Adept at tacking with the wind, he also succeeds, at times, in generating breezes of his own. — Stewart Udall

Authentic religion teaches one to imagine the other
to consider another's vulnerability and humanity. The beginning of ethics is this trancendent imagination' (Ingrid Mattson). The message, she said, to be expounded by preacher and politician alike is that all human beings possess a God-given dignity. — Gustav Niebuhr

In order to be the master, the politician poses as the servant. — Charles De Gaulle

We as voters, have long hoped that we would get a businessman instead of a politician in order to help fix America's problems. Well, I am that businessman. — Herman Cain

The political is replacing the metaphysical as the characteristic mode of grasping reality. — Harvey Cox

All my trust in the politicians had been rubbed away. — Kenan Evren

I've learned in my years as a journalist that when a politician says 'That's ridiculous' you're probably on the right track. — Amy Goodman

Isn't that what our job to do is right there in media to discuss what politicians are doing so they stop doing it. — Eric Bolling

Well people often ask me how I felt growing up with a father who was a politician and who was often away. But when I'm asked that question I often reflect on my inability really to be able to answer it in any relative sense because I never grew up with a father doing anything else. So I just have no idea what it would be like otherwise. — Alexander Downer

President Reagan is a rhetorical roundheels, as befits a politician seeking empathy with his audience. — William Safire

No politician is perfect. But in every election in your life, there will be one choice that is better than the others. Go out and vote for that one. — Bill Maher

Unpleasant questions are being raised about Mother's Day. Is this day necessary? ... Isn't it bad public policy? ... No politician with half his senses, which a majority of politicians have, is likely to vote for its abolition, however. As a class, mothers are tender and loving, but as a voting bloc they would not hesitate for an instant to pull the seat out from under any Congressman who suggests that Mother is not entitled to a box of chocolates each year in the middle of May. — Russell Baker

When a politician uses the word 'folks,' we should brace ourselves for the deceit, or worse, that is coming. — Noam Chomsky

That's the trouble with a politician's life-somebody is always interrupting it with an election. — Will Rogers

Lawyers are natural politicians. — Clarence Darrow

Yet behind all of the populist hot air, and the big shot persona, is a man who is very cunning. As a real estate mogul worth billions, a man like Donald Trump knows how to relate to an audience better than a politician. He has to as each transaction he is working on can increase his personal wealth. Moreover, he doesn't have the time to make the connections while trying to close a deal that an average politician does. He has to, as a salesman, become expert at being a "five minute friend". Every move has to count in building a credible connection that will get him to, and beyond, the closing table. — Robert Montgomerie

This is the way I think about politics: We want two diametrically opposed things from a politician. On one hand we want them to be bastions of moral integrity, perfect people, saints. And on the other hand, we want them to be effective leaders. — Beau Willimon

It is often written that, during his presidency, the General was not a politician. Of course, he was a great politician in large part because he was not perceived as a politician. It — John Ripin Miller

I'm not a politician; I'm an artist. — Janelle Monae

I mean if you have ever found a politician who says, 'No, no, I would do everything exactly as I did,' then you can tell when he is lying because his lips are moving. — John Major

Fiction writers, magicians, politicians and priests are the only people rewarded for entertaining us with their lies — Bangambiki Habyarimana

Russell observes that "the merits of democracy are negative: it does not ensure good government, but it prevents certain evils," such as the evil of a small group of individuals achieving a secure monopoly on political power. The chief peril for the politician, Russell insists, is love of power. And politicians can easily yield to the love of power on the pretense that they are pursuing some absolute good. — Bertrand Russell

Don't listen to me. I'm not a politician. I know nothing about politics. But people are cheering when something very bad happens to him [Donald Trump]. So that's got to make you think before voting for him. — Sacha Baron Cohen

Up through and including Lincoln, American politicians nursed a fantasy of repatriating blacks to Africa. — Ned Sublette

A politician is someone who promises a bridge even when there's no water — Gregory David Roberts

I don't subscribe to the theory that all politicians are crap. I think the 'cool people' often take that position. — Eddie Izzard

President Obama is the best-known politician to be exploring the possibilities of new technologies to converse with the people. Others must follow his lead and innovate. It is inevitable. — Eduardo Paes

It is hard for any one to be an honest politician who is not born and bred a Dissenter. — William Hazlitt

Let us remind our leaders that there is no place for personal interests in politics. — Mohith Agadi

Why do people always expect authors to answer questions? I am an author because I want to ask questions. If I had answers, I'd be a politician. — Eugene Ionesco

I believe you [Donald Trump] know politicians better than I do because for 40 years you've been funding liberal Democratic politicians. — Ted Cruz

If you are an [American] politician it's very hard to imagine "now we are going to treat these guys as our equals? That's ridiculous. What have they ever done to deserve that?" — Hooman Majd

To be serious, if we were only interested in earning big money then a politician would have to go and work in industry. — Angela Merkel

Politics is like a stage. Each politician plays his part according to the lines that are given to him. But backstage, the hero and the villain enjoy their drink together. Everybody — Ashwin Sanghi

I think I went into poli-sci because I knew there was a stage, plus I thought I wanted to help people, and I realized in poli-sci that if you want to be a politician you're either born into it, or you've got an amazing brain, which those are rare - and I don't have one. — David Koechner

Nothing is more dangerous that the politician who uses politics as a surrogate for an unsatisfactory personal life. — Denis Healey

I have proudly spent several periods in government, but I'm not a career politician. I come from a family of 'citizen soldiers.' — Jim Webb

I've grown to love Barack Obama. Hillary is no Bernie Sanders. But she's a politician, and she understands Congress. And I think with that kind of twisted beauty, she could lead our country. — Eileen Myles

Any politician who can be elected only by turning Americans against other Americans is too dangerous to be elected. — Thomas Sowell

The politicians, who once stated that war was too complex to be left to the generals, now act as though peace were too complex to be left to themselves. — Pierre Trudeau

I'm a politician so I only endorse myself. — Ben Tolosa

Let's say Donald Trump loses but it's close. That could change the whole way the job of being a politician shifts - that to succeed in politics, you have to be a caricature of what a politician is supposed to be like. — Chuck Klosterman

An intellectual may be interested in ideas and policies for their own sake, but a politician's interest is exclusively in the question of whether an idea's time has come. — Michael Ignatieff

Indians mock their corrupt politicians relentlessly, but they regard their honest politicians with silent suspicion. The first thing they do when they hear of a supposedly 'clean' politician is to grin. It is a cliche that honest politicians in India tend to have dishonest sons, who collect money from people seeking an audience with Dad. — Aravind Adiga

Fuller Warren had won the 1948 election by running as a moderate and promising to ease racial tension and violence in Florida. He'd denounced the Klansmen who paraded through Lake County on election night (with Sheriff Willis McCall following behind) as "hooded hoodlums and sheeted jerks," and Moore cautiously held out some hope for the new governor. Warren had admitted to being a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, but renouncing his past, like many a politician before and since, he'd stated that he had joined years before "as a favor to a friend" and that he "never wore a hood." Moore did not adopt a wait-and-see approach with the new governor. — Gilbert King

Rynn Cormel had run the world during the Turn, his living charisma somehow crossing the boundaries of death to give his undead existence an uncanny mimicry of life. Every move was a careful study of causality. It was highly unusual for so young an undead vampire to be so good at mimicking having a soul. I figured it was because he was a politician and had had practice way before he died. — Kim Harrison

You slam a politician, you make out he's the devil, with horns and hoofs. But his wife loves him, and so did all his mistresses. — Pamela Hansford Johnson

What makes me uncomfortable about [Barack] Obama is what makes me uncomfortable about any young politician who has not yet been bloodied inside the Beltway. — Henry Rollins

We vote every day for companies, for people, and we put money toward 'campaigns.' We need to think of the faces behind the scenes. Who are the masters and Caesars that we pledge allegiance to by the way we live and through the things we put our trust in? We vote every day with our feet, our hands, our lips, and our wallets. We are the vote for the poor. We are to vote for the peacemakers. We are to vote for the marginalized, the oppressed, the most vulnerable of our society. These are the ones Jesus voted for, those whom every empire had left behind, those whom no millionaire politician will represent. — Shane Claiborne

Opening our borders to a flood of illegal immigrants is deliberate ... It's time to impeach; and on behalf of American workers and legal immigrants of all backgrounds, we should vehemently oppose any politician on the left or right who would hesitate in voting for articles of impeachment, — Sarah

Every politician, every member of the clerical profession, ought to incur the reasonable suspicion of being an interested supporter of false doctrines, who becomes angry at opposition, and endeavors to cast an odium on free inquiry. Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it. — Thomas Cooper

A politician is a politician whether he's wearing a suit or a funny hat. — Reza Aslan

It is the middle of December now, and we are about to travel to Switzerland - where we plan to ski a little, relax a little, and shoot a Dutch politician a little. — Hugh Laurie

I have experienced failure as a politician and for that very reason, I am ready to give everything for Japan. — Shinzo Abe

I don't know a politician who enjoys fundraising. The system is such that the American people have lost faith. — John McCain

But Alexandra Petrovic did not become the most powerful politician in Adria by taking no for an answer.
"You seem to think that I'm asking, Ms Blakely. Which I'm not."
I stop and turn. "And you seem to think that you scare me, Ms Petrovic. Which you don't. — Ally Carter

We can never be sure just which other business cards are in the pocket of pundit, politician, or professor. We can't be sure, in short, just who our elites are working for. But we suspect it is not us. — Christopher L. Hayes

I think a politician would be very, very cool to play. Or an American musician of some sort, or like an American pioneer like the Dohenys or the Rockefellers or something. — Jake Abel

I don't look forward to a time when every politician, every legislator goes to Washington absolutely committed to an extreme point of view. Elected representatives are sent to Washington to compromise, not to never compromise. — Lloyd Blankfein