Politics is a profession; a serious, complicated and, in its true sense, a noble one.

I don’t usually admire Sarah Palin, but when she was making fun of this ‚hopey changey stuff,‘ she was right: there was nothing there.

I kept a very full diary of my relationship with Nixon, for some strange reason, until he became president.

Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all the rules, and the West will follow all the rules.

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

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

Capitalism has worked very well. Anyone who wants to move to North Korea is welcome.

Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates.

I will not run for president. No, nope, not going to do it.

Turkey must find its place if, of course, it can heal its internal sores, and none is more malignant than the perennial Kurdish issue.

There’s no doubt that usually a president’s public image is enhanced by going to war. That never did appeal to me.

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

When you are in any contest, you should work as if there were – to the very last minute – a chance to lose it. This is battle, this is politics, this is anything.

Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.

I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.

I am such a political person.

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we – we own this country. We – we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

No body can be healthful without exercise, neither natural body nor politic, and certainly, to a kingdom or estate, a just and honourable war is the true exercise.

When Rumsfeld gets up on television and says we have definitive intelligence that al Qaeda is working with Iraq, how is an ordinary citizen supposed to react? They won’t tell you the evidence, and when anyone asks, they say, ‚Well, you know: It’s secret.‘

I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You’ve got to just stand there and take it.

Rude people will now & then ask me why I think I know so much about Politics. I tell them it’s because I’m Smart… But that is a lie: The real reason is because I’m an incurable Gambling addict.

I’m not really concerned with portraying this tough warrior – I mean, that’s part of my job and I take that very seriously. But I don’t have anything to hide, and I’m not concerned with what people think.

Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.

Many things shall change in Cuba, but they shall change because of our efforts and despite the United States. Perhaps that empire shall crumble first.

Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.

I am often asked if, when I was secretary, I had problems with foreign men. That is not who I had problems with, because I arrived in a very large plane that said United States of America. I had more problems with the men in our own government.

There’s a lot of fuss on the Left about election irregularities, like, you know, the voting machines were tampered with, they didn’t count the votes right, and so on. That’s all accurate and of some importance, but of far more importance is the fact that elections just don’t take place, not in any meaningful sense of the term ‚election.‘

I’m going to be so much better a president for having been at the CIA that you’re not going to believe it.

Politics is just a function of business now, just a tributary of the great entrepreneurial capitalist system.

You and I are stuck with the necessity of taking the worst of two evils or none at all. So-I’m taking the immature Democrat as the best of the two. Nixon is impossible.

You can’t just have slogans, you can’t just have catchy phrases. You have to have an agenda. And I think what the Republican Party has to do, if it’s going to incorporate the tea party efforts in it, is to come up with an agenda that the American people can see, touch, and actually believe in, and something they believe in.

In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.

Remember, no one decides who they’re going to vote for based on the vice president. I mean that literally.

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Opposite to godliness is atheism in profession, and idolatry in practice. Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind, that it never had many professors.

Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

Israelis would mostly breathe a sigh of relief if Palestinians were to disappear.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement.

Before I became a chief minister, I never thought that one day I’d be the chief minister.

I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me – so am I.

I’m highly political. I spend an awful lot of time in the U.S. trying to influence decision-makers. But I don’t feel in tune with British politics.

I will never retire from politics, the revolution, or the ideas I have.

Hillary doesn’t play. She has more experience and exposure to the presidency than any candidate in our lifetime – yes, more than Barack, more than Bill. So she is absolutely ready to be Commander-in-Chief on day one. And, yes, she happens to be a woman.

I have been a firm believer in the federal structure of our country as enshrined in the Constitution.

I think, in politics, half the people are gonna like you, and half the people are not gonna like you, no matter what you do or what you say… It’s like there are no right answers. If there were, everyone would choose the right answers. They’re all opinions.

I think politicians really go with the tide.

I think my message to the politicians who have within their power the ability to make change is, ‚Do you really, really not care about the future of your great-grandchildren? Because if we let the world continue to be destroyed the way we are now, what’s the world going to be like for your great-grandchildren?‘

That fatal drollery called a representative government.

Real politics are the possession and distribution of power.

We are not going to be satisfied by politicians saying ‚we support you‘ and then walking away. We won’t be satisfied until they meet our demands and act. That’s why simply taking a selfie or posting support on Twitter isn’t enough. That’s why we have to keep striking.

Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.

Whenever a fellow tells me he’s bipartisan, I know he’s going to vote against me.

Democracy passes into despotism.

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf; is better than a whole loaf.

Language is a weapon of politicians, but language is a weapon in much of human affairs.

If people lose faith in their government, the result is the same whether or not the loss of confidence is justified.