Actually, to be an effective person politically in this country, I think you have to be thirty or over, and also you have to be rich, well-placed, you have to be close to power. And I don’t think that young people, because they look young, can do much, as I think they are counterproductive.

If the United States loses the economic weapons of control, it is very much weakened.

Most members of Congress are politicians. They’re bores.

A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.

In politics nothing is contemptible.

I wish I could make music about politics. I feel like it’s such an art and a talent that I admire tremendously, but when I step into the studio, I step out of the real world, and it’s therapeutic.

The United States tyrannizes and pillages the globalized world with its political, economic, technological, and military might.

Obama’s not Jesus. He can’t walk on water.

Fame and power are the objects of all men. Even their partial fruition is gained by very few; and that, too, at the expense of social pleasure, health, conscience, life.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

There’s only one person in this race who will be there, who’s always been there for you, and that’s Hillary Clinton’s life story.

I think that both parties should declare the debt limit as a political weapon of mass destruction which can’t be used. I mean, it is silly to have a country that has 237 years building up its reputation and then have people threaten to tear it down because they’re not getting some other matter.

If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.

A specter is haunting Europe – the specter of communism.

I’m the president of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States.

Even after Independence, we have had to face the poison of casteism and communalism. How long these evils will continue? Whom does it benefit?

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider… the riders contend for its possession.

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.

No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy – well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m President, I never will.

Man is supposed to be the maker of his destiny. It is only partly true. He can make his destiny, only in so far as he is allowed by the Great Power.

The right honourable gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes. He has left them in the full enjoyment of their liberal positions, and he is himself a strict conservative of their garments.

Landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both had exceptional natural abilities. Nelson Rockefeller was very good statewide but never gained national traction.

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.

I just didn’t want to get out there anymore; I didn’t want to get back into what I call ‚the swamp.‘ And the other reason why is I don’t think it’s good for the presidency for a former president to be opining about his successor. President Obama’s got plenty of critics – and I’m just not gonna be one.

Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.

That government is best which governs least.

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

Money doesn’t talk, it swears.

I think Canadians are more interested in international events than Americans because it is such a small country, so politics affect it more.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

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.

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.

So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.

By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t make a political speech outside of my state for 20 years.

I meet young people who know me and are familiar with my stuff. They know the package. They might have cherry-picked five or six key tunes. That’s how it seems to work. I sometimes wonder if they realise they are not getting the whole context.

Happiness is within the reach of everyone, rich or poor. Yet comparatively few people are happy. I believe the reason for this is that the majority don’t recognize happiness even when it is within their grasp.

Is science of any value? I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the power is a value.

There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors… I mean it.

If you are a parent, you have probably already realized that your children are always watching what you do. And just as children watch their parents and emulate their behavior, so do employees who are watching their bosses.

Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.

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.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.

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

Since I’m the president and Democrats have controlled the House and the Senate, it’s understandable that people are saying, you know, ‚What have you done?‘

Power is not alluring to pure minds.

Unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers.

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

Bad taste creates many more millionaires than good taste.

I have plenty of money, unlike other Hollywood celebrities or athletes that have not invested well.

When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before.

Being acknowledged for your work is always a great accomplishment, whether it’s people in my city, kids in the street, all the way up to the Grammys.