All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.

In America today, we are nearer a final triumph over poverty than is any other land.

I think the tiniest little thing can change the course of your day, which can change the course of your year, which can change who you are.

I pay attention to politics and technology.

While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.

It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.

Every time I hear a politician mention the word ‚stimulus,‘ my mind flashes back to high school biology class, when I touched battery wires to a dead frog to make it twitch.

The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.

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.

In this constant battle which we call living, we try to set a code of conduct according to the society in which we are brought up, whether it be a Communist society or a so-called free society; we accept a standard of behaviour as part of our tradition as Hindus or Muslims or Christians or whatever we happen to be.

I became an actress because my mom wanted me to become an actress. It took me until my mid-30s to realize I actually didn’t. I actually wanted to write and direct and be more involved in politics and humanitarian issues.

I’m not a reality-TV kind of guy. But it’s almost like we’re living in a reality show. Every day in this country, everybody keeps worrying about the deterioration of America, and it’s like a big reality show.

Normally, when someone we love is turning away from a struggle, we self-protect by also turning away. That’s definitely my first response. I think change is more likely to happen if both partners have common language and a shared lens to see problems.

Obama himself has been highly supportive of Mubarak.

Communism to me is one-third practice and two-thirds explanation.

The environment that we call society is created by past generations; we accept it, as it helps us to maintain our greed, possessiveness, illusion.

I seldom think of politics more than eighteen hours a day.

I believe we can continue the Great Society while we fight in Vietnam.

If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.

I think members of the legislature, people who have to run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed.

There might be some serious fun in politics.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.

We Conservatives hate unemployment.

I perhaps ought to say that individually I never was much interested in the Texas question. I never could see much good to come of annexation, inasmuch as they were already a free republican people on our own model.

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

When Hillary served in the Senate, I saw her work day and night as a member of the Armed Services Committee – working with Republicans and Democrats to keep our military strong and protect our troops and their families.

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

Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.

Being elected to Congress, though I am very grateful to our friends for having done it, has not pleased me as much as I expected.

Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven.

Last year we said, ‚Things can’t go on like this‘, and they didn’t, they got worse.

We should learn to accept that change is truly the only thing that’s going on always, and learn to ride with it and enjoy it.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

Meals make the society, hold the fabric together in lots of ways that were charming and interesting and intoxicating to me. The perfect meal, or the best meals, occur in a context that frequently has very little to do with the food itself.

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

Liberals are not always so liberal with people who disapprove – disapprove of their point of view.

So the bodhisattva saves all beings, not by preaching sermons to them, but by showing them that they are delivered, they are liberated, by the act of not being able to stop changing.

Work is that which you dislike doing but perform for the sake of external rewards. At school, this takes the form of grades. In society, it means money, status, privilege.

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

Capitalism is using its money; we socialists throw it away.

I should tie myself to no particular system of society other than of socialism.

I have this feeling that the world is not in balance. And people are afraid, but we’re also starting to be really brave.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists – to protect them and to promote their common welfare – all else is lost.

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.

The very word ‚secrecy‘ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.

Read my lips: no new taxes.

I don’t like to see a president who is just out campaigning all year long or for the last four years. I’d like to see somebody who’s going in the office. In fact, I’d like to not see them because that way you’d be sure that they’d be working.

Puerto Rico’s relationship with music is everything. It’s an island full of talent and if you grow up there, you grow up living and breathing music.

The love of the family, the love of one person can heal. It heals the scars left by a larger society. A massive, powerful society.

It is not possible for civilization to flow backwards while there is youth in the world. Youth may be headstrong, but it will advance it allotted length.

In the political system, we are a team; politics and bureaucracy, we are a team. The politicians, bureaucrats and the people, we are a team.

Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.

Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.

I haven’t been very active in politics.

My grandmother took me to church on Sunday all day long, every Sunday into the night. Then Monday evening was the missionary meeting. Tuesday evening was usher board meeting. Wednesday evening was prayer meeting. Thursday evening was visit the sick. Friday evening was choir practice. I mean, and at all those gatherings, we sang.

Running for office is similar to being a trial lawyer in a very long trial. It requires adrenaline and stamina; it requires being in shape mentally and emotionally. It’s a marathon.

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

There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.

Every human has four endowments – self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.

Trump has no sense of shame.