Politics… have always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

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

I can express all my views on the slavery question by quotations from Henry Clay.

I don’t see any possibility of Britain and the U.S. allowing a sovereign independent Iraq; that’s almost inconceivable.

Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.

Cobb is a prick. But he sure can hit. God Almighty, that man can hit.

If I don’t run for president, we’ll all be OK.

Obama, of course, outspent McCain.

What I’m asking for is hard. It’s easier to be cynical; to accept that change isn’t possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don’t matter. But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future.

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.

Ronald Reagan used to alarm his Soviet counterparts by saying that surely they’d both unite against an invasion from Mars.

Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa’s leading organization – and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.

Everybody is a political person, whether you say something or you are silent. A political attitude is not whether you go to parliament; it’s how you deal with your life, with your surroundings.

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

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

History should be written as philosophy.

‚I am‘ is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that ‚I do‘ is the longest sentence?

Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I’m the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House.

Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.

I don’t think I would run for president.

Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate.

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

I’m not a conservative of any kind.

I’ve never seen America as an imperialist or colonialist or meddling country.

When Reagan left office, he was the most unpopular living president, apart from Nixon, even below Carter. If you look at his years in office, he was not particularly popular. He was more or less average. He severely harmed the American economy.

It was the Congress that imposed ‚Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,‘ it was certainly my position, my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred.

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.

The human brain is an incredible pattern-matching machine.

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

I haven’t been very active in politics.

The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

Politics, as a practise, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion.

Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible.

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what’s going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?

The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead.

It’s impossible, I think, however much I’d become disillusioned politically or evolve into a post-political person, I don’t think I’d ever change my view that socialism is the best political moment humans have ever come up with.

Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates.

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.

President Assad, I worked with. I know him reasonably well, met with him a few times, and he’s a liar.

The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity.

One lesson you better learn if you want to be in politics is that you never go out on a golf course and beat the President.

The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.

I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So he spent time trying to be all things to all people – one way guaranteed not to be successful or respected in a lion’s den. You can’t just play around with all those big cats – you’ve got to take somebody on.

President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.

I believed what my father taught me about the separation of church and state, so when I was President I never invited Billy Graham to have services in the White House because I didn’t think that was appropriate. He was injured a little bit, until I explained it to him.

If you believe that tax policy has nothing to do with the economy, then you’re pretty much like a rock, only dumber.

My wife told me if there is any rumors about me, it better be about politics and not about my social life.

The Chinese government wants me to say that for many centuries Tibet has been part of China. Even if I make that statement, many people would just laugh. And my statement will not change past history. History is history.

There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.

Politics I supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

For a sitting U.S. president to see our allies as freeloaders is nuts.

I don’t follow politics much.

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.

To govern means to pillage, as everyone knows.

The U.S. and its allies will do anything they can to prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world.

A witty saying proves nothing.

He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.