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

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

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.

You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.

Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.

Many people, including some conservatives, have been very impressed with how brainy the president and his advisers are. But that is not quite as reassuring as it might seem.

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

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You’re trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren’t very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product.

In my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the government. The government will not use force unless force is used against it.

Obama has succeeded in descending even below George W. Bush in approval in the Arab world. It’s minuscule, few percent.

Only the aspirants for president are fool enough to believe what they read in the newspapers.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.

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

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

A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative.

The label ‚liberal‘ or ‚conservative,‘ any – every time I hear that, I think of the great Gilbert and Sullivan song from ‚Iolanthe.‘ It goes, ‚Every gal and every boy that’s born alive is either a little liberal or else a little conservative.‘ What do those labels mean? It depends on whose ox is being gored.

The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

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

I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21 because he promised to get us out of the Korean War.

Many novice real estate investors soon quit the profession and invest in a well-diversified portfolio of bonds. That’s because, when you invest in real estate, you often see a side of humanity that stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and saving money shelter you from.

When I came to Johannesburg from the countryside, I knew nobody, but many strangers were very kind to me. I then was dragged into politics, and then, subsequently, I became a lawyer.

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

John F. Kennedy was the victim of the hate that was a part of our country. It is a disease that occupies the minds of the few but brings danger to the many.

How can a president not be an actor?

Democratic societies are unfit for the publication of such thunderous revelations as I am in the habit of making.

All respect for the office of the presidency aside, I assumed that the obvious and unadulterated decline of freedom and constitutional sovereignty, not to mention the efforts to curb the power of judicial review, spoke for itself.

Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.

What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a motor car?

Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent.

There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour.

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

Nowadays, politically, everybody is promising everything. That’s the only way you can get elected.

I don’t think consensus-building politics is what I’m meant to be doing.

Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know.

I love being able to be political without any political affiliation.

I think I was identified as a failed president because I wasn’t re-elected.

There is too much government today. We’ve got to remember the government should be by the people, of the people, and for the people.

‚Obama and Biden want to raise taxes by a trillion dollars.‘ Guess what? Yes, we do in one regard: We want to let that trillion dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super-wealthy. That’s not a tax raise. That’s called fairness where I come from.

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.

For the record, our democracy is revered around the world. And free elections are the best way on Earth to choose our leaders. This is how we elected John F. Kennedy; Ronald Reagan; two George Bushes; Bill Clinton; and Barack Obama. It has worked for decades.

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.

Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

Be extra careful in the work environment with those who like to maintain their position through charm and being political, rather than getting things done. They are very prone to envying and hating those who work hard and get results. They will slander and sabotage you without any warning.

When George W. Bush came into office, North Korea had maybe one nuclear weapon and verifiably wasn’t producing any more.

The issues that cross a president’s desk are never easy. The easy questions don’t even get to the president.

Governments are not representative. They have their own power, serving segments of the population that are dominant and rich.

Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‚Present‘ or ‚Not guilty.‘

There has come into being a kind of a Shia belt from Tehran through Baghdad to Beirut. And this gives Iran the opportunity to reconstruct the ancient Persian Empire – this time under the Shia label.

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.

I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.

No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

Loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

As a comedian, I found this thing, this profession, that suits my mind and life force. To drop it to do something else? I just don’t get that.

Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

I’ve said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!

Yup, the whole birther movement was racist.

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.

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.