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.

A man without a vote is man without protection.

Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.

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

In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake.

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.

My brother Bob doesn’t want to be in government – he promised Dad he’d go straight.

I personally never expected anything of Obama, and wrote about it before the 2008 primaries. I thought it was smoke and mirrors.

Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.

Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.

So far as the government is concerned, there is only one holy book, which is the constitution of India. My government will not tolerate or accept any discrimination based on caste, creed and religion.

It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.

Democracy passes into despotism.

I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

Yup, the whole birther movement was racist.

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.

If you’re sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign.

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

A President cannot always be popular.

I had three points I wanted to make: That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who’s not doing a good job. But I didn’t make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it.

Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close.

I do have a political agenda. It’s to have as few regulations as possible.

I played by the rules of politics as I found them.

Adultery is the application of democracy to love.

Obama himself has been highly supportive of Mubarak.

We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.

I am concerned about the whole man. I am concerned about what the people, using their government as an instrument and a tool, can do toward building the whole man, which will mean a better society and a better world.

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.

I have a reputation for taking on governors a lot more powerful than me.

I claim that human mind or human society is not divided into watertight compartments called social, political and religious. All act and react upon one another.

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

Government’s first duty and highest obligation is public safety.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

All impeachments, I guess, are political.

All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting ‚the rich‘ to pay ‚their fair share‘ is part of a big charade. This is not about economics, it is about politics.

Facts are not liberals‘ strong suit. Rhetoric is.

Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.

I think governments can’t do much.

I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic.

In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.

Every day or two, I strolled to the village to hear some of the gossip which is incessantly going on there, circulating either from mouth to mouth, or from newspaper to newspaper, and which, taken in homeopathic doses, was really as refreshing in its way as the rustle of leaves and the peeping of frogs.

I can’t really criticize the Tea Party people, because I came into the White House pretty much on the same basis that they have become popular. That is dissatisfaction with the way things are going in Washington and disillusionment and disencouragement about the government.

The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.

You know we’re going to control the insurance companies.

Washington isn’t a city, it’s an abstraction.

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom, and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life.

Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‚Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?‘ If you don’t ask those questions, your governance will not be good.

I pay attention to politics and technology.

One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it.

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.

I would rather drink weedkiller than support Obamacare.

Democracy is the road to socialism.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

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.

I think Hillary Clinton is a phenomenal woman, and I’ve gotten to know her, and I think she’s made some pretty major contributions over the course of her life.

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.

A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both.