What is politics? Political system is equal to development politics plus political politics.

I would not vote for the mayor. It’s not just because he didn’t invite me to dinner, but because on my way into town from the airport there were such enormous potholes.

It is difficult to violently suppress people in the long run, as the example of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries has shown.

Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.

I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.

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

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State.

Richard Nixon was an evil man – evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency.

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.

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.

No body can be healthful without exercise, neither natural body nor politic, and certainly, to a kingdom or estate, a just and honourable war is the true exercise.

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

We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.

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.

The New Deal repudiation of democracy has left the Republican Party alone the guardian of the Ark of the Covenant with its charter of freedom.

I don’t envy or much respect people who are completely politicised.

To some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public.

Fidel Castro, whatever people may think of him, is a hero in Latin America, primarily because he stood up to the United States.

Trump just looks stupid trying to appeal to blacks and Latinos.

I’ve rarely kept my distance from kind of – I don’t know if we can call it politics, but kind of, civic engagement and that kind of thing, except I tended to think, ‚Well, do it yourself before you start telling other people what they should be doing.‘

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.

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.

What Britain needs is an iron lady.

If we can boondoggle ourselves out of this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come.

The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments‘ plans.

When you are president, being able to clearly articulate detailed plans to help the people of this country is a good thing. Knowing what you’re doing is a good thing. And let me tell you, Hillary Clinton absolutely knows what she’s doing.

The time has come for us to draw the line. The time has come for the responsible leaders of both political parties to take a stand against overgrown Government and for the American taxpayer.

Suppose I criticise Iran. What impact does that have? The only impact it has is in fortifying those who want to carry out policies I don’t agree with, like bombing.

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.

I’m personally a moderate and a registered independent, so I’m not strongly Democratic or strongly Republican.

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

Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

I never accepted Communist dogma or theory.

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.

Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.

Nobody wants to put the creditworthiness of the United States in jeopardy. Nobody wants to see the United States default. So we’ve got to seize this moment, and we have to seize it soon.

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.

Once upon a time my political opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself.

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.

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.

Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.

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

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

Politics are a very unsatisfactory game.

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.

If… many influential people have failed to understand, or have just forgotten, what we were up against in the Cold War and how we overcame it, they are not going to be capable of securing, let alone enlarging, the gains that liberty has made.

Politics is not bean bags. It’s serious, tough stuff.

I don’t think generally politician come from democratic country. I think not that thinking. But sometimes little bit short-sighted. They are mainly looking for their next vote.

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

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.

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

If people continue to feel like Democrats are looking after poor folks and Republicans are looking after rich folks and nobody is looking after me, then we don’t get a lot of stuff done. And the trend lines evidence the fact that folks have gotten squeezed. And obviously, 2007, 2008 really ripped open for people how vulnerable they were.

To govern means to pillage, as everyone knows.

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

Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.

One of the roles of the Presidency is to lead a political party. Having a President in office is usually a huge advantage to a party because it gives the party a mouthpiece and an advocate at the highest level.

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

The presidency has many problems, but boredom is the least of them.