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

No group and no government can properly prescribe precisely what should constitute the body of knowledge with which true education is concerned.

I’ll assure you this: I will have nothing to do with politics.

With Benghazi, I don’t see anyone saying, ‚Hey look, I am overall responsible for this and therefore, I take responsibility for what happened. It’s my fault.‘ I haven’t heard that yet. Meanwhile, the other side of the coin, the Osama bin Laden raid, it seems everyone made that decision, and that’s just unbelievable to me.

In a time of domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics.

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.

A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!

To give victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.

Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

Nixon is one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out of both sides.

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.

We are a forward-looking people, and we must have a forward-looking government.

Winning the election is a good-news, bad-news kind of thing. Okay, now you’re the mayor. The bad news is, now you’re the mayor.

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.

I will never retire from politics, the revolution, or the ideas I have.

I only change things where I know about a situation. I’d never change just for change.

I have been very happy in the House of Representatives.

Self-government can succeed only through an instructed electorate.

A candidate is not going to suddenly change once they get into office. Just the opposite, in fact. Because the minute that individual takes that oath, they are under the hottest, harshest light there is. And there is no way to hide who they really are.

The economy’s always been the engine for our national security.

For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction.

If somebody’s dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they’re going to have to take what they get.

Most members of Congress are politicians. They’re bores.

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.

Israel is a pretty crazy state.

Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be, as the egg is to the fowl; we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.

We have to do more than just elect a new President if we truly want to change this country.

The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy – the one that’s absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes.

I believe that a government has only one religion – India first. A government has only one holy book – our Constitution. A government has only one kind of devotion – towards nation.

I am opposed to the accumulation of executive power anywhere.

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

George Bush made a mistake when he referred to the Saddam Hussein regime as ‚evil.‘ Every liberal and leftist knows how to titter at such black-and-white moral absolutism.

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

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

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.

In a democracy, the well-being, individuality and happiness of every citizen is important for the overall prosperity, peace and happiness of the nation.

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

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.

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

I’m going to be so much better a president for having been at the CIA that you’re not going to believe it.

There is no more independence in politics than there is in jail.

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.

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

I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking.

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.

If you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics – a creed from which you yourself cannot expect to draw any material advantage – surely that proves that you are in the right?

How can we help President Obama?

Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.

Hyperinflation can take virtually your entire life’s savings, without the government having to bother raising the official tax rate at all.

Your emotions are very unstable and should never be the foundation for direction in your life.

We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or another.

Commodities such as gold and silver have a world market that transcends national borders, politics, religions, and race. A person may not like someone else’s religion, but he’ll accept his gold.

Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.

Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.