If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
Many who think they are workers in politics are really merely tools.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that some individuals believe they are actively engaged in political work, while in reality, they are just being used by others for their own purposes.
Lord Salisbury's quote highlights the idea that many individuals in politics mistakenly perceive themselves as influential agents, when, in truth, they are manipulated or utilized by more powerful entities. This serves as a cautionary reminder about the importance of self-awareness and the potential for individuals to become pawns in a larger political game, often stripping away their autonomy and agency.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a political debate to highlight the lack of authenticity in some political actors.
More from Lord Salisbury
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The government of Israel doesn't like the kinds of things I say, which puts them into the same category as every other government in the world.
We must abandon the notion that the people govern. Instead, we must adopt the theory that, by their occasional mobilisations as a majority, people support or oppose the individuals who actually govern.
If ever there were a place where people not only tend not to face economic facts, but it's almost their purpose not to face economic facts, it's Washington.
Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster.
The genius of impeachment lay in the fact that it could punish the man without punishing the office.
The President can exercise no power which cannot be fairly and reasonably traced to some specific grant of power in the Federal Constitution or in an act of Congress passed in pursuance thereof. There is no undefined residuum of power which he can exercise because it seems to him to be in the public interest.