Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
Interpretation
Most politicians are viewed negatively because of the few who act poorly, impacting the perception of the entire group.
This quote by Henry A. Kissinger highlights the tendency to generalize the behavior of all politicians based on the actions of a minority. It suggests that the negative actions of a small percentage of politicians can tarnish the reputation of the majority, making it important to critically assess individuals rather than relying on broad stereotypes.
In practice
During a political debate, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of individual accountability in politics.
Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed. History is a tale of efforts that failed, or aspirations that werenβt realized. So, as a historian, one has to live with a sense of the inevitability of tragedy.
Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.
It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.
The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
If peace is equated simply with the absence of war, it can become abject pacifism that turns the world over to the most ruthless.
What political leaders decide, intelligence services tend to seek to justify.
Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions, and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue.
Since the 1930s the technique of buying votes with the voters' own money has been expanded to an extent undreamed of by earlier politicians.
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure... It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.
Arresting opposition leaders and restricting civil society will not stop people from protesting, but it can create leaderless movements that leave no one with whom the government can mediate a peaceful way forward.
There are only two roads, victory for the working class, freedom, or victory for the fascists which means tyranny. Both combatants know what's in store for the loser.
Elections exist for the sake of the House of Commons and not the House of Commons for the sake of elections.
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