One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Politics involves making difficult choices between undesirable options rather than simply achieving what is possible.
This quote by John Kenneth Galbraith highlights the essence of political decision-making, where leaders are often faced with choices that are less than ideal. Instead of being able to select from a range of feasible and attractive alternatives, politicians typically must navigate a landscape where every option has significant drawbacks, thus emphasizing the often-unpleasant reality of governance.
Themes
PoliticsDecision-MakingChoicesGovernanceLeadership
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the upcoming election, one might quote Galbraith to illustrate the tough choices politicians face.
More from John Kenneth Galbraith
All quotes βIf all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
Similar quotes
Under its current form, that is imperialism-controlled, debt is a cleverly managed re-conquest of Africa, aiming at subjugating its growth and development through foreign rules. Thus, each one of us becomes the financial slave, which is to say a true slave.
Thomas SankaraRead
Mr. President, youβre entitled as a president to your own airplane, and to your own house, but not to your own facts.
Mitt RomneyRead
If we want people to vote, we need to make it a larger part of their self-image.
Adam GrantRead
$100,000 donors buy access to Congress and the White House. We believe it's long past time to clean up Washington.
William J. ClintonRead
If we live in a perpetual state of outrage, Trump wins. Because when we become depleted and exhausted and sapped of our energy, we're not as resourceful, creative, or effective.
Arianna HuffingtonRead
If someone is cynical and doesn't vote and ends up with a crummy job in a crummy country with a decimated environment, they only have themselves to blame.
MobyRead