Quotes on Politics

Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.

If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may be even a worse fate, you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

How many years can some people exist before they're allowed to be free.

In the state of nature... all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.

We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down.

Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure “good” government, it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare — most people want to run things, but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the “backseat driver” syndrome.

There's always an element of self delusion among people who believe they ought to be President. There's an underestimation of your opponent and an overestimation of your own abilities. This is compatible with being rich and powerful, the idea that we were blessed by God because we deserve to be blessed.

If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.

Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech.

Since this is an era when many people are concerned about 'fairness' and 'social justice,' what is your 'fair share' of what someone else has worked for?

One of the consequences of such notions as ‘entitlements’ is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.

If you don't believe there's a price for this sweet paradise, just remind me to show you the scars.

It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics.

You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner

Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.

Revolutions are not made for export.

I tell myself that God gave my children many gifts - spirit, beauty, intelligence, the capacity to make friends and to inspire respect. There was only one gift he held back - length of life.