Politicians & wisdom

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other.


~Oscar Ameringer, "the Mark Twain of American Socialism."



I offered my opponents a deal: "If they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them".

~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952



A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.

~Texas Guinan. 19th century American businessman



I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to politicians.

~Charles de Gaulle, French general & politician



Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.

~Doug Larson (English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, 1902-1981)



We hang petty thieves and appoint the bigger thieves to public office.

~Aesop, Greek slave & fable author



Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.

~Plato, ancient Greek Philosopher


Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

~Nikita Khrushchev, Russian Soviet politician

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become Prime Minister; I'm beginning to believe it.

~Quoted in 'Clarence Darrow for the Defense' by Irving Stone.


Politicians are people who,when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy more tunnel.

~John Quinton, American actor/writer