Politicians 

1. I will undoubtedly have to seek what is happily known as gainful employment, which I am glad to say does not describe holding public office.
   Dean Acheson 1893–1971 American politician: in Time 22 December 1952
2. You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding and a vulgar manner.
   Aristophanes c.450–c.385 bc Greek comic dramatist: The Knights (424 bc) l. 217
3. Under every stone lurks a politician.
   Aristophanes c.450–c.385 bc Greek comic dramatist: Thesmophoriazusae l. 530
4. I am not going to spend any time whatsoever in attacking the Foreign Secretary…If we complain about the tune, there is no reason to attack the monkey when the organ grinder is present.
   during a debate on the Suez crisis
   Aneurin Bevan 1897–1960 British Labour politician: speech, House of Commons, 16 May 1957
5. An honest politician is one who when he's bought stays bought.
   Simon Cameron 1799–1889 American politician: attributed
6. A minister who moves about in society is in a position to read the signs of the times even in a festive gathering, but one who remains shut up in his office learns nothing.
   Duc de Choiseul 1719–85 French politician: Jack F. Bernard Talleyrand (1973)
7. The ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.
   describing the qualifications desirable in a prospective politician
   Winston Churchill 1874–1965 British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1940–5, 1951–5: B. Adler Churchill Wit (1965)
8. a politician is an arse upon
   which everyone has sat except a man.
   
    
   e. e. cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings) 1894–1962 American poet: 1 x 1 (1944) no. 10
9. Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.
   Charles de Gaulle 1890–1970 French soldier and statesman, President of France 1959–69: Ernest Mignon Les Mots du Général (1962)
10. Definition of an independent Member of Parliament, viz. one that could not be depended upon.
    Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby 1799–1869 British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1852, 1858–9, 1866–8: memorandum by Prince Albert, 1 February 1855, in The Letters of Queen Victoria vol. 3 (1907)
11. Are you a politician who says to himself: ‘I will use my country for my own benefit’?…Or are you a devoted patriot, who whispers in the ear of his inner self: ‘I love to serve my country as a faithful servant.’
    Kahlil Gibran 1883–1931 Lebanese-born American writer and painter: The New Frontier (1931), tr. Anthony R. Ferris in The Voice of the Master (1958); see Kennedy
12. ‘Do you pray for the senators, Dr Hale?’ ‘No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country.’
    Edward Everett Hale 1822–1909 American Unitarian clergyman: Van Wyck Brooks New England Indian Summer (1940)
13. If you want to succeed in politics, you must keep your conscience well under control.
    David Lloyd George 1863–1945 British Liberal statesman; Prime Minister, 1916–22: Lord Riddell, diary, 23 April 1919
14. The prince must be a fox, therefore, to recognize the traps and a lion to frighten the wolves.
    Niccolò Machiavelli 1469–1527 Italian political philosopher and Florentine statesman: The Prince (written 1513) ch. 18 (tr. Allan Gilbert)
15. Forever poised between a cliché and an indiscretion.
    on the life of a Foreign Secretary
    Harold Macmillan 1894–1986 British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1957–63: in Newsweek 30 April 1956
16. did you ever
    notice that when
    a politician
    does get an idea
    he usually
    gets it all wrong.
    
     
    Don Marquis 1878–1937 American poet and journalist: archys life of mehitabel (1933)
17. What I want is men who will support me when I am in the wrong.
    replying to a politician who said ‘I will support you as long as you are in the right’
    William Lamb, Lord Melbourne 1779–1848 British Whig statesman; Prime Minister 1834, 1835–41: Lord David Cecil Lord M (1954)
18. The greatest gift of any statesman rests not in knowing what concessions to make, but recognising when to make them.
    Prince Metternich 1773–1859 Austrian statesman: Concessionen und Nichtconcessionen (1852)
19. Anyone who campaigns for public office becomes disqualified for holding any office at all.
    Thomas More 1478–1535 English scholar and saint: Utopia (1516) bk. 2
20. The city in which those who are to rule are least eager to hold office must needs be the best governed and freest from strife.
    Plato 429–347 bc Greek philosopher: The Republic bk. 7, 520
21. A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service.
    Georges Pompidou 1911–74 French statesman: in Observer 30 December 1973
22. All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.
    Enoch Powell 1912–98 British Conservative politician: Joseph Chamberlain (1977)
23. He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch.
    on President Somoza of Nicaragua, 1938
    Franklin D. Roosevelt 1882–1945 American Democratic statesman, 32nd President 1933–45: attributed
24. He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
    George Bernard Shaw 1856–1950 Irish dramatist: Major Barbara (1907) act 3
25. Someone must fill the gap between platitudes and bayonets.
    Adlai Stevenson 1900–65 American Democratic politician: Leon Harris The Fine Art of Political Wit (1965)
26. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don't listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas. People—powerful people— listen to what they have to say. But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders.
    Lawrence H. Summers 1954–  American economist: advice given to Elizabeth Warren in spring 2009, and recalled by her in A Fighting Chance (2014)
27. In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.
    Margaret Thatcher 1925–2013 British Conservative stateswoman; Prime Minister, 1979–90: in People (New York) 15 September 1975
28. A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years.
    Harry S. Truman 1884–1972 American Democratic statesman, 33rd President 1945–53: in New York World Telegram and Sun 12 April 1958