Great Political Quotes

Colpy

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 5, 2005
21,887
848
113
71
Saint John, N.B.
"A year ago, my approval rate was in the 30s, my nominee for the Spreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone. Ahhhhh, those were the good old days!"

George W Bush
 

Dexter Sinister

Unspecified Specialist
Oct 1, 2004
10,168
539
113
Regina, SK
Jeez, did Bush really say that? What a loon.

One of my favourites has always been a remark of Trudeau's (not that I'm a fan of his, but he was clever) to the effect that "I know the members opposite disagree, I can hear them shaking their heads."
 

Kreskin

Doctor of Thinkology
Feb 23, 2006
21,155
149
63
"If you're going through hell, keep going."

Winston Churchill
 

Dexter Sinister

Unspecified Specialist
Oct 1, 2004
10,168
539
113
Regina, SK
Ah, Sir Winston, now there was a guy with a great gift for phrase making.

Lady Astor: If you were my husband, I'd poison your coffee.
Churchill: If I were your husband, I'd drink it.
 

Colpy

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 5, 2005
21,887
848
113
71
Saint John, N.B.
Jeez, did Bush really say that? What a loon.

One of my favourites has always been a remark of Trudeau's (not that I'm a fan of his, but he was clever) to the effect that "I know the members opposite disagree, I can hear them shaking their heads."

Yeah, I'm no fan of Trudeau, but after it was revealed Nixon had called him a number of uncomplimentary things he said "I've been called worse things by better people"
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
193
63
Nakusp, BC
"Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important." - Eugene McCarthy
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
17,878
61
48
Ottawa, ON
Winston Churchill was eloquent even at his most imperialistic:

"It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious middle temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representative of the king-emperor."
- Winston Churchill, 1930
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
17,878
61
48
Ottawa, ON
Leo Tolstoy:

A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite.

Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

He never chooses an opinion; he just wears whatever happens to be in style.

I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.

If there existed no external means for dimming their consciences, one-half of the men would at once shoot themselves, because to live contrary to one's reason is a most intolerable state, and all men of our time are in such a state.

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.

One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.

The chief difference between words and deeds is that words are always intended for men for their approbation, but deeds can be done only for God.

Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.

War on the other hand is such a terrible thing, that no man, especially a Christian man, has the right to assume the responsibility of starting it.

We must not only cease our present desire for the growth of the state, but we must desire its decrease, its weakening.

Six years ago I received an Esperanto grammar, vocabulary, and articles written in the language. After not more than two hours' study I was able, if not to write the language, at any rate to read it freely.... I have often noted how men are brought into unfriendly relations merely through material hindrance to mutual comprehension. The learning and spreading of Esperanto is therefore undoubtedly a Christian movement, helping to create the Kingdom of God, which is the chief and only aim of human life.
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
17,878
61
48
Ottawa, ON
Mahatma Gandhi:

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.

A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal.

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Be the change that you want to see in the world.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way in which its animals are treated.

I am in favor of a standardized calendar for the whole world, just as I am in favor of a universal coinage for all countries, and a supplementary artificial language (like Esperanto, for example) for all peoples... I am always ready to endorse any honest movement which will help unify the peoples of the world."​
Journal of Calendar Reform, 1931




 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
193
63
Nakusp, BC
"No poor bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making other bastards die for their country." George Smith Patton
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
17,878
61
48
Ottawa, ON
George Dubya (double-u) Bush:

"I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2008

"You know, I'm the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President." --George W. Bush, ABC News interview, Dec. 1, 2008

"I've been in the Bible every day since I've been the president." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2008

"Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2008

"The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there's a lot of prayer -- prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I'm one of them." --George W. Bush, Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 3, 2008

"First of all, I don't see America having problems." --George W. Bush, interview with Bob Costas at the 2008 Olympics, Beijing, China, Aug. 10, 2008

"And they have no disregard for human life." --George W. Bush, on the brutality of Afghan fighters, Washington, D.C., July 15, 2008

"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." --George W. Bush, in parting words to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at his final G-8 Summit, punching the air and grinning widely as the two leaders looked on in shock, Rusutsu, Japan, July 10, 2008

I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

"How can you possibly have an international agreement that's effective unless countries like China and India are not full participants?" --George W. Bush, Camp David, April 19, 2008

"We want people owning their home -- we want people owning a businesses." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 18, 2008

"So long as I'm the president, my measure of success is victory -- and success." --George W. Bush, on Iraq, Washington, D.C., April 17, 2008

"Thank you, your Holiness. Awesome speech." --George W. Bush, to Pope Benedict, Washington, D.C., April 15, 2008

Afghanistan is the most daring and ambition mission in the history of NATO." --George W. Bush, Bucharest, Romania, April 2, 2008

"Let me start off by saying that in 2000 I said, 'Vote for me. I'm an agent of change.' In 2004, I said, 'I'm not interested in change --I want to continue as president.' Every candidate has got to say 'change.' That's what the American people expect." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 5, 2008

"And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq." --George W. Bush, to Army Gen. Ray Odierno, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2008

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Feb. 28, 2008

"I'm oftentimes asked, What difference does it make to America if people are dying of malaria in a place like Ghana? It means a lot. It means a lot morally, it means a lot from a -- it's in our national interest." --George W. Bush, Accra, Ghana, Feb. 20, 2008

"I can press when there needs to be pressed; I can hold hands when there needs to be -- hold hands." --George W. Bush, on how he can contribute to the Middle East peace process, Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2008

 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
193
63
Nakusp, BC
"The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces." Maureen Murphy