71 Politician Quotes To Inspire

In the ever-evolving world of politics, words wield power. They inspire movements, challenge perceptions, and shape the course of history. Whether uttered in the halls of government or resonating through the voices of leaders past and present, political quotes often encapsulate the spirit and challenges of their times. In this collection, you'll find 71 of the most compelling quotes that offer a blend of wisdom, motivation, and insight. These words by influential figures not only aim to inspire but also provoke thought and reflection on the responsibilities and impact of leadership. Dive into this curated selection and rediscover the enduring power of political discourse.

1. “Conservative, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.” - Ambrose Bierce

2. “He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.” - George Bernard Shaw

3. “I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician” - Charlie Chaplin

4. “In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.” - H.L. Mencken

5. “Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either. ” - Gore Vidal

6. “Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers.” - George R.R. Martin

7. “The Bowery station on the J line is what happens to a neighborhood once politicians realize the people who live there don’t vote.” - Andrew Vachss

8. “LSD is a psychedelic drug which occasionally causes psychotic behavior in people who have NOT taken it.” - Timothy Leary

9. “Here is an old tradition badly in need of return: You have to earn your way into politics. You should go have a life, build a string of accomplishments, then enter public service....” - Peggy Noonan

10. “If politicians stopped meddling with things they don't understand, there would be a more drastic reduction in the size of government than anyone in either party advocates.” - Thomas Sowell

11. “[The American President] has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues.… The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make ’em behave. Well, all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.” - Harry S. Truman

12. “Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.” - Bertrand Russell

13. “Nothing so removes a man from his inner, mysterious, real life, nothing makes him so deaf and dumb as the picture of these petty passions and petty crimes which calls itself the world of politics.” - Vladimir Odoevsky

14. “My job is to find the politicians and the presidents and the pompous people who are telling other people how to live, powerful, visible creatures and ... go at them.” - Craig Ferguson

15. “I have a deep and profound mistrust of all politicians.” - Craig Ferguson

16. “He's an honest politician--he stays bought.” - Robert A. Heinlein

17. “Politics: “Poli” a Latin word meaning "many" and "tics" meaning "bloodsucking creatures".” - Myron Fagan

18. “A politician is a politician whether he's wearing a suit or a funny hat.” - Reza Aslan

19. “He was a consummate politician-- which is to say he was given to expedient speech and lacked even a vestigial spine.” - Nick Taylor

20. “Clinton and his cigar was so much greater a man than Bush and his rifle.” - Sebastian Barry

21. “God, you don't just barge in on my father, and definitely not my mother."No way. You check with their personal secretaries first. Check out their moods. Then you make an appointment to slip in. There are basic things you learn when your parents run a planet.” - Mike Shepherd

22. “You sanctimonious philistines, who scoff at me!What has your politics fed onsince you've been ruling the world?On butchery and murder!” - Charles de Coster

23. “You'll have a good, secure life when being alive means more to you than security, love more than money, your freedom more than public or partisan opinion, when the mood of Beethoven's or Bach's music becomes the mood of your whole life … when your thinking is in harmony, and no longer in conflict, with your feelings … when you let yourself be guided by the thoughts of great sages and no longer by the crimes of great warriors … when you pay the men and women who teach your children better than the politicians; when truths inspire you and empty formulas repel you; when you communicate with your fellow workers in foreign countries directly, and no longer through diplomats...” - Wilhelm Reich

24. “["The Devil in the Dark"] impressed me because it presented the idea, unusual in science fiction then and now, that something weird, and even dangerous, need not be malevolent. That is a lesson that many of today's politicians have yet to learn.” - Arthur C. Clarke

25. “Ask him about the cemeteries, Dean!” - Lyndon Baines Johnson

26. “Pops added,"you know, they say if you don't vote, you get the government you deserve.""And if you do, you never get the results you expected," (Katherine) replied.” - E.A. Bucchianeri

27. “However modest one may be in one's demand for intellectual cleanliness, one cannot help feeling, when coming into contact with the New Testament, a kind of inexpressible discomfiture: for the unchecked impudence with which the least qualified want to raise their voice on the greatest problems, and even claim to be judges of things, surpasses all measure. The shameless levity with which the most intractable problems (life, world, God, purpose of life) are spoken of, as if they were not problems at all but simply things that these little bigots KNEW!” - Friedrich Nietzsche

28. “Only one thing to it: a strong stomach. The guts to gladhand a man you're going to stab in the back; pledge allegiance to principles you stomp on every day; righteously denounce some despot in the press and sell him arms under the table. The talent to whip up the voters' worst passions while you seem to call on their highest instincts, and the sense to stay wrapped in the flag. That's politics: I'll take the simple life.” - Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

29. “he was one of those diplomats who like and know how to work, and, despite his laziness, he occasionally spent nights at his desk.” - Leo Tolstoy

30. “Political debate: when charlatans come together to discuss their principles.” - Bauvard

31. “The greater ignorance towards a country is not ignoring what its politicians have to say, it is ignoring what the inmates in its prisons have to say.” - Criss Jami

32. “Politics bores you?" Bronsen said.Julien smiled. "It does. Apologies, sir, and it is not that I haven't tried to be fascinated. But careful and meticulous research has suggested the hypothesis that all politicians are liars, fools, and tricksters, and I have as yet come across no evidence to the contrary. They can do great damage, and rarely any good. It is the job of the sensible man to try and protect civilization from their depradations.” - Iain Pears

33. “[Y]ou possess all the attributes of a demagogue; a screeching, horrible voice, a perverse, crossgrained nature and the language of the market-place. In you all is united which is needful for governing.” - Aristophanes

34. “You [demagogues] are like the fishers for eels; in still waters they catch nothing, but if they thoroughly stir up the slime, their fishing is good; in the same way it's only in troublous times that you line your pockets.” - Aristophanes

35. “Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.” - Aristophanes

36. “But then, he thought, most politicians are small and shabby, the sort of people who have been bullied at school.That's why they become politicians.” - Anthony Horowitz

37. “In any nation but the USA, it is taken for granted that a man of distinction, ability, wealth or power will keep a mistress and a few girlfriends on the side. Only in America, still suffering from its grotesque, hypocritical Puritan heritage, do we persist in attempting to deny and repeal a million years of basic primate biology.” - Edward Abbey

38. “Today many of these selfish politicians are preying on the nation itself – (belching corruption and farting discontent!)” - Faraaz Kazi

39. “All they do is warm their seats for their long tenures and eventually even their seats get dilapidated with the amount of money they hog in illegally and the only way it comes out is by tilting their huge pot-bellied frames to one side and emitting poisonous gases that not only depreciate their beloved seats but also the nation as a whole and then they shout ‘Global Warming.’ Hallelujah!” - Faraaz Kazi

40. “How strange it is that the house of these hedonic stalwarts is filled with all the luxuries of life, right from plasma televisions to Swiss bank cheque books. So how will they notice the tonnes of food grains rotting in the northern belt?” - Faraaz Kazi

41. “The mistake our politicians so often make with these industry leaders is in thinking they are interested in, or respectful of, the power of government. All they want is to keep stealing. If you can offer them the government’s seal of approval on that, they’ll take it. But if you can’t, well, they’ll take that too.” - Matt Taibbi

42. “Our leaders know we’re turning into a giant ghetto and they are taking every last hubcap they can get their hands on before the rest of us wake up and realize what’s happened.” - Matt Taibbi

43. “Politicians tend only to like democracy when it is to their personal advantage(From LONE WOLF, p.50)” - Len Webster

44. “Tous les hommes politiques d'aujourd'hui, selon Pontevin, sont un peu danseurs, et tous les danseurs se mêlent de politique, ce qui, toutefois, ne devrait pas nous amener à les confondre. Le danseur se distingue de l'homme politique ordinaire en ceci qu'il ne désire pas le pouvoir mais la gloire ; il ne désire pas imposer au monde telle ou telle organisation sociale (il s'en soucie comme d'une guigne) mais occuper la scène pour faire rayonner son moi.” - Milan Kundera

45. “pour occuper la scène il faut en repousser les autres. Ce qui suppose une technique de combat spéciale. le combat que mène le danseur, Pontevin l'appelle le judo moral ; le danseur jette le gant au monde entier : qui est capable de se montrer plus moral (plus courageux, plus honnête, plus sincère, plus disposé au sacrifice, plus véridique) que lui ? Et il manie toutes les prises qui lui permettent de mettre l'autre dans une situation moralement inférieure.” - Milan Kundera

46. “Si un danseur a la possibilité d'entrer dans le jeu politique, il refusera ostensiblement toutes les négociations secrètes (qui sont depuis toujours le terrain de jeu de la vraie politique) en les dénonçant comme mensongères, malhonnêtes, hypocrites, sales ; il avancera ses propositions publiquement, sur une estrade, en chantant, en dansant, et appellera nommément les autres à le suivre dans son action ; j'insiste : non pas discrètement (pour donner à l'autre le temps de réfléchir, de discuter des contrepropositions) mais publiquement, et si possible par surprise : "Êtes-vous prêt tout de suite (comme moi) à renoncer à votre salaire du mois de mars au profit des enfants de Somalie ?" Surpris, les gens n'auront que deux possibilités : ou bien refuser et ainsi se discréditer en tant qu'ennemis des enfants, ou bien dire "oui" dans un terrible embarras que la caméra devra malicieusement montrer (chapitre 6)” - Milan Kundera

47. “Il peut arriver des situations (dans les régimes dictatoriaux, par exemple) où prendre publiquement position est dangereux ; pour le danseur ce l'est pourtant un peu moins que pour les autres, car, s'étant promené sous la lumière des projecteurs, visible de partout, il est protégé par l'attention du monde ; mais il a ses admirateurs anonymes qui, obéissant à son appel aussi splendide qu'irréfléchie, signent des pétitions, participent à des réunions interdites, manifestent dans la rue ; ceux-là seront traités sans ménagement et le danseur ne cédera jamais à la tentation sentimentale de se reprocher d'avoir causé leur malheur, sachant qu'une noble cause pèse plus que la vie d'un tel ou un tel. (chapitre 6)” - Milan Kundera

48. “Celui qui éprouve de l'aversion pour les danseurs et veut les dénigrer se heurtera toujours à un obstacle infranchissable : leur honnêteté ; car en s'exposant constamment au public, le danseur se condamne à être irréprochable ; il n'a pas conclu comme Faust un contrat avec le Diable, il l'a conclu avec l'Ange : il veut faire de sa vie une oeuvre d'art et c'est dans ce travail que l'Ange l'aide ; car, n'oublie pas, la danse est un art ! C'est dans cette obsession de voir en sa propre vie la matière d'une oeuvre d'art que se trouve la vraie essence du danseur ; il ne prêche pas la morale, il la danse ! Il veut émouvoir et éblouir le monde par la beauté de sa vie ! il est amoureux de sa vie comme un sculpteur peut être amoureux de la statue qu'il est en train de modeler." (chapitre 6)” - Milan Kundera

49. “I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere, for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intellegent, and respectable man what decision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of his wisdom and honesty, nevertheless? Can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as his only AVAILABLE one, thus proving that he is himself AVAILABLE for any purposes of the demagogue. His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have been bought.” - Henry David Thoreau

50. “No politician should ever let himself be photographed in a bathing suit.” - Adolf Hitler

51. “Under every stone lurks a politician.” - Aristophanes

52. “Politics is good; when it works properly, disagreements get solved without people beating each other up. But when a regime knows its days are numbered, there's always the chance it may use its position to change the rules and make the debate it is losing irrelevant.” - Vernor Vinge

53. “In their quest for power and self-importance, to compensate for whatever feelings of social inadequacy or sexual insecurity, they (Politicians)are prepared to perpetrate something which is hard to distinguish from mass murder if they think they can get away with it...” - Auberon Waugh

54. “Your right of religious freedom ends where my right of religious abstinence begins...” - T. Rafael Cimino

55. “Politics is so difficult, it's generally only people who aren't quite up to the task who feel convinced they are.” - Alain De Botton

56. “Prolific irony - For 8 years, the finger on the button that could end the world belonged to a president who couldn't pronounce the word "nuclear.” - T. Rafael Cimino

57. “a politician is an arse uponwhich everyone has sat except a man” - E.E. Cummings

58. “Before the nineteen-seventies, most Republicans in Washington accepted the institutions of the welfare state, and most Democrats agreed with the logic of the Cold War. Despite the passions over various issues, government functioned pretty well. Legislators routinely crossed party lines when they voted, and when they drank; filibusters in the Senate were reserved for the biggest bills; think tanks produced independent research, not partisan talking points. The "D." or "R." after a politician's name did not tell you what he thought about everything, or everything you thought about him.” - George Packer

59. “The PM glanced a look of pure malevolence. A terrifying glimpse into what madness, ego and naked ambition it takes to lead a modern democracy.” - Alan Dean

60. “Live Like a Raj Thakare and Die Like a Balasaheb Thakare.” - Sagar Ugale

61. “Money is a servant to politicians and the country.But, if the politicians and the country become the servant of the money, the politicians has failed.” - Oliver Kemper

62. “A politician has an axe to grindWith which he aims to chop off half your mind.” - Chris Naylor

63. “However...," Satan said.Bick sighed. "However, I didn't count on the growing interference of lawyers, regulators, bureaucrats and politicians into my business. I swear it seems that every year they stick their noses into more and more."Lucifer chuckled. "Sorry about that-I outdid myself there.” - R.S. Belcher

64. “The eternal sea of politics is best left to politicians.” - Wayne Gerard Trotman

65. “As it is not a settled question, you must clear your mind of the fancy withwhich we all begin as children, that the institutions under which we live,including our legal ways of distributing income and allowing people to own things, are natural, like the weather. They are not. Because they exist everywhere in our little world, we take it for granted that they have always existed and must always exist, and that they are self-acting. That is a dangerous mistake. They are in fact transient makeshifts; and many of them would not be obeyed, even by well-meaning people, if there were not a policeman within call and a prison within reach. They are being changed continually by Parliament, because we are never satisfied with them.... At the elections some candidates get votes by promising to make new laws or to get rid of old ones, and others by promising to keep things just as they are. This is impossible. Things will not stay as they are.Changes that nobody ever believed possible take place in a few generations. Children nowadays think that spending nine years in school, oldage and widows’ pensions, votes for women, and short-skirted ladies in Parliament or pleading in barristers’ wigs in the courts are part of the order of Nature, and always were and ever shall be; but their great-grandmothers would have set down anyone who told them that such things were coming as mad, and anyone who wanted them to come as wicked.” - George Bernard Shaw

66. “If you put your politicians up for sale, as the US does (alone in this among industrialized democracies), then someone will buy them--and it won’t be you; you can’t afford them.” - Juan Cole

67. “Half of the people lie with their lips; the other half with their tears” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

68. “Don't think I know you," Harold said, grinning, as they shook. He had a firm grip. Larry's hand was pumped up and down exactly three times and let go. It reminded Larry of the time he had shaken hands with George Bush back when the old bushwhacker had been running for President. It had been at a political rally, which he had attended on the advice of his mother, given many years ago. If you can't afford a movie, go to the zoo. If you can't afford the zoo, go see a politician.” - Stephen King

69. “I make love like a snake disguised as an elephant and a donkey. But I mustn’t talk about sexual congress and Congress simultaneously.
” - Dark Jar Tin Zoo

70. “The special skill of the politician consists in knowing what passions can be most easily aroused, and how to prevent them, when aroused, from being harmful to himself and his associates...Moreover, since politicians are divided into rival groups, they aim at similarly dividing the nation, unless they have the good fortune to unite it in war against some other nation.” - Bertrand Russell

71. “The only kind of appeal that wins any instinctive response in party politics is an appeal to hostile feeling; the men who perceive the need of cooperation are powerless. Until education has been directed for a generation into new channels, and the Press has abandoned incitements to hatred, only harmful policies have any chance of being adopted in practice by our present political methods. But there is no obvious means of altering education and the Press until our political system is altered. From this dilemma there is no issue by means of ordinary action, at any rate for a long time to come. The best that can be hoped, it seems to me, is that we should, as many of us as possible, become political skeptics, rigidly abstaining from belief in the various attractive party programmes that are put before us from time to time.” - Bertrand Russell