Politician

Explore 1184 quotes by Politicians

The attitude above all others which I feel sure is no longer valid is the arrogance of power, the tendency of great nations to equate power with virtue and major responsibilities with a universal mission.

J. William Fulbright

The Arrogance of Power

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Topic

International politics

Author

J. William Fulbright

Source

The Arrogance of Power

Language

English

Time

1966 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fulbright, J. William. The Arrogance of Power. Random House, 1966, introduction.

That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

Richard Henry Lee

Lee Resolution

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Topic

American Revolution

Author

Richard Henry Lee

Source

Lee Resolution

Language

English

Time

1776 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lee, Richard Henry. Lee Resolution. 2 July 1776.

A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; a republic is a raft which will never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.

Fisher Ames

More information about this quote

Topic

Monarchy Democracy Downsides of democracy Political theory

Speaker

Fisher Ames

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1795 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ames, Fisher. Address in the House of Representatives. House of Representatives. 1795, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Ames, Fisher. Quoted in A Miracle Mirrored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective, written by Henk van Nierop, edited by Karel Davids and Jan Lucassen. Cambridge University Press, 2011, ch. 2.

Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, while there is a lower class I am in it, while there is a criminal element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

Eugene Debs

More information about this quote

Topic

Underdogs Outsiders and outcasts

Author

Eugene Debs

Medium

Courtroom speech Speech

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Federal Court. US v. Eugene V. Debs. RG 21, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Criminal Case Files, 1912–1977, Criminal Case #4057. 9. NYT, 18 Sept. 1918.

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

Moshe Dayan

More information about this quote

Topic

Making peace

Speaker

Moshe Dayan

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Dayan, Moshe. Quoted in Newsweek. 17 Oct. 1977.

The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.

Edwin Edwards

More information about this quote

Topic

Political campaigns Political scandals

Speaker

Edwin Edwards

Medium

Speech

Statement Type

Political joke Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1983 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Edwards, Edwin. Spoken while campaigning for governor of Louisiana. 1983, LA, USA.

If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

Calvin Coolidge

More information about this quote

Topic

Equality Political progress Political theory American founding

Speaker

Calvin Coolidge

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1926 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coolidge, Calvin. Speech on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 5 July 1926, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

But, as the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from the womb and the long gestation of progressive history, so the American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off a given time by the brain and purpose of man.

William E. Gladstone

Kin Beyond Sea

More information about this quote

Topic

US Constitution

Author

William E. Gladstone

Source

Kin Beyond Sea North American Review

Language

English

Time

1878 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gladstone, William E. "Kin Beyond Sea." North American Review, Sept. 1878 - Oct. 1878.

Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?

J. Parnell Thomas

Standard question asked of witnesses testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

More information about this quote

Topic

Red Scare Cold War American politics

Speaker

J. Parnell Thomas

Medium

Congressional hearing

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Thomas, J. Parnell. Hearing on communist influences in the motion picture industry. 30 Oct. 1947, Washington, DC, USA.

I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.

Caesar Augustus

Quoted in Lives of the Caesars, by Suetonius

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Read The Life of Caesar Augustus at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Rome

Speaker

Caesar Augustus

Author

Suetonius

Source

Lives of the Caesars

Medium

Biography

Genre

Historical literature

Statement Type

Boast

Language

Latin

Time

121 120s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Augustus, Caesar. Quoted in De vita Caesarum [About the Life of the Caesars], written by Suetonius. c. 121.

Current Citation

Augustus, Caesar. Quoted in The Lives of the Caesars, written by Suetonius, translated by Catharine Edwards. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Laws are silent in time of war.

Cicero

Pro Milone

More information about this quote

Topic

Rule of law Law Legal theory Political theory War

Speaker

Cicero

Source

Pro Milone

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

Latin

Time

52 BC 50s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Pro Milone [In Defense of Milo]. c. 52 BC, sect. 11.

Current Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Pro Milone [For Milo], translated by D. H. Berry. Oxford University Press, 2009, sect. 11.

He who knows most, knows best how little he knows.

Thomas Jefferson

More information about this quote

Topic

Intellectual humility

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1812 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Thomas Jefferson’s Batture Pamphlet. 25 Feb. 1812.

Speeches measured by the hour, die with the hour.

Thomas Jefferson

More information about this quote

Topic

Talking too much

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Medium

Letter

Genre

Political writing

Language

English

Time

1824 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to David Harding. 20 Apr. 1824.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "Mr. David Harding, President of the Jefferson Debating Society of Hingham, April 20, 1824." The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Including the Autobiography, The Declaration of Independence & His Public and Private Letters, edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. Modern Library, 1998.

If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution—certainly would if such a right were a vital one.

Abraham Lincoln

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

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More information about this quote

Topic

Minority rights American politics

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1861 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1861, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "First Inaugral Address, March 4, 1861." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 2018.

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.

George W. Bush

2002 State of the Union Address

More information about this quote

Topic

Axis of evil War on Terrorism 9-11

Speaker

George W. Bush

Source

2002 State of the Union Address Presidential State of the Union address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

2002 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Bush, George W. Address before a joint session of the Congress on the State of the Union. Joint session of Congress. 29 Jan. 2002, US Capitol Building, Washington DC, USA.

If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

Thomas Jefferson

First Inaugural Address of Thomas Jefferson

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Topic

Power of truth Political liberalism

Speaker

Thomas Jefferson

Source

First Inaugural Address of Thomas Jefferson Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1801 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1801, Senate Chamber, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

The great story here... Is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.

Hillary Rodham Clinton

More information about this quote

Topic

Monica Lewinsky scandal American politics

Speaker

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Source

Today

Medium

Interview TV program

Language

English

Time

1998 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clinton, Hillary. Interview on Today. NBC Television, 27 Jan. 1998.

A man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

Barack Obama

First Inaugural Address of Barack Obama

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More information about this quote

Topic

American politics

Speaker

Barack Obama

Source

First Inaugural Address of Barack Obama Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

2009 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Obama, Barack. "First Inaugural Address." 20 Jan. 2009, West Front, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to.

Adolf Hitler

Mein Kampf

More information about this quote

Topic

Propaganda

Author

Adolf Hitler

Source

Mein Kampf

Genre

Political literature Autobiography and memoir

Language

German

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf [My Struggle]. Vol. 1, Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH, 1925, ch. 6.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.

Thomas Jefferson

More information about this quote

Topic

Downsides of freedom Freedom

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1791 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Archibald Stuart. 23 Dec. 1791.