Political Quotes

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[tje]

1. *Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. --Mark Twain

2. *We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. --Winston Churchill

3. *A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. --George Bernard Shaw

4. *A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. -- G. Gordon Liddy

5. *Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. --James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

6. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. --Douglas Casey, Classmate of W.J.Clinton at Georgetown U. (1992)

7. *Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. --P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

8. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. --Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

9. *Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan (1986)

10. *I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. --Will Rogers

11. *If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. --P.J. O'Rourke

12. *If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist. --Joseph Sobran, Editor of the National Review at one time (1995)

13. *In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. --Voltaire (1764)

14. *Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. --Pericles (430 B.C.)

15. *No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. --Mark Twain (1866)

16. *Talk is cheap-except when Congress does it. --(Unknown)

17. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. --Ronald Reagan

18. *The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. --Winston Churchill

19. *The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. --Mark Twain

20. *The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. --Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

21. *There is no distinctly native American criminal class save Congress. --Mark Twain

22. *What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. -- Edward Langley, Artist 1928-1995

[tje]

I'm sure you've heard these before, but it's a nice compilation... Add you're own...

[alwaysconservative]

Thanks for these! Some would make great tag lines. . .

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I found how the World had been misled by prostitute Writers, to ascribe the greatest Exploits in War to Cowards, the wisest Counsel to Fools, Sincerity to Flatterers, Roman Virtue to Betrayers of their Country, Piety to Atheists, Chastity to Sodomites, Truth to Informers. (III:8;5)

Here I discovered the secret Causes of many great Events that have surprized the World, how a Whore can Govern the Back-stairs, the Back-stairs a Council, and the Council a Senate. (III:8)

There was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black and black is white, according as they are paid. (IV:5)

For although few Men will avow their Desires of being immortal upon such hard Conditions ... he observed that every Man desired to put off Death for sometime longer, let it approach ever so late, and he rarely heard of any Man who died willingly, except he were incited by the Extremity of Grief or Torture. (III:10;12)

"... if my Neighbour hath a Mind to my Cow, he hires a Lawyer to prove that he ought to have my Cow from me." ( IV:5;13)

It is a Maxim among these Lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again:

Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift

[crude77]

I love these kind of post. I think it points out that once upon a time education was a process in which one learned to THINK.

I don't know if anyone famous said this, but when I ask my son what he did in geography today and he says nothing-I always respond "What did the rest of the class do?"

[tje]

You're correct.. and the NEA won't be allowing these quotes in the classroom.

I like your question to your son.

[rudypoot]

"Status quo, you know, that is Latin for "the mess we're in."

- Ronald Reagan, March 1981

[boris]

I believe number 15 is misattributed; my recollection is that it was Judge Gideon J. Tucker who said it.

Number 17 was originally "A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other" and I think was by Mark Twain.

Here's another: "The worst thing you can do to a man is to tell him he can have what he wants."--Twain, I think

[boris]

"This world is a tragedy to those who feel; a comedy to those who think." -- Horace Walpole (in a letter to Horace Mann!)