An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.
—Anonymous
48
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a
very close resemblance to the first.
—Ronald Reagan, 1977
***
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1882
Politics is the art of the possible.
—Otto Von Bismarck, 1867
Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the
unpalatable.
—John Kenneth Galbraith, 1962
Politics: a Trojan horse race.
—Stanisław Jerzy Lec, 1957
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
—Lester B. Pearson, 1982
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it
incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
—Ernest Benn, 1930
Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.
—Henry Adams, 1907
Politics is made up largely of irrelevancies.
—Dalton Camp, 2001
Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern
them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943
Politics and the fate of mankind are formed by men without ideals and without greatness.
Those who have greatness within them do not go in for politics.
—Albert Camus, 1962
Political language […] is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and
to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
—George Orwell, 1950
When a politician, on a subject implicating science says, ‘the debate is over’, you may be
sure of two things: the debate is raging, and he is losing it.
48
Frequently misattributed to American politician Simon Cameron (1799-1899).
180
On Government and Politics
—Anonymous
48
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a
very close resemblance to the first.
—Ronald Reagan, 1977
***
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1882
Politics is the art of the possible.
—Otto Von Bismarck, 1867
Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the
unpalatable.
—John Kenneth Galbraith, 1962
Politics: a Trojan horse race.
—Stanisław Jerzy Lec, 1957
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
—Lester B. Pearson, 1982
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it
incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
—Ernest Benn, 1930
Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.
—Henry Adams, 1907
Politics is made up largely of irrelevancies.
—Dalton Camp, 2001
Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern
them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943
Politics and the fate of mankind are formed by men without ideals and without greatness.
Those who have greatness within them do not go in for politics.
—Albert Camus, 1962
Political language […] is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and
to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
—George Orwell, 1950
When a politician, on a subject implicating science says, ‘the debate is over’, you may be
sure of two things: the debate is raging, and he is losing it.
48
Frequently misattributed to American politician Simon Cameron (1799-1899).
180
On Government and Politics