On Politics
cur-mudg-eon (cur-muj”un), n. [origin unknown] 1. archaic: a crusty, ill-tempered, churlish old man. 2. modern: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner.
“Sir, I would rather be right than be President.”
— Henry Clay
“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”
— Paulo Freire
“Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”
— John Kenneth Galbraith
“We need a president who’s fluent in at least one language.”
— Buck Henry
“Asking an incumbent member of Congress to vote for term limits is a bit like asking a chicken to vote for Colonel Sanders.”
— Bob Inglis
“Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled.”
— Pope Julius III
“It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.”
— Niccolo Machiavelli
“It is dangerous for a national candidate to say things that people might remember.”
— Eugene McCarthy
“If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.”
— H. L. Mencken
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
— P. J. O”Rourke
“Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
— Boies Penrose
“In America, anybody can be president. That’s one of the risks you take.”
— Adlai Stevenson
