We've made it our job to post stupid politician quotes, but sharing thought-provoking quotes from smart political leaders is our joy.
Good political quotes offer a glimpse of the past that can help us understand the present and guide us to a better future.
In this post, we round up some of the best political quotes about politicians, politics and government you'll find — quotes that help us see our country as it is and, hopefully, inspire us to make it as it should be.
» Quotes that Define Politics
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.
—Oscar Ameringer
The word “politics” is derived from the word “poly,” meaning “many,” and the word “ticks,” meaning “blood-sucking parasites.”
—Larry Hardiman
It has been said that politics is the second-oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
—Ronald Reagan
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
—Groucho Marx
We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.
—Hubert H. Humphrey
» Thoughts on Political Careers
He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
—George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara (1907), act 3
Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.
—John Fitzgerald Kennedy
A promising young man should go into politics so that he can go on promising for the rest of his life.
—Robert Byrne
» Quotes on Who We Elect to Office
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. I'm beginning to believe it.
—Clarence Darrow
Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.
—George Jean Nathan
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
—Aesop
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.
—Often attributed to Plato
How come we choose from just two people to run for President and 50 for Miss America?
—Anonymous
We would all like to vote for the best man, but he is never a candidate.
—Unknown
The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected.
—Will Rogers
I have just received the following wire from my generous daddy: “Dear Jack: Don't buy a single vote more than necessary. I'll be damned if I am going to pay for a landslide.”
—John F. Kennedy
» Quotes About Politicians
Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
—Henry Kissinger
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.
—Texas Guinan
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
—John Quinton
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
—Doug Larson
I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
—Charles de Gaulle
Statesmen tell you what is true even though it may be unpopular. Politicians will tell you what is popular, even though it may be untrue.
—Anonymous
A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman of the next generation.
—James Freeman Clarke
When I hear a politician say something that makes no sense whatsoever, I think there's one of two things there: there's money, or the promise of money.
—Allan Boesak
In Mexico an air conditioner is called a politician because it makes a lot of noise but doesn't work very well.
—Len Deighton
» Notes on Congress
It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.
—Thomas Sowell
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.
—Ronald Reagan
If “pro” is the opposite of “con”, what is the opposite of “progress”?
—Paul Harvey
There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen and never enough U.S. congressmen.
—Sydney J. Harris
Congressmen are the only group in America who every two years have to go out and beg for their jobs.
—Cokie Roberts
Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.
—Mark Twain
When they call the roll in the Senate, Senators don't know whether to answer “present” or “not guilty.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
» Truths About Government
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
A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.
—Often attributed to Thomas Jefferson
If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand.
—Milton Friedman
Ours is a government of checks and balances. The mafia and crooked businessmen make out the checks and the politicians and other crooked businessmen improve their bank balances.
—Steve Allen
The mystery of government is not how Washington works, but how to make it stop.
—P. J. O'Rourke
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
—P. J. O'Rourke
Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.
—Milton Friedman
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: “I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”
—Ronald Reagan
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