By Soumitra Bose / Mukesh Kumar Sinha
Most Latest in Today’s Politics in India including Tripura {ruled by Commie-specialising Marxists CPI(M)}: is the profession which generates the strongest and most polarised of reactions in the (gullible, nincompoop, helpless) populace. That is scarcely surprising, as it is the profession which impinges on all our lives in the most ways. And the people who practice politics may be both loved and loathed, respected and ridiculed, or eulogised and feared by different sections of the India(n) Community.
The words they utter are listened to intently and some of these words pass into our history as the most profound and erudite of utterances, while some others pass into our history as quite frighteningly dim-witted nonsense.
The following is dedicated to political quotes, and to those who speak them.
ABOUT THE QUOTES : Politics is a serious business dealing with serious issues and it should be taken very seriously, and seriously intelligent people should pronounce on political matters.
So why is politics such a rich source of the inane, the illogical, the daft and the dumb? And why do politicians say such stupid things? Is it because the pressure of the job plays havoc with the mind when our leaders have to speak off the cuff? Is it because the media spotlight demands an instant answer to any problem however complex, and creates a paranoia which precludes clear thought? Or is it because the bright people have all been snapped up to do other things more productive and intellectual – like education or law or business or stacking the shelves in a supermarket?
To be serious, we are blessed with some statesmen whose service to their country is selfless and well-intentioned. And we have also been blessed with some who are genuinely gifted and clever political thinkers and courageous leaders. These people have contributed great wit and perception to our culture and some of the memorable remarks by these individuals are included here.
But unfortunately for every thought-provoking utterance by a statesman, there are countless less cerebral remarks by which other politicians are destined to be remembered – much to their chagrin! Some of these especially dim witted remarks are also included here.
Also included here are the thoughts of commentators, journalists and satirists who keep our leaders under perpetual scrutiny and who can observe the good, the bad and the ugly of the political world with an independent mind and a witty turn of phrase.
“My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break.”
“Sit by my side, and let the world slip: we shall ne’er be younger.”
“There’s small choice in rotten apples.”
“If I be waspish, best beware my sting.”
“You lie, in faith; for you are call’d plain Kate, And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst; But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate, For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate, Take this of me, Kate of my consolation; Hearing thy mildness praised in every town, Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded, Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs, Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.”
“The poorest service is repaid with thanks.”
FURTHER INTRODUCTION :
Politics is the profession which can generate the strongest and most polarised of reactions in the populace. That is scarcely surprising, as it is the profession which impinges on all our lives in the most ways. And the people who practice politics may be both loved and loathed, respected and ridiculed, or eulogised and feared by different sections of the community.
The words they utter are listened to intently and some of these words pass into our history as the most profound and erudite of utterances, while some others pass into our history as quite frighteningly dim-witted nonsense.
This page is dedicated to political quotes, and to those who speak them.
ABOUT THE QUOTES
Politics is a serious business dealing with serious issues and it should be taken very seriously, and seriously intelligent people should pronounce on political matters.
So why is politics such a rich source of the inane, the illogical, the daft and the dumb? And why do politicians say such stupid things? Is it because the pressure of the job plays havoc with the mind when our leaders have to speak off the cuff? Is it because the media spotlight demands an instant answer to any problem however complex, and creates a paranoia which precludes clear thought? Or is it because the bright people have all been snapped up to do other things more productive and intellectual – like education or law or business or stacking the shelves in a supermarket?
- To be serious, we are blessed with some statesmen whose service to their country is selfless and well-intentioned. And we have also been blessed with some who are genuinely gifted and clever political thinkers and courageous leaders. These people have contributed great wit and perception to our culture and some of the memorable remarks by these individuals are included here.
- But unfortunately for every thought-provoking utterance by a statesman, there are countless less cerebral remarks by which other politicians are destined to be remembered – much to their chagrin! Some of these especially dim witted remarks are also included here.
- Also included here are the thoughts of commentators, journalists and satirists who keep our leaders under perpetual scrutiny and who can observe the good, the bad and the ugly of the political world with an independent mind and a witty turn of phrase.
This then is my selection of 100 of the most memorable of all quotes, jokes, jibes and analyses of political life. Actually, there are 102 quotes – I begin and end with two universal truisms from the world of politics.
10 QUOTATIONS ABOUT POLITICIANS
- A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen – Winston Churchill
- An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere – Mark Twain
- Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word – Charles De Gaulle
- When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators – PJ O’Rourke
- 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
- Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber – Plato
- 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.
- Now I know what a statesman is; he’s a dead politician. We need more statesmen
- Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress ….. But I repeat myself
10 QUOTATIONS ABOUT THE JOB POLITICIANS DO
- Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy
- In politics, absurdity is not a handicap
- Practical politics consists in ignoring facts
- Nowhere are prejudices more mistaken for truth, passion for reason and invective for documentation than in 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
- Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country – and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians
- A promising young man should go into politics so that he can go on promising for the rest of his life
- We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics
- We have the best government that money can buy
- A lot has been said about politics; some of it complimentary, but most of it accurate
- All government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery
- Men write many fine and plausible arguments in support of monarchy, but the fact remains that where every man has a voice, brutal laws are impossible
- No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent
- Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable
- Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are the voters of this country
- Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be
- When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening, foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us
- Before we get too depressed about the state of our politics, let’s remember our history ….. Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. What is amazing, is that despite all the conflict, our experiment in democracy has worked better than any form of government on earth
- No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time
- Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man
The natural tendency of politicians in democracies is to gather together into political parties. And the natural tendency of parties is to spend their entire working lives attacking each other slavishly and mindlessly rather than listening and working together for a better life :
- No one party can fool all of the people all of the time; that’s why we have innumerable parties
- (A Conservative is) a statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others
- The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries
- Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party
- There are always too many Democratic Congressmen, too many Republican Congressmen, and never enough Indian Congressmen
5 QUOTATIONS ABOUT THE LIMITATIONS AND FAILINGS OF DEMOCRACY
But in the interest of giving a say to all sides – a necessary pre-requisite in a democracy – here are just a few quotes which reflect the downsides of democracy. I would argue that for all these downsides which always need to be held in mind, the alternatives – lawless anarchic society or the unrestrained rule by a minority – are infinitely worse:
- Truth is not determined by majority vote
- Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal
- Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few
- The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter
- Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve
5 GREEK QUOTATIONS WHICH SHOW THAT POLITICS REALLY HASN’T CHANGED IN 3000 YEARS
The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law
- Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you
- In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill, we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one
- We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office
- Under every stone lurks a politician
10 FINAL MISCELLANEOUS QUOTATIONS AND JOKES BY THE GREAT AND BY SOME OTHERS
- The word ‘politics’ is derived from the word ‘poly’, meaning ‘many’, and the word ‘ticks’, meaning ‘blood sucking parasites’
- If ‘pro’ is the opposite of ‘con’ what is the opposite of ‘progress’?
- How come we choose from just two people to run for president and fifty for Miss America?
- When the political columnists say ‘Every thinking man’ they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘Every intelligent voter’ they mean everybody who is going to vote for them
- Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind
- Tell the truth and you won’t have so much to remember
- Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves
- Mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom
- For NASA, space is still a high priority
- The problem with political jokes is they get elected