Politics Quotes

"Taxes are a theatrical prop: a 'useful illusion.'"

"Indifference is the dead weight of history. It is the ballast which retards mankind."

"State and civil society are merely practical divisions of the same ethical substance."

"The working class must become conscious of itself as a historical force."

"The state is not merely repressive but also consensual in nature."

"In matters of policy, the voice of the people is the voice of truth."

"Bad government makes for bad citizens."

"The foundation of all morals is utility; the foundation of all politics is power."

"The true science of politics is the science of human happiness."

"The working man has no country."

"Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps."

"The bourgeoisie produce their own grave-diggers."

"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."

"The struggle between capital and labor will determine the future of civilization."

"Sexuality is not a natural given upon which power comes to play, rather it is a historical construct wherein discourse shapes desire itself."

"We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."

"There is no greater folly than to suppose that a government can make a people prosperous by legislative enactment."

"A government that governs best governs least, yet it must govern with purpose."

"The stability of a nation depends on the stability of its institutions, not the personality of its leaders."

"In politics, timing is everything; the right idea at the wrong time is still the wrong idea."

"You cannot invent a better system than self government, but you can fall into something much worse."

"The question is upon a much higher plane than your party politics."

"The great tradition of parliamentary government has its roots in trial and error."

"The very essence of good government is the will of the people."

"I repeat that in this country the pocket is the nerve of political action."

"The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians."

"A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy."

"There is no gambling like politics."

"A man who has to be convinced to vote is probably not an intelligent man."

"What is conservatism but the politics of nostalgia."