American Politician Quotes

When Theodore Roosevelt asked for a legal justification for the acquisition of the Panama Canal project:

Oh, Mr President, do not let so great an achievement suffer from any taint of legality.

Philander C. Knox

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.... When all other friends desert, he remains.

George Graham Vest

Hillary Clinton was for the Iran agreement. And I can't support someone who is for the Iran agreement.... In my case, I'll be writing in General Colin Powell. That, I think, would be the best person.

Has he paid his dues? Is he black enough? … John Lewis and I were out there marching and organizing sit-ins back in the '60s so that his children and my children would not have to do it. … We would have been failures if [Obama] had to do the same things we did.

Of Idaho:

It is a melancholy strange-looking country, one of fractures and violence and fire.

John C. Frémont

For the Christian man to reason that God does not want him involved in politics because there are too many evil men in government is as insensitive as for a Christian doctor to turn his back on an epidemic because there are too many germs there.

Political society wants things simple. Political scientists know them to be complex... One could argue that, in part, the leftist impulse is so conspicuous among the educated and well-to-do precisely because they are exposed to more information, and are accordingly forced to choose between living with the strains of complexity, or lapsing into simplism.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Well, you know, that's the problem in America, we're always having elections.

The people as a body cannot deliberate. Nevertheless, they will feel an irresistible impulse to act, and their resolutions will be dictated to them by their demagogues... and the violent men, who are the most forward to gratify those passions, will be their favorites. What is called the government of the people is in fact too often the arbitrary power of such men. Here, then, we have the faithful portrait of democracy.

I am not elevating women to sainthood, nor am I suggesting that all women share the same views, or that all women are good and all men bad.

Fundamentalists tell us to fear the specter of special rights for gay citizens, though of course gay Americans aren't after special rights - merely equal rights. The irony is that special rights actually do exist in this country-for religious groups.

Those not favorable to the money trust could be squeezed out of business and the people frightened into demanding changes in the banking and currency laws which the Money Trust would frame.

Charles August Lindbergh

I care not whether the soldiers are of Milesian, Teutonic, African or Angelo-Saxon descent. I despise the principle that make a difference between them in the hour of battle and of death.

Thaddeus Stevens

America will not die. As the time demands them, great men will appear, and by their combined efforts render liberty and happiness more secure. The people will be ready and answer in every emergency that may arise.

Charles E. Nash

This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there - with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.

We can put cybersecurity first if we just make sure the next secretary of state doesn't have a private server.

A fellow from Texas can tell the difference between grass-roots and AstroTurf.

When the Republican Party is no longer the party of fiscal conservatism then clearly I would argue that we've lost our way.

I have a lot to weigh: the basis of public service, which I've given my life to, a career choice. And most importantly, what I want to do as a parent. I know something about the White House. That, I assume, is one of the reasons that President-elect Obama would like me to serve. But I also know something about what it means to a family.

The countries of the American continent and the adjacent islands are for the United States the natural marts of supply and demand.

Chester A. Arthur

Beam me up. The IRS does not need more workers. The IRS does not need more money. These stumbling, fumbling, bumbling mistake-prone nincompoops have got to go.

James Traficant

When we as people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth — even on what may seem the most trivial of matters — we go wobbly on America.

Dave Barry:: Are you really Dick Armey?
Dick Armey:: Yes, I am Dick Armey. And if there is a dick army, Barney Frank would want to join up.

No man should live where he can hear his neighbor's dog bark.

Nathaniel Macon

The Democratic Party is like a mule—without pride of ancestry or hope of posterity.

Ignatius L. Donnelly