American Politician Quotes

After being asked to stop his long and tedious speech because no one was listening to him:

Never mind, I'm talking to Buncombe.

Buncombe, in North Carolina, was the place Felix represented. He coined the word 'bunk'

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.

Seldom has a battle, in which greater numbers were
not engaged, been so important in its consequences as that of Cowpens.

The workers of America have power enough to topple the structure of capitalism at home and to lift the whole world with them when they rise.

James P. Cannon

John Dewey, the educator said, no, no, let the free press report the truth to the American people and the needs will be reflected, to the congressmen and senators in Washington. And he was right. But they're not telling the truth anymore. They all were doing the headlines rather than headway. They're all getting by with perceptions; they're all getting by with pollster politics. They're not talking about the needs.

Ernest Hollings

There are two political parties in Delaware: the Du Ponts and the anti-Du Ponts, with the proviso that many Du Ponts are members of the anti-Du Pont family.

To engage in war is always to pick a wild card. And war must always be the last resort, not a first choice. I truly must question the judgment of any president who can say that a massive, unprovoked military attack on a nation which is over fifty percent children is 'in the highest moral traditions of our country.'

We come from not being and march toward not being: nothing between two nothings, zero between two zeros, and since between two nothings nothing can be, let's drink to the splendor of not being our bodies.

Julia de Burgos

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.

It is a revolution; a revolution of the most intense character; in which belief in the justice, prudence, and wisdom of secession is blended with the keenest sense of wrong and outrage, and it can no more be checked by human effort for the time than a prairie fire by a gardener's watering pot.

Judah P. Benjamin

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

This is destined to be a very wealthy portion of the United States, and, if to this we can add the most temperate, nothing will prevent our rising, and becoming a valuable acquisition to the union. Much power now lies in your hands, and, I sincerely hope, we may commence our new career with a law in our statute books, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits in Oregon territory.

George Abernethy

You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate.

Stand up for what you believe in, because you can fall for anything.

Les Brown (speaker)

Ambition is a passion, at once strong and insidious, and is very apt to cheat a man out of his happiness and his true respectability of character

Bad news drives out good news. The irrational is more controversial than the rational. Concurrence can no longer compete with dissent. One minute of Eldridge Cleaver is worth ten minutes of Roy Wilkins. The labor crises settled at the negotiating table is nothing compared to the confrontation that results in a strike... normality has become the nemesis of network news.

If you want criticisms, read the dissenting opinions of the Court. That will give you criticisms.

William Jennings Bryan

Leo Ryan's life and his deeds are about a life that was so much more than Guyana. He was relentless in his search for answers, answers that were not readily available by just asking questions... We remember him today because his story is so much like those of most Americans; we want to believe the best and we sometimes hear the worst.

What are we to do then? Shall we remain supine, while these daring strangers are overrunning our fertile plains, and gradually outnumbering and displacing us? Shall these incursions go on unchecked, until we shall become strangers in our own land?

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

We must proceed with a full realization that no statute enacted by man can repeal the inexorable laws of nature.

Warren G. Harding

I shall pursue a straight forward course deviating neither to the right or left so that comes what may I hope my real friends will never have to blush for me, so far as truth, honesty & fair dealings are concerned.

More and more parents are coming to realize their children are suffering at the hands of a system built to strangle any reform, any innovation, or any change.... This realization is becoming more evident as the momentum builds for an education revolution.

We will not cut one penny from the safety net until we've cut every penny from corporate welfare.

Representing the people of Oregon's Second District is an honor and a privilege. Covering more than 70,000 square miles in twenty counties throughout eastern, southern and central Oregon, our district is breathtaking and diverse.