George Washington Plunkitt Quotes

65 Sourced Quotes

The politicians who make a lastin' success in politics are the men who are always loyal to their friends, even up to the gate of State prison, if necessary; men who keep their promises and never lie.

George Washington Plunkitt
Every good man looks after his friends, and any man who doesn't isn't likely to be popular.

George Washington Plunkitt
The politician who steals is worse than a thief. He is a fool. With the grand opportunities all around for a man with a political pull, there's no excuse for stealin' a cent.

George Washington Plunkitt
There's an honest graft, and I'm an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin': 'I seen my opportunities and I took 'em.'

George Washington Plunkitt
The Raines liquor law is infamous. It takes away nearly all the profits of the saloonkeepers, and then turns in a large part of the money to the State treasury to relieve the hayseeds from taxes.

George Washington Plunkitt
He eats corned beef and kosher meat with equal nonchalance, and it's all the same to him whether he takes off his hat in the church or pulls it down over his ears in the synagogue.

George Washington Plunkitt
What did the people mean when they voted for Tammany? What is representative government, anyhow? Is it all a fake that this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people? If it isn't a fake, then why isn't the people's voice obeyed and Tammany men put in all the offices?

George Washington Plunkitt
The Wall Street banker thinks it shameful to raise a department clerk's salary from $1500 to $1800 a year, but every man who draws a salary himself says: That's all right. I wish it was me. And he feels very much like votin' the Tammany ticket on election day, just out of sympathy.

George Washington Plunkitt
Richard Croker used to say that tellin' the truth and stickin' to his friends was the political leader's stock in trade.

George Washington Plunkitt
The most successful saloonkeepers don't drink themselves and they understand that my temperance is a business proposition, just like their own.

George Washington Plunkitt
Brought up in Tammany Hall, he has learned how to reach the hearts of the great mass of voters. He does not bother about reaching their heads. It is his belief that arguments and campaign literature have never gained votes.

George Washington Plunkitt
The men who rule have practiced keepin' their tongues still, not exercisin' them.

George Washington Plunkitt
The Democratic party of the nation ain't dead, though it's been givin' a lifelike imitation of a corpse for several years.

George Washington Plunkitt
If I have a good thing to hand out in private life, I give it to a friend. Why shouldn't I do the same in public life?

George Washington Plunkitt
I ain't up on sillygisms, but I can give you some arguments that nobody can answer.

George Washington Plunkitt
Men ain't in politics for nothin'. They want to get somethin' out of it.

George Washington Plunkitt
I know it's an awful temptation, the hankerin' to show off your learnin'. I've felt it myself, but I always resist it. I know the awful consequences.

George Washington Plunkitt
If you have been to college, so much the worse for you. You'll have to unlearn all you learned before you can get right down to human nature, and unlearnin' takes a lot of time. Some men can never forget what they learned at college.

George Washington Plunkitt
There's the biggest kind of a difference between political looters and politicians who make a fortune out of politics by keepin' their eyes wide open. The looter goes in for himself alone without considerin' his organization or his city. The politician looks after his own interests, the organization's interests, and the city's interests all at the same time. See the distinction?

George Washington Plunkitt
What's the use of havin' ill-smellin' gashouses if there's no votes in them?

George Washington Plunkitt
Everybody is talkin' these days about Tammany men growin' rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin' the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft.

George Washington Plunkitt
Before midnight we were all in bed, and next mornin' we were up bright and early attendin' to business, while other men were nursin' swelled heads. Is there anything the matter with temperance as a pure business proposition?

George Washington Plunkitt
There's always a certain number of suckers and a certain number of men lookin' for a chance to take them in, and the suckers are sure to be took one way or another. It's the everlastin' law of demand and supply.

George Washington Plunkitt
Of course, the day may come when we'll reject the money of the rich as tainted, but it hadn't come when I left Tammany Hall at 11:25 A.M. today.

George Washington Plunkitt
The railroad is a great public institution, and I was never an enemy of public institutions.

George Washington Plunkitt
I knew what was comin' when a young Irishman drops whisky and takes to beer and long pipes in a German saloon. That young man is today one of the wildest Anarchists in town.

George Washington Plunkitt
Jimmy O'Brien brought the manufacture of Democracies down to an exact science, and reduced the cost of production so as to bring it within the reach of all. Any man with $50 can now have a Democracy of his own.

George Washington Plunkitt
I know more than one young man in past years who worked for the ticket and was just overflowin' with patriotism, but when he was knocked out by the civil service humbug he got to hate his country and became an Anarchist.

George Washington Plunkitt
You can't be patriotic on a salary that just keeps the wolf from the door.

George Washington Plunkitt
The time is comin' and though I'm no youngster, I may see it, when New York City will break away from the State and become a state itself.

George Washington Plunkitt