I don't look forward to a time when every politician, every legislator goes to Washington absolutely committed to an extreme point of view. Elected representatives are sent to Washington to compromise, not to never compromise.
A consensus politician is someone who does something that he doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it.
I've always seen my campaigns against corruption as political work of a purer form than what opposition leaders usually do. All they do is hold roundtables and release political statements, which is all well and good. But there are concrete things that need to get done in order to achieve the basic goal of every opposition politician.
There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten.
The Philippines is a country in which a man of morals can't be president, in which a politician who hasn't been linked to any wrongdoing isn't assumed to be honest, but merely better at hiding his corruption.
Life and people are complex. A writer as an artist doesn't have the personality of a politician. We don't see the world that simply.
If we would vote in mass on the more promising ticket, or, if the two are equally bad, would throw out the party that is in, and wait till the next election and then throw out the other party that is in - then, I say, the commercial politician would feel a demand for good government and he would supply it.
No politician is threatened by the child protective constituency, because it does not exist.
When you're a politician, someone always wants something from you, so they're constantly telling you how smart or great you are, and that can warp people! Exercising humility is important to me. My friends back home treat me like the same person I was when I was waiting tables.
A politician will do anything to keep his job, even become a patriot.
I didn't plan to be a politician. The founder of our country, David Ben-Gurion, called me from the kibbutz to serve in the underground. We were short of manpower, short of arms. I was 24 years old. I was supposed to serve my country for one or two years. I am 89 years old this year, and I keep going.
The greatest art of a politician is to render vice serviceable to the cause of virtue.
I'm a recovering politician.
At the moment I am a little bit politician, yes. I think that could be my next step. It is not because I want power, it is because of what I think I could do for the people.
I'm glad I'm not a politician.
But remember, I am no politician, and no seer into souls.
There is a difference between the typical politician and the statesman. A typical politician is that person who tells people what people want to hear, while the statesman tells people what people need to know.
The best way to lose weight is to close your mouth - something very difficult for a politician. Or watch your food - just watch it, don't eat it.
I answer that question by saying: 'Why Meg Whitman' which is: I'm not a career politician. I spent 30 years in business. I can tell you that people in California have had it with career politicians: they are done.
The vast majority of Americans perform sophisticated digital tasks on a daily basis. Grandmas and grandpas e-mail digital photos of their cruise trip and IM their kids in school. So a politician admitting that he or she can't bother to learn those things indicates a horse-and-buggy mentality.
If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.
I'm no politician. I'm an historian who has learned through a lifetime of studying that nothing in the world beats universal education.
It only takes a politician believing in what he says for the others to stop believing him.
When we win, it will tell every politician in America that if you are bold, if you do the right thing, if you tackle the tough issues, there will be people standing there right with you.
Nixon is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump for a speech on conservation.
America is just the country that how all the written guarantees in the world for freedom are no protection against tyranny and oppression of the worst kind. There the politician has come to be looked upon as the very scum of society.
The issue is not abortion. The issue is whether women can make up their own mind instead of some right-wing pastor, some right-wing politician telling them what to do.
Donald Trump is not a politician and has not been around the Hill like many of the other candidates were.
I'm not a politician. I'm not running for office. I can say what I think.
The first black president will be a politician who is black.
A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected.
When I'm not a politician, I'll be dead.
A politician ought to be born a foundling and remain a bachelor.
Few men could explain why they enlisted, and if they attempted they might only prove that they had done as a politician said the electorate does, the right thing from the wrong motive.
It is true that the politician, in his professional character, does not always, or even very often, conform to the most approved pattern of private conduct.
I'm not a politician. I'm not a lawyer. I'm just a country boy.
