100+ Clever Political Quotes That Capture Power, Wit, and Wisdom

“Democracy is a process by which we select our representatives by giving them false promises.”

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a politician—preferably when I’m asleep.”

“If you think nobody cares whether you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.”

“The only thing worse than being in politics is not being in politics.”

“A politician is someone who can tell you tomorrow what they promised yesterday they’d do today.”

“If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”

“Government is like a baby: an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”

“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even where there are no rivers.”

“I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”

“Behind every great fortune lies a great crime—usually followed by a successful campaign.”

“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”

“Politics is not about ideals. It is about power—and how to get it, how to keep it, how to use it.”

“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.”

“He who has the gold makes the rules.”

“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”

“When you want to know what a man really believes, look at how he votes.”

“Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, it loses its shape.”

“You don’t win elections because you’re right. You win because you convince people you are.”

“Power doesn’t corrupt men; it reveals them.”

“The art of government is the organization of illusions.”

“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”

“Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.”

“Always forgive your enemies—nothing annoys them so much.”

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”

“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”

“Revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”

“I rebel; therefore I exist.”

“No tyrant can enslave a people who refuse to be slaves.”

“They can jail a revolutionary, but they can't jail the revolution.”

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”

“One day, the world will recognize that justice was on the side of the rebels.”

“The price of liberty is less than the price of repression.”

“If you want peace, you must fight for justice.”

“We didn’t start the fire, but we’ll be damned if we let it burn innocents.”

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity.”

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution.”

“To lead people, walk behind them.”

“A leader is a dealer in hope.”

“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

“Leadership is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in your charge.”

“A nation will not survive unless its leaders can rise above the narrow confines of pettiness.”

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing—especially during election season.”

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools—but first, we must stop funding each other’s wars.”

“Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never have been before—but only if the government approves.”

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means—unless it’s profitable otherwise.”

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet—but only if the bullets aren’t already paid for.”

“We are all equal before the law—unless you’re rich, connected, or white.”

“The press is free only if the people are free to ignore it.”

“We spend millions teaching children how to read, then give them textbooks written by politicians.”

“The government works for the people—until the lobbyists arrive.”

“We celebrate diversity but fund policies that erase it.”

“We demand transparency but reward secrecy.”

“We claim to value truth, yet elect those who lie the best.”

“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.”

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds…”

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

“Give me liberty, or give me death!”

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.”

“Yes, we can.”

“Fourscore and seven years ago…”

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

“Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”

“All governments are run by liars and thieves, and nothing they say should be believed.”

“The government is not here to help you. It is here to protect itself.”

“Politicians are like diapers—both should be changed regularly, and for the same reason.”

“The truth is treason in an empire of lies.”

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

“History is written by the victors—and edited by their PR teams.”

“The public wants bread and circuses. Politicians deliver both—with debt.”

“Every time a politician smiles, a democracy dies a little.”

“They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.”

“The two main American parties are indistinguishable except by their choice of corporate sponsors.”

“Nothing fails like success in politics.”

“Trust, but verify? No. Just assume deception.”

“Imagine all the people living life in peace.”

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.”

“Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

“Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.”

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

“I’m not saying my politician is crooked, but his shadow walks on all fours.”

“My favorite politician? The one who hasn’t been elected yet.”

“I support campaign finance reform—especially when my opponent is running.”

“I voted for the lesser of two evils—and I still feel dirty.”

“If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten.”

“I don’t trust anyone over 30—or under 50, if they’re in Congress.”

“I told my kids politicians were just grown-ups playing pretend. Then they asked why the adults lied so much.”

“I’d explain politics to you, but I don’t have three hours and a bottle of whiskey.”

“Elections are won on promises. Governing is ruined by keeping them.”

“The only thing bipartisanship accomplishes is higher campaign spending.”

“I like politicians the way I like unicorns—fascinating, but probably not real.”

“The Constitution gives us the right to protest… mostly ignored by those in power.”

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

“Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else.”

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”

“Democracy is the worst form of government—except for all the others.”

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge.”

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”

“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”