Some Political Sayings and Mistakes

Created on 22 March, 2025 • 38 views • 6 minutes read

Here are some well-known political sayings, along with notable political mistakes that have occurred throughout history.

POLITICS

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies.

Groucho Marx

Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.

Mark Twain

Hell, I never vote for anybody. I always vote against.

W. C. Fields

If 'pro' is the opposite of 'con', what is the opposite of progress?

Paul Harvey

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

Will Rogers

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

Benjamin Franklin

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.

John Kenneth Galbraith

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

Nikita Khruschev

About the time we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.

Herbert Hoover

We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction.

General Douglas MacArthur

We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex - but Congress can.

Cullen Hightower

H. L. Mencken:

The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency.

This makes me forever ineligible for public office.

Demagogue: One who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage.

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right...

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.

Freedom of press is limited to those who own one.

George W. Bush:

It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet.

Will the highways on the Internet become more few?

It's your money. You paid for it.

Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?

That's a chapter, the last chapter of the 20th, 20th, the 21st century that most of us would rather forget. The last chapter of the 20th century. This is the first chapter of the 21st century.

The administration I'll bring is a group of men and women who are focused on what's best for America, honest men and women, decent men and women, women who will not stain the House.

The important question is, How many hands have I shaked?

They misunderestimated me.

They said, `You know, this issue doesn't seem to resignate with the people.' And I said, you know something? Whether it resignates or not doesn't matter to me, because I stand for doing what's the right thing, and what the right thing is hearing the voices of people who work.

They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program.

This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses.

What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas, quotas they basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate. Quotas, I think, vulcanize society. So, I don't know how that fits into what everybody else is saying, their relative positions, but that's my position.

When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were. It was us versus them, and it was clear who them was. Today, we are not so sure who the they are, but we know they're there.

Vice President Dan Quayle:

Public speaking is very easy.

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

It's time for the human race to enter the solar system.

Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.

Hawaii is a unique state. It is a small state. It is a state that is by itself. It is a -- it is different than the other 49 states. Well, all states are different, but it's got a particularly unique situation.

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.

I have made good judgements in the Past. I have made good judgements in the Future.

I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have is that I didn't study my Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.

If we do not succeed, then we run the risk of failure.

It's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.

It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.

My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will never, never surrender to what is right.

Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.

The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle may or may not make.

The [Democrats] talked about putting people first. Well, they put people first unless you happen to be a spotted owl or a giant garter snake or some other endangered species and then that seems to have priority. Obviously, you take the bald eagle and things of that sort, of course you're going to make sure that they are saved and that they can live and you're going to take every precaution that you can. But others - we just need a little flexibility.

The loss of life will be irreplaceable.

[The US] condones violence in El Salvador.

We expect them [Salvadoran officials] to work toward the elimination of human rights in accordance with the pursuit of Justice.

Tobacco exports should be expanded aggressively because Americans are smoking less.

We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made.

We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.

We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward.

We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.

We should develop anti-satellite weapons because we could not have prevailed without them in Red Storm Rising.

Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.

We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world.

What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.

(Vice President Dan Quayle attempting to quote the motto : "A mind is a terrible thing to waste.")

Ronald Reagan:

What does an actor know about politics?

I don't know why anyone would want to study the expansion of the universe.

I doubt evolution is real.

If I listened to Michael Dukakis long enough I would be convinced that... people are homeless and going without food and medical attention and that we've got to do something about the unemployed.

If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.

Trees cause pollution.