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Here are some of my favorite quotes about politics, by politicians or somehow vaguely connected to politics only in the deep recesses of my brain.

  • “Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.” – Ronald Reagan
  • “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'” – Ronald Reagan
  • “I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.” – Ronald Reagan
  • “Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.” – Ronald Reagan
  • “Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.” – Ronald Reagan
  • “If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
  • “If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read ‘President Can’t Swim.'” – Lyndon B. Johnson
  • “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
  • “The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.” – Ralph W. Sockman
  • “Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.” – Gore Vidal
  • “The price of freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press, is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish.” – Robert Jackson
  • “A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.” – Daniel Webster
  • “You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.” – John Kenneth Galbraith
  • “You get fifteen democrats in a room, and you get twenty opinions.” – Sen. Patrick Leahy
  • “We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex–but Congress can.” – Cullen Hightower
  • “Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain
  • “Communism doesn’t work because people like to own stuff.” – Frank Zappa

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