John Holdren Quotes

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time.

If you ask me to compromise on principle, I will get out the veto pen.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

In politics, being ridiculous is more damaging than being extreme.

The single biggest weakness that politicians have as a group is that they want people to like them.

The dominant color of politics is gray; difficult choices and compromise are required at almost every step of the journey toward a major new program.

Give me the best ideas. Forget about the politics. I’ll worry about that after we know what the best program is.

Governing today means giving acceptable signs of credibility. It is like advertising and it is the same effect that is achieved—commitment to a scenario.

Nine times out of ten your two smartest policy advisors disagree.

Governments almost never act with moral clarity and for very good reason. They are dealing with competing interests.

There is something wrong with the way in which we make our decisions. The Government listen too much to the pollsters and the party managers. The trouble is that they are not even very good at politics, and they are entering too much into policy decisions. As a result, there is too much short-termism, too much reacting to events, and not enough shaping of events. We give the impression of being in office but not in power. Far too many important decisions are made for 36 hours' publicity.

Governing is about selecting.

Politics is about the persuasion required to move people to judgment.

It is impossible for a Minister to please the many without displeasing the few

A politician wants to come off as a happy warrior. To be contemplative seems almost effete, fancy – dispiriting somehow to much of your audience. He [Barack Obama] is not afraid to be this way at all.

He [Theodore Roosevelt] acted upon the maxim that half a loaf is better than no bread. I believe that half a loaf is fatal whenever it is accepted at the sacrifice of the basic principle sought to be attained.... A half-way measure never fairly tests the principle and many utterly discredit it.

Whenever I had to make a difficult decision as a Congressman, I thoud think about the average citisen in my Congressional districr and how he would advise me if he knew everythign I knew about the issue.

Leadership is important in politics.

When you put emphasis on compromise rather than on principle, you end up with 2/3 of the principles being implemented.

Truth stood on one side and Ease on the other; it has often been so.

All effective actions require the passport of morality.

Truth is the glue that holds government together. Compromise is the oil that makes governments go.

All politicians find it hard to address with conviction more than one emergency at a time.

We want to give people an opportunity to be heard on issues that may be taken under advisement and voted upon by the board during the meeting, by hearing the public first rather than after the actions have been taken.