Tom Ridge Quotes

Luckily, I'm a governor - so I get to tell you what I've already done not just what I'm going to do.

In my position as prime minister, I bear the highest responsibility for decisions.

In politics, the leaders are supposed to work and work.

I was a very senior minister in the Howard government and I sat around this particular table [in the prime ministerial office] in many discussions. The difference between being a senior minister and the prime minister is that ultimately the buck does stop with the prime minister and in the end the prime minister has to make those critical judgement calls and that's the big difference.

I think I can regard myself as a political decision-maker.

Being prime minister is not a job to be performed with an eye for the exit.

The role of Premier is not one that should be taken lightly, nor is it a personal trophy.

To govern is to choose. To appear to be unable to choose is to appear to be unable to govern.

Presidents make their hard decisions and then abide forever with their mistakes and regrets.

Politics, I believe, is a full-time occupation.

Politics is about putting yourself in a state of grace.

The job of the politician isn’t to tell you what you want to hear, but to tell you what needs to be done.

A minister of state is excusable for the harm he does when the helm of government has forced his hand in a storm; but in the calm he is guilty of all the good he does not do.

A minister of state is excusable for the harm he does when the helm of government has forced his hand in a storm; but in the calm he is guilty of all the good he does not do.

It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done.

What gets you out of bed in the morning? This is a question I'm often asked as a politician. It tends to be closely followed by a dozen other questions about what I'll do in 'x' scenario or whether I'll resign if 'y' happens.

The CDU is willing to continue to take responsibility for our country. We want to do justice to the government mandate.

On a good day, I view the job [of president] as directing an orchestra. On the dark days, it is more like that of a clutch -- engaging the engine to effect forward motion, while taking greater friction.

I'm very glad I'm not a politician. I think it's one step away from the gates of hell, being a politician. I really do. It's a nightmare.

[Indira Gandhi] looked tired that day, and all of a sudden I exclaimed, 'Deep down I don't envy you, and I shouldn't like to be in your place.' And she said, 'The problem is not in the problems I have, it's in the idiots around me. Democracy, you know...' I now wonder what she meant by that unfinished phrase.

A man made for public life and authority never takes account of personalities; he only takes account of things, of their weight and their conseqences.

The presidency is not an office job. If I only sit in the office in Dar es Salaam I'm not running the country.

The buck stops with me, but I can tick off dozens of very good senior executives that are responsible for hundreds or thousands of people who work for me.

The ruling power is always faced with the question, ‘In such and such circumstances, what would you do?’, whereas the opposition is not obliged to take responsibility or make any real decisions.

I'm never nervous when I go to meet heads of state. I feel they should be nervous, because they are the ones who'll be held accountable for the lives their decisions will impact the most.