James A. Garfield Quotes

In Washington, success is just a training course for failure.

I think a lot of people start out full of idealism and fresh ideas. And then a lot of times, being re-elected becomes more important than staying true to your principles.

Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office seeking. Men of good character and impulse are betrayed by it into all sorts of meanness. Disappointment makes them unjust to the last degree.

If you have sense enough to realize why flies gather around a restaurant, you should be able to appreciate why men run for office.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

But generally speaking, I felt to engage in the political process was to sully oneself to such a degree that whatever came out wasn't worth the trouble put in.

People who leave Washington do so by way of the box... ballet or coffin.

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.

It is true what is said in Washington - 'No matter how cynical you get, it's never enough to catch up.'

My friend told me later he got the chicken pox. I told him I caught politics and never got over it.

I've lived in Washington now for 44 years, and that's a lot of folly to witness up close. Whatever confidence and optimism I felt towards the central government when I got here on January 1, 1970 has pretty much dissipated at the hands of the government.

[Political] offices are as acceptable here as elsewhere, and whenever a man cast a longing eye on them, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

The greatest beggar and the most troublesome of all the office seekers during my Administration was General Harrison.

A political career brings out the basest qualities in human nature.

A most wretched custom is our electioneering and scrambling for office. Misserima omnimo est ambitio honorumque contentio.

No one you'd really like to see in public office has the bad taste to run.

When a man once gets a start holding office, it is nearly always necessary to finally choke him off.

Seeking the office of the Presidency implies that there is something a little bit wrong with you.

Honestly, the egos and the quest and thirst for power is very prevalent in Washington.

I'm really tired of virtue.

My three years in politics was very instructive about the way in which the appetite for political power can destroy a human mind, destroy principles and values, and transform people into little monsters.

You think Trump cares if you leave? He wants power, not prosperity.

'House Of Cards' with Kevin Spacey - I love how it portrays humans in power as just like the rest of us - but even worse.

You have to be either naive or power-hungry to get into politics. I wouldn't consider it myself. I am too well-informed.

Politics is a waste of time.