Mike Gravel Quotes

[Warren] Harding didn't like being a Senator; he liked being in the Senate.

Your first six months in the Senate, you spend a lot of time wondering how the hell you got here. After that, you look around at your colleagues and wonder how the hell any of them got here.

I'm not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the U.S. Senate.

I'm in politics. I'm in government, so nothing surprises me.

Rock stars generally don't last in the Senate, starting with John Kennedy. Too much work, too slow, too little juice. Getting something accomplished takes a remarkable amount of tedious work. Rock stars who become senators either run for something else or retire on the job. They certainly don't make a mark.

Elected office holds more perks than Elvis' nightstand.

There's always an element of self delusion among people who believe they ought to be President. There's an underestimation of your opponent and an overestimation of your own abilities. This is compatible with being rich and powerful, the idea that we were blessed by God because we deserve to be blessed.

I didn't get to the Senate by accident.

I entered Parliament with what I thought to be the lowest possible opinion of the average member. I came out with one still lower.

Politics? Ha! You couldn't get into politics. You couldn't get in anywhere. You couldn't even get in the men's room at the Astor!

There was nothing exceptional about growing up as the son of a congressman.

Everyone believed the Senate could not really be led. It used to take so long to rise up through seniority. In two years Lyndon Johnson is assistant leader of his party. In four years he is the leader of his party.

I love politics, but I wouldn't want to be involved in it. Too little money, too much work! I don't really have the personality for that.

There are politicians who seethe with ambition all the time, and there are a lot of other politicians who don't. I'm in the second category, that's all.

A politician's goal is always to manipulate public debate. I think there are some politicians with higher goals. But all of them get corrupted by power.

I always wanted to get into politics, but I was never light enough to make the team.

I don't have to be in politics.

I think that if politics is just about getting your backside on important seats, then it's a pretty worthless endeavor.

With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful, by the handful, cause that's what really happens.

In politics nothing is contemptible.

For better or worse, the people who become leaders and decision makers in politics, law and business are going to come from schools like Princeton.

I probably owe my political dismay to New Labour, but also my growing sense that the satirical shape of human affairs is international and historical, not glued to the tawdry ambitions of a team of politicians who represent nothing but themselves.

I grew up thinking that if I wanted to go be prime minister, I could.

Whoever decides to dedicate their life to politics knows that earning money isn't the top priority.

All it takes to become president is money and a certain kind of power. Being president is the first thing I can shoot for, not the highest. It may come to a point where people take rock and roll musicians more seriously than they take politicians. It may eventually turn out that musicians have more credibility.