George F. Will Quotes

We forget that the most successful statesmen have been professionals. Lincoln was a professional politician.

You could be a senior senator and have never managed more than a hundred people in your life.

Look, Orrin Hatch is not a bad guy. But he is an old guy, and he's a lifer politician.

I think Karl Rove saw that in George W. Bush early on and understood the impact that he could have on Texas politics and probably on national politics.

People may have their opinions about Senator Helms, but he was highly effective and he took care of his constituency. I learned all those lessons from him, and I bring a great deal to the table because of that.

I'm not sure I make old bones in parliament. It's an amazing experience to have had but I can't see myself being Mother of the House.

Dick Cheney and Al Gore have redefined the role of the vice president in the minds of the public. It should be a big job, beyond simply checking the health status of the president.

It wasn't until after I was reelected in 1982 that I thought of myself as a long-term member of Congress.

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.

No, no, no. Dick Cheney forbade me to waste time on his image. I would have liked to have done more.

The Republicans learned well from Bill Clinton.

Orrin Hatch is old enough to be my father, and I don't want my father running the United States Senate Finance Committee.

I grew up in the GOP sandbox. My dad took me, age 7, to meet Herbert Hoover, in his apartment at the Waldorf Towers. He gave me a silver dollar. Being a young Republican, I spent it on comic books.

I was told freshman Republicans don't get their bills heard.

The fastest way for a politician to become an elder statesman is to lose an election.

I think Newt Gingrich has a proven track record of changing Washington and getting results.

If you go with me on this one, 200 years from now, school will only remember the names of two great Republicans, Lincoln and Dirkson.

Wilbur Mills knows that he was chairman of Ways and Means before I got here and that he'll still be chairman after I've gone—and he knows I know it.

Republicans say to Democrats, “Your judges are political activists.” The Democrats respond to the Republicans, “Your judges are political activists.” So the public thinks that all judges are political activists and just politicians in robes. This is very worrying.

Bobby Kennedy is pathetic as a senator.

All the way back to 2010, the takeover of Congress, there is an unnerved part of the public that understands the history of Hillary Clinton. We've seen her for decades. They understand Donald Trump. There's no disclosure needed there. The sour grapes that we are experiencing isn't going to make a better tasting wine for the Democrats in the future.

Mike Pence not only knows the Capitol. He knows the players in the House and the Senate. He knows how the committee system works. But he also knows all the governors. And so that really brings a unique talent to the picture.

Romney was an excellent businessman with a strong record as a public servant - whereas Trump inherited wealth, went bankrupt more than once, created nothing of value, and had no governing record at all.

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both had exceptional natural abilities. Nelson Rockefeller was very good statewide but never gained national traction.

Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president.