Preston B. Plumb Quotes

The treatment I have received from the advocates of Civil Service Reform makes my blood boil…. I know what I have done and what I have suffered in this cause and with that I am satisfied as I retire from the struggle. I hope the next man will be better trusted by those who assume to be apostles of the Reform. The cause is worth much — very much; but the people who stand ready to attribute every mistake in the selection of officers to wanton violation of principle and assume to know more of the conditions, motives and intents that those charged with responsibility, are worth nothing

What Congress does is respond to pressures that are upon it.

The moral element … ministers, professors, and respectable persons … do not believe politics should be pursued as a trade.

So, sir, it comes to this at last, that … the dunce who had been crammed up to a diploma at Yale, and comes fresh from his cramming, will be preferred in all civil service appointments to the ablest, most successful, and most upright business man of the country, who either did not enjoy the benefit of early education, or from whose mind, long engrossed in practical pursuits, the details and niceties of academic knowledge have faded away as the headlands disappear when the mariner bids his native land good night.

Don't count on Congress. Laws come into being because people on the ground demand it.

If you want good laws, burn those you have and make new ones.

There can be no complete and permanent reform of the civil service until public opinion emancipates congressmen from all control and influence over government patronage ... No proper legislation is to be expected as long as members of Congress are engaged in procuring offices for their constituents

Almost every witness that has been before this committee has opposed that reform which would affect his own industry.

What the lawmaker has to ascertain is not the true belief but the common belief.

The administrative process is, in essence, our generation’s answer to the inadequacy of the judicial and legislative processes. It represents our efforts to find an answer to those inadequacies by some other method than merely increasing executive power.

… the admirable purpose of Cabinet Ministers, bent on reforming their different departments, but dexterously 'blocked' by the permanent officials

You can’t change Washington from the inside. You can only change Washington from the outside.

no political influence could save a man who deserved punishment and none could win unworthy promotion.

Change very often comes to Washington, not from Washington.

Sometimes one is guided by what they say of themselves, and very frequently by what other people say of them, without giving oneself time to deliberate and judge." -Elinor Dashwood

I have advocated postal reform for many years. The parliament said it was an absurd argument. The people have said it was the right thing.

Every legislative meeting on how to pass health care, the communications director or someone from the communications team would be a part of because we did a lot of press interviews when we were trying to pass the Affordable Care Act specifically designed to help pass the bill.

Don't let people talk you into what they think is you.

People are always telling you you're done. Someone's always telling you that, especially now in the day of social media.

As I have said before, that Federal Penal Code could never have been enacted into law if we had had a responsible press who was willing to tell the American people the truth about what it actually provides. Nor would we have had a bill had it not been for the United States Supreme Court.

You can't change what people think or say.

People judge us looking from the outside. They don't really know what is going on in my life. There are hundreds of perspectives out there. I cannot live up to all the expectations.

I'm looking forward to going to Congress to pursue my Working Families Agenda and find areas of bipartisan agreement to move forward on important legislation.

As ordinary citizens, we don't spend much time reading about and thinking through the creation of new laws or amendments of old ones.

People always have something to say about what you do and how you do it.