Political Conduct Quotes

Why shouldn't I be interested in politics? That is to say, what blindness, what deafness, what density of ideology would have to weigh me down to prevent me from being interested in what is probably the most crucial subject to our existence, that is to say the society in which we live, the economic relations within which it functions, and the system of power which defines the regular forms and the regular permissions and prohibitions of our conduct. The essence of our life consists, after all, of the political functioning of the society in which we find ourselves.

The importance of this event (the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention) is every day growing in the public mind, and it will, in all probability, produce an happy era in our political existence…. Public events in the United States since the peace have given a cast to the American character, which is by no means its true countenance. Delinquencies of the States in their federal obligations; acts of their legislatures violating public Treaties and private Contracts, and an universal imbecility in the public administrations, it is true, form the great features of our political conduct; but these have resulted rather from constitutional defects, and accidental causes than the natural dispositions of the people.

Even the most cynical can hardly be surprised by the antics of Nixon and his accomplices as they are gradually revealed. It matters little, at this point, where the exact truth lies in the maze of perjury, evasion, and of contempt for the normal - hardly inspiring - standards of political conduct.

The steady character of our countrymen is a rock to which we may safely moor; and notwithstanding the efforts of the papers to disseminate early discontents, I expect that a just, dispassionate and steady conduct, will at length rally to a proper system the great body of our country. Unequivocal in principle, reasonable in manner, we shall be able I hope to do a great deal of good to the cause of freedom & harmony.

In politics intentions count for nothing; actions are what matter.

It has been the political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy, proceed with arrogance, and finish with contempt

A campaign ought to demonstrate the basic human decency of the candidate. That means your First Amendment rights end at the tip of your opponent's nose - even in the matter of political rhetoric.

Dalai Lama is transforming those criteria - and the whole way of conducting politics. He's conducting politics in a much deeper way than most politicians are able to. He's the only politician I know of who's a monk. The Pope, of course, is in a similar position, but the Pope isn't in the same way leading a country of many million people.

I think Congress has spent enough time on ethics. I think it's time they moved on to something else.

Is it not time to awaken from the deceitful dream of a golden age and to adopt a practical maxim for the direction of our political conduct that we, as well as the other inhabitants of the globe, are yet remote from the happy empire of perfect wisdom and perfect virtue?

To a certain extent, people's behavior in a campaign is generally a reflection of how they would act in office.

It isn't personal per se to document what the Republican Party leadership is doing and how they're abrogating actual leadership.

The government are behaving like a bevy of maiden aunts who have fallen among buccaneers.

I entered the House of Commons in 1832. The moral standard of legislation has been raised; that of personal conduct lowered...

The conduct and opinions of public men at different periods of their careers must not be curiously contrasted in a free and aspiring society.

One state can't set everything right, but here in Arizona, we can set an example for the rest of the country in how those of us in elected office conduct ourselves and interact with each other and our constituents.

The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I think it's a good rule for politics, too.

For those of us in the political business, generally, it's been pretty much an unwritten but understood rule that family and children are out of bounds, that you don't attack someone's family.

Sir, I am a republican; and I desire to see this House observe the principles of that democracy which is ever on the lips of its members, and which, I hope, is in their hearts, as I know and feel it is in mine, and mean it shall be in my conduct.

No free subject ought to be under the least restraint in respect to accusing the greatest, so long as his accusation strikes only at the political conduct of the accused: his private we have no right to meddle with

I think people ultimately reveal themselves to everybody. I think that's the case with Sarah Palin's conduct, particularly after the Tucson shooting, I think she's sort of digging herself into a hole. I hope - I really hope.