Political Etiquette Quotes

I've had a tough time learning how to act like a congressman. Today I accidentally spent some of my own money.

Diplomacy is the lowest form of politeness because it misquotes the greatest number of people. A nation, like an individual, if it has anything to say, should simply say it.

The Vice President has two duties: To daily inquire about the health of the President and to attend the funerals of third world dictators, neither of which interest me.

I don't say bad things about my Republican colleagues, ever.

Hitler didn't snub me - it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram.

Mr. Romney is quick to uphold rules great and small. During primary debates, when his rivals spoke out of turn or exceeded their allotted time, he would sometimes lecture them. When supporters ask Mr. Romney to sign dollar bills or American flags, he refuses and often gives them a little lesson about why doing so is against the law.

I have already said and will continue to say that I won't respond to personal abuse, and I never make any personal abuse, ever, to anybody. I just don't do that kind of politics.

I have even shaken hands with Mr. [William Randolph] Hearst. A man who is in politics is required to shake hands with almost everybody without requiring a certificate of character.

I will not say anything negative about the president of the United States. I don't do that. And I don't allow my children to do that.

I shake hands very gladly politically. I don't think you could be a politician if you didn't shake hands.

I don't think any president that I worked with has ever said 'pretty please.'

Inviting a foreign head of state to address the Congress is a clear breach of protocol and practice, and undermines the U.S. presidency.

There has to be some decorum left in politics and in American journalism as well. Our husbands are the candidates.

My hope is that we would begin to have a dialogue in this country about the importance of civility. We can have strong differences, but it does seem to me that most of the country believes it's gone to critical mass in what I would call the professional class across the political spectrum - left and right.

Politics has rough manners, but it is a very useful thing.

[Grover Cleveland] had a sort of patent way of shaking hands which he probably invented for self-protection. He grabbed the visitor's hand, gave it a slight squeeze, and dropped it like a hot potato. He never under any circumstances whatsoever permitted a visitor to grip his large, fat hand.

The state Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, postulated what he called the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.

The language has changed. When I grew up and watched the campaigns of John Kennedy, even with Richard Nixon, there was a lot higher level of civility. Now we describe a disagreement as an attack.

Don't people know that they don't have to heckle the president of the United States? That's what Congress is for.

Campaign behavior for wives: Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Lean back in the parade car so everybody can see the president.

I'm concerned about the negative aspect of political campaigning in american nation, which is a new phenomenon. When I ran for president against Gerald Ford and later against Ronald Reagan we never referred to each other except as 'my distinguished opponent'. And had we criticised personally our opponent it would have been political suicide, we would have been castigated and condemned for it.

Sometimes arrogance makes us overreach. George Bush Jr. often tries to suggest the leaders of other countries, and it is just not good diplomacy.

I really think it's important for presidents to exit the stage gracefully.

I believe in Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment, thou shall not speak unfavorably of another Republican.

Never lose your temper with the Press or the public is a major rule of political life.