“I don't even believe in politics. To me, politics is like one of those annoying, and potentially dangerous (but generally just painful) chronic diseases that you just have to put up with in your life if you happen to have contracted it.”
The Paris Review interview (1958)
Context: I'm an American, and always will be. I happen to love that big, awkward, sprawling country very much — and its big, awkward, sprawling people. Anyway, I don't like politics; and I don't make "political gestures," as you call it. I don't even believe in politics. To me, politics is like one of those annoying, and potentially dangerous (but generally just painful) chronic diseases that you just have to put up with in your life if you happen to have contracted it. Politics is like having diabetes. It's a science, a catch-as-catch-can science, which has grown up out of simple animal necessity more than anything else. If I were twice as big as I am, and twice as physically strong, I think I'd be a total anarchist. As it is, since I'm physically a pretty little guy... no, in fact, one reason I left was because I believe it is good for an American writer to get outside his country — outside his continent — and see it from a vantage point outside its pervading emotional climate.
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James Jones 52
American author 1921–1977Related quotes
"Youtube Live? Album?" (3 November 2008) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWapPazv0j4
Source: The Truth About Forever
“I think politics in general are just like a popularity contest but McCain is just… old.”
Commenting on Republican presidential candidate John McCain, aged 71.
Appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (January 17, 2008)
2010s, Farewell Speech (2017)
Context: !-- So the young people here and the young people out there: --> Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don't matter, or like you don't have a place in our American story — because you do. And you have a right to be exactly who you are.
But I also want to be very clear: This right isn't just handed to you. No, this right has to be earned every single day. You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms. And that starts right now, when you're young.
Right now, you need to be preparing yourself to add your voice to our national conversation. You need to prepare yourself to be informed and engaged as a citizen, to serve and to lead, to stand up for our proud American values and to honor them in your daily lives. And that means getting the best education possible so you can think critically, so you can express yourself clearly, so you can get a good job and support yourself and your family, so you can be a positive force in your communities.
“Don't you bully me with your politeness! Love is hard to believe, ask any lover.”
Source: Life of Pi (2001), Chapter 99, p. 330
Context: Don't you bully me with your politeness! Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?
“People are very interested in politics, they just don't like it labelled 'politics.”
Interview with Rhian Harris about the Tories then and now http://www.cherwell.org/news/world/2008/05/15/douglas-hurd (15 May 2008)