Quotes about politics
page 62

“I say, in politics, it is the women who are constantly bringing the civilizing issues to the forefront, the caretaking issues, the issues of concern to families and children.”

Cokie Roberts (1943–2019) American journalist

Wellesley Commencement Address (1994)

Women, Children, Family

“We are determined to protect our freedom of speech and the right to speak our minds without fear of the politically correct thought-police knocking on our doors.”

Gerard Batten (1954) British politician

UKIP aiming to be 'radical, populist' party - Gerard Batten https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45593648 BBC News (21 September 2018) 2018

Fear, Freedom

“Once we have left and we have control, there is a political argument about what levels of immigration we should have… that is really going to be a challenge and an issue for the competence of the Home Office. It is not so much a question of Brexit. It is Brexit which makes it possible, it is then administrative efficiency that will make it happen.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg (1969) British politician

No role for EU court after Brexit says Rees-Mogg https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40788668 BBC News (1 August 2017) 2017

Making love, Home, Question

“I admit the charge, but deny that nature, race, or color has anything to do with the fact. Any other race, with the same antecedents and the same conditions, would show a similar thieving propensity. The American people have this lesson to learn, that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property would be safe… While I hold now, as I held years ago, that the South is the natural home of the colored race, and that there must the destiny of that race be mainly worked out, I still believe that means can be and ought to be adopted, to assist in the emigration of such of their number as may wish to change their residence to parts of the country, where their civil and political rights are better protected than at present they can be at the South… The Republican party is not perfect; it is cautious even to the point of timidity; but it is the best friend we have.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

1880s, Speech on the Anniversary of Emancipation (1886)

People, Justice, Color, Feeling

“If we would reach a degree of civilization higher and grander than any yet attained, we should welcome to our ample continent all the nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples, and as fast as they learn our language and comprehend the duties of citizenship, we should incorporate them into the American body politic. The outspread wings of the American eagle are broad enough to shelter all who are likely to come.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

As a matter of selfish policy, leaving right and humanity out of the question, we cannot wisely pursue any other course. Other governments mainly depend for security upon the sword; ours depends mainly upon the friendship of the people. In all matters, in time of peace, in time of war, and at all times, it makes its appeal to the people, and to all classes of the people. Its strength lies in their friendship and cheerful support in every time of need, and that policy is a mad one which would reduce the number of its friends by excluding those who would come, or by alienating those who are already here.
1860s, Our Composite Nationality (1869)

People, Learning

“I still have dreams. Politics without dreams - it would be a nightmare.”

Donald Tusk (1957) Polish politician, current President of the European Council

Brexit: 'Dreamer' Tusk says UK may yet stay in the EU https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40362594 BBC News (22 June 2017) 2011, 2017

Dreams

“It has become ever clearer that underdevelopment is the end result of a process. Therefore, it must be studied from a historical perspective, that is, in relationship to the development and expansion of the great capitalist countries. The underdevelopment of the poor countries, as an overall social fact, appears in its true light: as the historical by-product of the development of other countries. The dynamics of the capitalist economy lead to the establishment of a center and a periphery, simultaneously generating progress and growing wealth for the few and social imbalances, political tensions, and poverty for the many.”

Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928) Peruvian theologian

Source: A Theology of Liberation (1971), p. 54

Study, Light, Appearance, Country

“As a local government, Kinmen should avoid becoming embroiled in (cross-strait) political affairs, but the county needs to seize opportunities (with Mainland China) when the atmosphere is right. Fujian and Kinmen are neighbors and during the trip to the (Fujian) province, the (Kinmen) county government can put forward ideas on future exchanges and cooperation between the two sides, in the hope of concrete results.”

Yang Cheng-wu (1972) Taiwanese politician

Yang Cheng-wu (2019) cited in " Fujian, Kinmen ties lauded by county magistrate http://focustaiwan.tw/news/acs/201901150024.aspx" on Focus Taiwan, 15 January 2019

Hope, Idea, Future

“Take the cases of Kerala or Kashmir, Bengal or Tripura, it will not come in the media. Some people have selective sensitivity. Hundreds of workers have been killed only for political ideology. In Tripura, workers were hanged. In Bengal, murders are still on. In Kerala too … perhaps, in India only one political party has faced such killings. Violence has been given legitimacy. This is a danger before us.”

Narendra Modi (1950) Prime Minister of India

May 2019. Quoted from BJP workers killed in Bengal for their ideology https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bjp-workers-killed-in-bengal-for-their-ideology-says-pm-modi-tmc-calls-allegation-baseless/articleshow/69525655.cms Times of India 2019

People

“In some states, hundreds of our workers have been killed because of their political views. Political untouchability is gaining ground by the day. In some places, just the name of BJP is enough to create an atmosphere of untouchability…. Why are our workers killed or attacked in Kashmir, Kerala or Bengal? It is shameful and anti-democratic… But today, in the political canvas of the nation, if there is one party that lives and breathes democracy, it is the BJP.”

Narendra Modi (1950) Prime Minister of India

Narendra Modi quoted in BJP Lives And Breathes Democracy Despite Facing Political Untouchability And Violence’: PM Modi In Varanasi https://swarajyamag.com/insta/bjp-lives-and-breathes-democracy-despite-facing-political-untouchability-and-violence-pm-modi-in-varanasi NDTV https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/after-mega-victory-pm-narendra-modi-says-the-bjp-suffered-political-untouchability-violence-2043561 2019

Democracy

“The above provides the most perfect illustration of Witzel’s mode of academic(?) discussion: he does not raise points because he believes in them and wants to get them either clarified or accepted; he raises them only to heckle and raise a din, like a speaker in a political harangue or a schoolboy in a school slanging match between two rival groups, where the same accusation is repeated again and again with a deaf ear turned to the response or clarification.”

Shrikant Talageri (1958) Indian author

Michael Witzel – An Examination of his Review of my Book (2001)

School, Perfection

“What Darwin was too polite to say, my friends, is that we came to rule the Earth not because we were the smartest, or even the meanest, but because we have always been the craziest, most murderous motherfuckers in the jungle.”

Stephen King book Cell

Gaiten Academy, ch. 16
Cell (2006)

“Trotsky had said that the workers were deflected from politics by sports. With my past I simply could not accept that. I was British and the history of those decades in Britain was very familiar to me, both the politics and the sport. The organisational drive for sport had come from Britain.”

C. L. R. James book Beyond a Boundary

Source: Beyond a Boundary (1963), p. 153

History, Sport, Past

“I think it was a prescribed road of sorts. The things that had occurred since his childhood were some coincidences, but he kept on walking. It’s the illustration of a 42-year-long life, sort of an encyclopedia. Vasyl was not concerned about his career, he accepted things as befits a man, he was calm about the challenges of fate, well-balanced, and polite. Sometimes he could be tough in defending his position. But, in my view, everything was painted somewhere above. It’s easier to say that it was God’s will.”

Vasyl Slipak (1974–2016) Ukrainian opera singer

2017 Orest Slipak, the brother of singer. Brother about brother. The Day. Кyiv.ua. - 2017. - 27 April. https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/topic-day/brother-about-brother

Life, God, Fate, Thinking

“I’ve been a conservative my entire life. … So you’d think that the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, would be a natural fit. It once was. But on Saturday, after speaking to this year’s gathering, I had to be escorted from the premises by several guards who seemed genuinely concerned for my safety. What happened to me at CPAC is the perfect illustration of the collective experience of a whole swath of conservatives since Donald Trump became the Republican nominee. We built and organized this party — but now we’re made to feel like interlopers.”

Mona Charen (1957) political writer

I'm Glad I Got Booed at CPAC (2018)

Life, Feeling, Nature, Thinking

“In a Britain increasingly dominated by extremists and ideologues, I want us to fill the huge gap in the centre of British politics.”

Vince Cable (1943) British Liberal Democrat politician

Vince Cable: I can lead Lib Dems back to power https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41307116, BBC News, 19 September 2017 2017

“I think when you have somebody who is celebrating their relationship, the ability of a person who saw no problem depriving an entire population of African Americans in their state of the right to vote, the right to participate as American citizens, the fact that that person was polite to them?… And so, I don’t know what is going on in your brain where you decide to celebrate the fact these people were polite.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates (1975) writer, journalist, and educator

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Joe Biden Shouldn’t Be President, Democracy Now (20 June 2019)

People, Problem, Thinking, Personality

“We are now being coerced to accept and believe that a new political-cum-religious doctrine has arisen, namely that there is but one political God, George W Bush, and Tony Blair is his prophet.”

Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) former President of Zimbabwe

Accusing President Bush and Tony Blair at the UN General Assembly in New York on the US-led Invasion of Iraq. 2004-09-23 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3682352.stm 2000s, 2000-2004

God

“We are totally opposed to the concept of multi-racialism because it assumes in the first instance that people have got to be arranged in compartments based on colour… you have Europeans in one compartment, Asians and coloureds in two other compartments and Africans in another compartment… And immediately you talk of multi-racialism, you are accepting as a starting point that the races are different and this difference must be recognised. We are non-racialist in our approach and that everybody must be accorded his full political rights – whether he white or black, educated or uneducated, rich or poor. And this is why we are at the moment struggling to earn for our people one-man-one-vote.”

Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) former President of Zimbabwe

In 1961, as quoted in "WATCH: 'Fascinating' video of Mugabe talking 'non-racialism' like Mandela goes viral on social media" https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/watch-fascinating-video-of-mugabe-talking-non-racialism-like-mandela-20170916 (16 September 2017), News24, South Africa 1960s

People, Education

“I have spent my life building bridges and tearing down barriers — not building walls. That’s why I find Donald Trump’s belief that an American-born judge of Mexican descent is incapable of fairly presiding over his case is not only dead wrong, it is un-American. As the Presidential campaign progressed, I was hoping the rhetoric would tone down and reflect a campaign that was inclusive, thoughtful and principled. While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump’s latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party’s nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party. It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment. Our President must be fit to command the most powerful military the world has ever seen, including an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons. After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world.”

Mark Kirk (1959) former U.S. junior senator from Illinois

As quoted in Sen. Mark Kirk withdraws support for Trump https://web.archive.org/web/20160608015204/http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/sen-mark-kirk-withdraws-support-for-trump/ by Lynn Sweet, 7 June 2016, Chicago Sun-Times.

Life, Women, World, Making love

“I think we should have an independent inquiry because the cancer of racism and prejudice is not restricted to any one political party. We have been very vociferous calling out Jeremy Corbyn and anti-Semitism and if we are going to do that, and I think we are right to do that, then we have to be whiter than white ourselves.”

Jeremy Hunt (1966) British politician

Tory leadership rivals back Islamophobia inquiry https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48688268 BBC News (19 June 2019) 2019

Thinking

“I am seeing more misogyny now than I have ever seen in my political life. This seems to be a phenomena of today. It seems to come out online, on social media, but it seems to be reflecting something else that is going on in society.”

Leanne Wood (1971) Welsh Plaid Cymru politician

Leanne Wood: Abuse aimed at women 'worse than ever' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44297300, BBC News, 30 May 2018 2018

Life

“All forms of political violence are the same. USA, Barcelona, everywhere. They are ideology-driven & we have to understand that to stop it.”

Leanne Wood (1971) Welsh Plaid Cymru politician

Barcelona reaction: Leanne Wood comments spark outrage https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-40974199, BBC News, 18 August 2017 2017

Understanding

“The most important outcome for Wales from any negotiations is to be in the single market. By upping the ante on migration, Mr Corbyn and the Labour party risk giving Theresa May the political cover needed for a hard Brexit. If the speech makes rejecting the principle of freedom of movement a priority, then it will help the Tories make a case for leaving the single market, which would be disastrous for the Welsh economy. Labour, despite being the UK opposition, cannot be trusted to know what is best for the Welsh economy.”

Leanne Wood (1971) Welsh Plaid Cymru politician

Jeremy Corbyn risks helping case for hard Brexit, Plaid leader warns https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-38572882 BBC News (10 January 2017) 2017

Making love, Freedom, Help

“All through his political career he held coveted positions.”

Rajendra Prasad (1884–1963) Indian political leader

Source: Presidents of India, 1950-2003, P.6

“I have opposed Trident and nuclear weapons for all of my political life - I even joined CND before becoming a member of the SNP.”

Nicola Sturgeon (1970) First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party

Said after she signed a Rethink Trident pledge in 2015. Nicola Sturgeon signs ‘Rethink Trident’ pledge https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-signs-rethink-trident-pledge-1-3865803 (22 August 2015) on the Scotsman website. Retrieved 23 July 2019. 2015

Life

“The last thing I would say is that you can achieve a lot of things in politics and get a lot of things done; in the end, public service and the national interest is what it is all about. Nothing is really impossible if you put your mind to it. After all, as I once said, I was the future once.”

David Cameron (1966) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Last statement to the House of Commons as Prime Minister, ending by paraphrasing his 2005 comment to Tony Blair, "he was the future once" (July 13, 2016), see Hansard https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-07-13/debates/4A1B874C-54B5-4BEF-8D79-AFA264A78068/Engagements#contribution-E7A04179-9154-4077-87DF-1642C1BD3B4D 2010s, 2016

Future

“It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time to settle this European question in British politics. I say to the British people: this will be your decision.”

David Cameron (1966) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

David Cameron promises in/out referendum on EU https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21148282 BBC News (23 January 2013) 2010s, 2013

People, Question, Decision, Time

“A state of thievocracy is promoted because it permits politically connected taskmasters to redirect wealth to those deemed worthier by the state. In this sense, slavery is the socialization of labor and property, imposed to make the populace subservient to an institutionalized authority that often preaches equalitarianism and altruism but practices a slavery-enriched militarism. To the far statist Left and their slavocracy comrades, individuals have no ownership rights—so humans can be beasts of burden or simply be exterminated in cleansing bouts of genocide. Many leaders of the Democratic Party are still tied to this slavocracy-socialist tradition as a means to steal wages and assets from the citizenry as well as corrode free speech, due process and the presumption of innocence.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

p 484
Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019)

Making love, Sense, Wealth

“The adherents of the German Nazi movement reflected a profoundly left-wing footprint not only as social revolutionaries, secularists of political theodicy, and diehard collectivists, but as brothers posturing and fighting for alpha-male dominance. As Nazism developed, it was heavily influenced by the early Utopian socialists, the neo-socialists, and various movements to reform Marxism, opposing any independent political or religious movement that might eclipse its own authority. Extremely hostile towards the aristocracy, Christianity, and capitalism, Nazis considered themselves revolutionaries—radicals determined to bring about a classless society of superior racial egalitarianism bathed in volk socialism. There was nothing traditionally conservative about their movement.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 411

Hostility, Fight

“Summarizing his deficiencies, Karl Marx was neither progressive nor enlightened; he was a racist, anti-Semite, a German nationalist, a warmonger, autocratic, anti-freedom proponent, Machiavellian, pro-Black slavery, petty, homophobic, megalomaniac, a bully and slanderer, anti-choice, and a reactionary against liberalism and industrial capitalism. In almost every sense, Marx fit the quintessential image of Hitler like a tight glove, both appearing almost indistinguishable. Like father and son, Marx and Hitler were two social justice warriors, determined to weaponize intolerance, racism, and nationalism for what they call the greater good. In so many ways, considering their almost identical political and social makeup, metaphorically speaking, Hitler could easily be regarded as the son of Marx.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 361

Justice, Way, Sense, Freedom

“Despite his subsequent reputation for anti-Marxist tirades, Hitler did not fight or oppose the communists during this time, as some might presume. He was serving them, although he later shared few details about this period in his life. One thing seems certain: Hitler did not try to escape from the political thicket in Munich, nor did he join the anti-Bolshevik armed forces of General Franz Ritter von Epp.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 345

Life, Time, Fight

“Marxism had a lot to offer Hitler. Largely saddled with an unmovable, single-mindedness, hardcore Marxism allowed proponents to see themselves as noble crusaders saving humankind. Here too, Hitler could identify with such closed-mindedness, political messianism, and authoritarian tactics that licensed him to see himself as the savior of the world. A lover of the power of politics, Hitler’s hidebound views pushed him into the unshaded world of white and black antipodes, a battleground where you were either with him or undoubtedly against him, leaving no luxury of neutrality. Such exacting standards of political absolutism likely blinded him to other alternatives, or at least to the possibility of subjective objectivity that would allow the people to freely display their own diversity of opinions.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 341-342

People, World, Lovers

“Most historians agree that historical Italian Fascism was a mixed bag of rightwing and left-wing socioeconomic policies. Nevertheless, recent evidence has shed new light on the underpinnings of Italian Fascism, discovering that this totalitarian state had embodied a far more collectivistic, socialist, and progressive ideology, placing it squarely on the left side of the political dichotomy, that is, only if Marxism is also considered to be on the Left.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), pp. 194-195

Light

“Compliance with an authority is ingrained in the human condition. Statists of all stripes use this psychological technique to garner support for political conquests, domestic and foreign. These conquests mimic the historical policies of Italian Fascism, German National Socialism, and Russian Sovietism, which few scholars want to expose, especially when their own ideology stands in sharp accord with Fascist-Marxist mindset. Yet many political scientists go out of their way to misidentify or ignore the roots of Mussolini’s syndicalist, socialist, and Marxist ideology, perhaps because of their own closely held political beliefs. Whatever the reason, scholars have gone to great lengths to obscure Mussolini’s true Marxian intentions.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 121

Way, Support

“If society is confined by the chains of groupthink and top-to-bottom command structures, frustration and anger have few outlets—leading mostly to hopeless confrontation with the status quo. When confronted by a wall of complex, emotional, and politically charged rifts, a powder keg of resentment can burst into a vicious civil war of backstabbing, mistrust, and disloyalty, especially when taking political control is the only means by which to terminate domination by a particular ruling elite.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 72

War, Anger

“Rather, the license to institute compulsory practices leads to legalized and institutionalized aggression and robbery. Enabling political structures to plunder one in the name of others perverts the meaning of individual human rights. Positive rights grant governmental agencies the invasive authority to force citizens to surrender their earnings and property so that others may indulge in free or subsidized food, education, housing, medical care and so forth. Positive rights imposed obligations, a duty that must be fulfilled, or the violator would be arrested and jailed, thus nullifying the role of individual autonomy that was the inspiration for the American Revolution. In other words, positive rights make society sovereign, rather than the individual.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 4

Education, Making love, Food, Housing

“The interests of the state alone have guided me, and it has been a calumny when publicists, even well-meaning, have accused me of having ever advocated an aristocratic system. I have never regarded birth as a substitute for want of ability; whenever I have come forward on behalf of landed property, it has not been in the interests of proprietors of my own class, but because I see in the decline of agriculture one of the greatest dangers to our permanence as a state. The ideal that has always floated before me has been a monarchy which should be so far controlled by an independent national representation—according to my notion, representing classes or callings—that monarch or parliament would not be able to alter the existing statutory position before the law separately but only communi consensu; with publicity, and public criticism, by press and Diet, of all political proceedings.”

Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) German statesman, Chancellor of Germany

Volume I, pp. 17–18
Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman

Law, Birth

“The State … is evidently nothing more nor less than the political organization of a horde of swindlers and spoliators, who without the tyrannizing machinery could not exist for one day before the just wrath and condemnation of the oppressed and plundered people.”

Johann Most (1846–1906) German-American anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator

The Beast of Property (1884)

People

“The system of administration was thoroughly remodelled. The Sullan proconsuls and propraetors had been in their provinces essentially sovereign and practically subject to no control; those of Caesar were the well-disciplined servants of a stern master, who from the very unity and life-tenure of his power sustained a more natural and more tolerable relation to the subjects than those numerous, annually changing, petty tyrants. The governorships were no doubt still distributed among the annually-retiring two consuls and sixteen praetors, but, as the Imperator directly nominated eight of the latter and the distribution of the provinces among the competitors depended solely on him, they were in reality bestowed by the Imperator. The functions also of the governors were practically restricted. His memory was matchless, and it was easy for him to carry on several occupations simultaneously with equal self-possession. Although a gentleman, a man of genius, and a monarch, he had still a heart. So long as he lived, he cherished the purest veneration for his worthy mother Aurelia… to his daughter Julia he devoted an honourable affection, which was not without reflex influence even on political affairs. With the ablest and most excellent men of his time, of high and of humbler rank, he maintained noble relations of mutual fidelity… As he himself never abandoned any of his partisans… but adhered to his friends--and that not merely from calculation--through good and bad times without wavering, several of these, such as Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Matius, gave, even after his death, noble testimonies of their attachment to him. The superintendence of the administration of justice and the administrative control of the communities remained in their hands; but their command was paralyzed by the new supreme command in Rome and its adjutants associated with the governor, and the raising of the taxes was probably even now committed in the provinces substantially to imperial officials, so that the governor was thenceforward surrounded with an auxiliary staff which was absolutely dependent on the Imperator in virtue either of the laws of the military hierarchy or of the still stricter laws of domestic discipline. While hitherto the proconsul and his quaestor had appeared as if they were members of a gang of robbers despatched to levy contributions, the magistrates of Caesar were present to protect the weak against the strong; and, instead of the previous worse than useless control of the equestrian or senatorian tribunals, they had to answer for themselves at the bar of a just and unyielding monarch. The law as to exactions, the enactments of which Caesar had already in his first consulate made more stringent, was applied by him against the chief commandants in the provinces with an inexorable severity going even beyond its letter; and the tax-officers, if indeed they ventured to indulge in an injustice, atoned for it to their master, as slaves and freedmen according to the cruel domestic law of that time were wont to atone.”

Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist and writer

Vol. 4, pt. 2, translated by W.P.Dickson
The History of Rome - Volume 4: Part 2

Life, Death, Men, Bad luck

“Few men have had their elasticity so thoroughly put to the proof as Caesar-- the sole creative genius produced by Rome, and the last produced by the ancient world, which accordingly moved on in the path that he marked out for it until its sun went down. Sprung from one of the oldest noble families of Latium--which traced back its lineage to the heroes of the Iliad and the kings of Rome, and in fact to the Venus-Aphrodite common to both nations--he spent the years of his boyhood and early manhood as the genteel youth of that epoch were wont to spend them. He had tasted the sweetness as well as the bitterness of the cup of fashionable life, had recited and declaimed, had practised literature and made verses in his idle hours, had prosecuted love-intrigues of every sort, and got himself initiated into all the mysteries of shaving, curls, and ruffles pertaining to the toilette-wisdom of the day, as well as into the still more mysterious art of always borrowing and never paying. But the flexible steel of that nature was proof against even these dissipated and flighty courses; Caesar retained both his bodily vigour and his elasticity of mind and of heart unimpaired. In fencing and in riding he was a match for any of his soldiers, and his swimming saved his life at Alexandria; the incredible rapidity of his journeys, which usually for the sake of gaining time were performed by night--a thorough contrast to the procession-like slowness with which Pompeius moved from one place to another-- was the astonishment of his contemporaries and not the least among the causes of his success. The mind was like the body. His remarkable power of intuition revealed itself in the precision and practicability of all his arrangements, even where he gave orders without having seen with his own eyes. His memory was matchless, and it was easy for him to carry on several occupations simultaneously with equal self-possession. Although a gentleman, a man of genius, and a monarch, he had still a heart. So long as he lived, he cherished the purest veneration for his worthy mother Aurelia (his father having died early); to his wives and above all to his daughter Julia he devoted an honourable affection, which was not without reflex influence even on political affairs. With the ablest and most excellent men of his time, of high and of humbler rank, he maintained noble relations of mutual fidelity, with each after his kind. As he himself never abandoned any of his partisans after the pusillanimous and unfeeling manner of Pompeius, but adhered to his friends--and that not merely from calculation--through good and bad times without wavering, several of these, such as Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Matius, gave, even after his death, noble testimonies of their attachment to him.”

Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist and writer

Vol.4. Part 2.
The History of Rome - Volume 4: Part 2

Love, Life, Death, Wisdom

“The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie — a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days — but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.”

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) Jewish-American political theorist

The New York Review of Books interview with the French writer Roger Errera (1978)

People, Lie, Making love, History

“Having destroyed the social power of the nobility and the guildmasters, the bourgeois also destroyed their political power. Having raised itself to the actual position of first class in society, it proclaims itself to be also the dominant political class. This it does through the introduction of the representative system which rests on bourgeois equality before the law and the recognition of free competition, and in European countries takes the form of constitutional monarchy. In these constitutional monarchies, only those who possess a certain capital are voters – that is to say, only members of the bourgeoisie. These bourgeois voters choose the deputies, and these bourgeois deputies, by using their right to refuse to vote taxes, choose a bourgeois government.”

Friedrich Engels book Principles of Communism

Principles of Communism (1847)

Law, Country

“The anarchists put the thing upside down. They declare that the proletarian revolution must begin by doing away with the political organisation of the state. But after its victory the sole organisation which the proletariat finds already in existence is precisely the state. This state may require very considerable alterations before it can fulfil its new functions. But to destroy it at such a moment would be to destroy the only organism by means of which the victorious proletariat can assert its newly-conquered power, hold down its capitalist adversaries and carry out that economic revolution of society without which the whole victory must end in a new defeat and in a mass slaughter of the workers similar to those after the Paris Commune.”

Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) German social scientist, author, political theorist, and philosopher

Letter to Philipp Van Patten http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1883/letters/83_04_18.htm (18 April 1883)

Communication, Victory

“What remains is the remarkable and, for many, certainly disquieting diagnosis that all genuine political theories presuppose man to be evil, i. e., by no means an unproblematic but a dangerous and dynamic being.”

Carl Schmitt book The Concept of the Political

The Concept of the Political (1927)

Evil

“NATO foreign ministers met several days ago to support the US position. According to media reports, they did this after Washington presented certain irrefutable documents confirming that the treaty was violated. If this is so, we have not received any such documents from the US side. This is what we have been asking the US to do for a long time. We are still ready for a serious and professional discussion. Instead, the Americans resort to unfounded accusations, and again and again, from high rostrums, make allegations for the entire international community to hear about things that should first be clarified with the other party to the treaty. This would be a more appropriate, polite and correct approach.”

Sergey Lavrov (1950) Russian politician and Foreign Minister

News conference following the 25th OSCE Ministerial Council, Milan, Italy (7 December 2018)

Making love, Communication, Support, Time

“Electronic management as a political issue can be approached in several ways. I propose, at the beginning of this public consultation, to approach the issue as one of political ecology.”

Ivan Illich (1926–2002) austrian philosopher and theologist

Ecology, during the last ten years, has acquired a new meaning. It is still the name for a branch of professional biology, but the term now increasingly serves as the label under which a broad, politically organized general public analyzes and influences technical decisions.
Silence is a Commons (1982)

Way

“In the strident world of seventeenth-century philosophy, the mind-body problem was not a word puzzle that could be safely relegated to undergraduate classes. For men such as Descartes, Malebranche, and Leibniz, solving the mind-body problem was vital to preserving the theological and political order inherited from the Middle Ages and, more generally, to protecting human self-esteem in the face of an increasingly truculent universe. For Spinoza, it was a means of destroying that same order and discovering a new foundation for human worth.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Matthew Stewart, in his book The Courtier and the Heretic (2006)
S - Z

Men, Age, World, Problem

“Without a doubt, the Theologico-Politicus Theological-Political Treatise is one of the most important and influential books in the history of philosophy, in religious and political thought, and even in Bible studies. More than any other work, it laid the foundation for modern critical and historical approaches to the Bible. And while often overlooked in books on the history of political thought, the Treatise also has a proud and well-deserved place in the rise of democratic theory, civil liberties, and politcal liberalism.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Steven Nadler, A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011)
M - R, Steven Nadler

Books, History, Study

“I think Spinoza was a complete monist. Unity is good, multiplicity cannot lead you to the truth. His political theory is in some ways like that of Hobbes. From his point of view, in politics you have to govern. In order to govern, a rational person might have to do things which are not strictly honourable. Spinoza is a surprisingly tough-minded political thinker.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Isaiah Berlin and Ramin Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991)
A - F

Truth, Way, Thinking, Personality

“Socialism is a bad idea because it is naïve about power, which is the worst thing to be naïve about in politics.”

Paul D. Miller (academic) American academic

Why Socialism Is Bad (2018)

Bad luck, Idea

“A crisis is taking place in the contemporary world in a variety of forms, cutting across the realms of culture, ethics, politics, and so forth. At the ground of these problems is the fact that the essence of being human has turned into a question mark for humanity itself.”

Keiji Nishitani (1900–1990) Japanese philosopher

Source: The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism (1990), p. 188

World, Question, Problem

“The one lesson we learn from the freedom movement as a whole is that a religious and cultural awakening in Hindu society has to precede political awakening. The language of Indian nationalism has to be the language of Sanatana Dharma before it can challenge and defeat the various languages of imperialism. The more clearly Hindu society sees the universal truths of Hindu spirituality and culture, the more readily it will reject political ideologies masquerading as religion or promising a paradise on this earth.”

Sita Ram Goel (1921–2003) Indian activist

Perversion of India's Political Parlance (1984)

Truth, Religion, Freedom, Learning

“What other paths were there? His studies had shown him that revolution and evolution were the only ways that societies ever truly changed. Revolution and evolution, built of a mix of education and violence and politics and compromise and self-interest and self-preservation. Certainly, history showed that rigid societies, like ancient dinosaurs, always died. The Confed was the biggest dinosaur ever, and while it was already dying and had been doing so for a long time, it would take many years before it finally fell. Any empire which had to hold its citizens in check with military force was far down the road to destruction. Which brought up another thought: what would replace the dead beast when it began to rot? What parasite would emerge from the corpse to try and breed itself into superiority?”

Steve Perry book The Man Who Never Missed

Source: The Man Who Never Missed (1985), Chapter 15 (p. 132)

Education, Way, History, Study

“The Indo-Aryan influence, whether due to actual settlement, acculturation, or, if one prefers, the substitution of Indo-Aryan names for local ones, was powerful enough from early on to replace local names, in spite of the well-known conservatism of river-names. This is especially surprising in the area once occupied by the Indus civilization, where one would have expected the survival of earlier names, as has been the case in Europe and the Near East. At the least, one would expect a palimpsest, as found in New England, with the name of the State of Massachussetts next to the Charles River formerly called the Massachussetts River, and such new adaptations as Stony Brook, Muddy Creek, Red River, etc. next to the adaptations of Indian names such as the Mississippi and the Missouri. The failure to preserve old hydronomes even in the Indus Valley (with a few exceptions noted above) indicates the extent of the social and political collapse experienced by the local population.”

Michael Witzel (1943) German-American philologist

p 107
Early Indian history: Linguistic and textual parametres

Failure

“Other writers in Kazanas’ class, including D. Frawley, K. Elst, and N. S. Rajaram, have already caused significant damage to linguistics, philology, Indology, archaeology, and history…. In the fundamentalist/nationalistic circles from, which Kazanas draws support – despite his pretense of political naivete.”

Michael Witzel (1943) German-American philologist

‘Ein Fremdling im Rgveda’ (Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 31, No.1-2: pp.107-185, 2003)

History, Support, Drawing

“Conservatives used to believe in the overwhelming benefits of immigration. Most nationalists want to restrict even legal immigration. Conservatives used to believe that America should always speak and sometimes act in defense of freedom-seekers everywhere. Nationalists strike the bargain that America will mind its own business if others mind theirs. Conservatives used to oppose identity politics for being hostile to individual freedom. Nationalism is the superimposition of one form of identity politics over various others.”

Bret Stephens (1973) far-right American

The New Conservative Pyrite (2019)

Hostility, Business, Freedom

“Why care about social formalities, modes of dress, niceties of speech, qualities of restraint? Not simply because manners make the man, although they do, but because manners also shape political cultures.”

Bret Stephens (1973) far-right American

"Yes, the President Bears Blame for the Terror From the Right" http://archive.is/WIjmV#selection-537.45-537.250 (1 November 2018), The New York Times

Making love

“Work democracy cannot be imposed on people as a political system. It depends on the consciousness on the part of the working people in all professions of their responsibility for the social process. This consciousness may be present or it may grow in an organic manner, like a tree or an animal organism. The growth of this consciousness of social responsibility is the most important prerequisite for the prevention of the cancer-like growth of political systems in the social organism. If they are allowed to grow, they will sooner or later bring about social chaos. Furthermore, such consciousness of responsibility alone will, in the course of time, bring the institutions of human society into harmony with the natural functions of work democracy. Political systems come and go without stopping or fundamentally changing the social process. But the pulse of human society would stop and not return should the natural life functions of love, work and knowledge cease for only one day.”

Wilhelm Reich book The Mass Psychology of Fascism

The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Ch. 10 : Work Democracy

Love, Life, People, Making love

“Political ideological systems are based on conceptions of the natural life process. They may further or hinder the natural life process. They themselves, however, do not function at the roots of the social process. They may be democratic; in that case they further the natural human life process. They may be authoritarian and dictatorial; in that case they are its deadly enemy.”

Wilhelm Reich book The Mass Psychology of Fascism

The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Ch. 10 : Work Democracy

Life, Nature

“What will happen when the curfew is lifted? Modi says this is done for the prosperity of Kashmir. But what will happen when 8 million Kashmiris come out of a lockdown and face 900,000 troops? I fear there will be a bloodbath. The way Kashmiris are caged like animals in homes. Their political leadership arrested, even pro India ones. 13,000 boys picked up & taken to unknown locations. Youngsters blinded with pellets. This will only lead to further radicalisation. We fear another Pulwama incident. And for that, India will again blame Pakistan. Indian FM says Pakistan has 500 terrorists waiting on the border. What will 500 terrorists do against 0.9 million troops? They just want an excuse, the catchword & mantra of Islamic terrorism. The phrase Islamic terrorism allows India to dismiss human rights and further increase cruelty on the people of Kashmir. Why would we ever want to disrupt peace? But it’s because there is no other narrative left for India. There will be another Pulwama incident because of their own cruelty in Kashmir, they will blame us and try to bomb us again.”

Imran Khan (1952) Prime Minister of Pakistan

Speech at the United Nations General Assembly, 2019

People, Fear, Peace, Way

“The nervous tension of the public mind could not have been more strikingly illustrated than it was by the alarm resulting from the talk of a small band of men who called themselves anarchists, and proposed to terrify the American people into adopting their ideas by threats of violence, as if a mighty nation which had but just put down a rebellion of half its own numbers, in order to maintain its political system, were likely to adopt a new social system out of fear.”

Edward Bellamy (1850–1898) American author and socialist

Source: Looking Backward, 2000-1887 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25439 (1888), Ch. 1.

Men, People, Fear, Idea

“As political equality is the remedy for political tyranny, so is economic equality the only way of putting an end to the economic tyranny exercised by the few over the many through superiority of wealth. The industrial system of a nation, like its political system, should be a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Until economic equality shall give a basis to political equality, the latter is but a sham.”

Edward Bellamy (1850–1898) American author and socialist

Masthead, from Bellamy's newspaper The New Nation. Quoted in Charles Allan Madison, Critics and Crusaders: Political Economy and the American Quest for Freedom, Transaction Publishers, 1948.

People, Way, Exercises, Wealth

“None of these authors have advocated violence. But their warnings of impending Islamic takeover – a concept that is widely dismissed as implausible in conventional scholarly and political circles – sometimes carry an urgency that might seem to invite angry responses.”

Anders Behring Breivik (1979) Norwegian mass murderer

Doug Saunders, ‘Eurabia’ opponents scramble for distance from anti-Muslim murderer[11 http://dougsaunders.net/2011/07/norway-breivik-geert-wilders-mark-steyn-bruce-bawer/], the Globe and Mail, 2011-07-26 ; Other

“To be honest, when it comes to economics and politics, Taiwan is completely useless to us (Solomon Islands).”

Manasseh Sogavare (1955) Solomon Islands politician

Manasseh Sogavare (2019) cited in " Ministry calls on Solomon Islands to be transparent http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2019/09/13/2003722188" on Taipei Times, 13 September 2019.

“In any case, it will be easier for me to do my job properly (as the Minister of National Defense at that time) if I do not belong to any political party.”

Lee Jye (1940) Taiwanese military personnel

Lee Jye (2007) cited in " KMT expels Lee Jye for obeying DPP http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2007/03/10/2003351657" on Taipei Times, 10 March 2007.

Time

“There are two rules in politics. They say never ever be pictured with a drink in your hand, and never swear. But this is a big fucking day. Way to go, guys.”

Eric Garcetti (1971) American politician

quoted by Josh Feldmen of Mediaite https://www.mediaite.com/tv/this-is-a-big-fcking-day-l-a-mayor-proudly-drops-f-bomb/ (June 16, 2014) 2014, Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup celebration

Way, Guy, Drink

“Tyranny does not impose itself only in the political sphere. This tyranny uses every possible leverage at the disposal of the state to institutionalize discrimination on the basis of gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, and ideological orientation, particularly against women. By sustaining patriarchal dominance, drafting and enforcing misogynistic laws, and even by fabricating a false culture in contradiction with the norms of the society, it deprives women of their human and civil rights and seeks to prevent them from social engagement. Therefore, when a woman like me decides to break their dictated norms, she must suffer prison and separation from her children, as an intimidating lesson for other women.”

Narges Mohammadi (1972) Iranian human rights activist

Letter Accepting 2018 Andrei Sakharov Prizefrom (2018)

Women, Children, Religion, Law

“We cannot fuck our way to freedom. Sexuality alone, and heterosexuality in particular, is never enough to destabilise complex architectures of money and power. Without political agitation, sex can always be co-opted, calcifying gender revolution into another weary parade of saleable binary stereotypes.”

Laurie Penny book Meat Market: Female Flesh Under Capitalism

Conclusion
Meat Market: Female Flesh Under Capitalism (2010)

Money, Sex, Way, Freedom

“Ibn Warraq is the pen-name of the author whose parents emigrated from India to Pakistan as a result of the Partition. He was brought up in Pakistan, which was supposed to be an Islamic Republic. His experience revealed to him that the Muslims of India had been cheated in the name of Islam and its projected principles of equality, free will and democracy. As he grew up, he noticed that Islam had become an effective tool of convenient morality and achieving political goals; a religious or secular leader could prove anything from the Koran and Hadith to suit his purpose, yet every faithful believes that there is no contradiction in the verses of the Koran!”

Ibn Warraq (1946) Pakistani writer

Anwar Shaikh quoted from Goel, Sita Ram (editor) (1998). Freedom of expression: Secular theocracy versus liberal democracy. https://web.archive.org/web/20171026023112/http://www.bharatvani.org:80/books/foe/index.htm

Faith, Democracy, Parent, Cheating

“I’m finding the intrusion of the state into everything in our lives increasingly intolerable, we are being dismantled as thinking adults to the extent that we are dumbing down. Eventually we will become completely politically, spiritually, mentally enfeebled … That’s the future, that’s what we’re looking down the barrel of, and it shits me.”

Richard Roxburgh (1962) Australian actor

Richard Roxburgh on Rake, Donald Trump and the 'immeasurable madness' of the nanny state https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/may/17/richard-roxburgh-on-rake-donald-trump-and-the-immeasurable-madness-of-the-nanny-state (May 17, 2016)

Thinking, Future

“The so-called Muslim women’s movement is predicated on the idea that Muslim men, not Islam, have been responsible for the suppression of women’s rights. For this reason, Muslim feminists throughout the world are advocating a return to the society Muhammad originally envisioned for his followers. Despite differences in culture, nationalities, and beliefs, these women believe that the lesson to be learned from Muhammad in Medina is that Islam is above all an egalitarian religion. Their Medina is a society in which Muhammad designated women like Umm Waraqa as spiritual guides for the Ummah; in which the Prophet himself was sometimes publicly rebuked by his wives; in which women prayed and fought alongside the men; in which women like Aisha and Umm Salamah acted not only as religious but also as political—and on at least one occasion military—leaders; and in which the call to gather for prayer, bellowed from the rooftop of Muhammad’s house, brought men and women together to kneel side by side and be blessed as a single undivided community.”

Aisha (605–678) Muhammad's wife

Reza Aslan as quoted in Joseph, Suad, ed. (2007). Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures: Volume 5 Practices, Interpretations and Representations. Brill Online. p. 227
About

Women, Men, World, Religion

“As a mathematical object, the constitution is maximally simple, consistent, necessarily incomplete, and interpretable as a model of natural law. Political authority is allocated solely to serve the constitution.”

Nick Land (1962) British philosopher

There are no authorities which are not overseen, within nonlinear structures. Constitutional language is formally constructed to eliminate all ambiguity and to be processed algorithmically. Democratic elements, along with official discretion, and legal judgment, is incorporated reluctantly, minimized in principle, and gradually eliminated through incremental formal improvement. Argument defers to mathematical expertise. Politics is a disease that the constitution is designed to cure. "A Republic, If You Can Keep It" https://web.archive.org/web/20140327090001/http://www.thatsmags.com/shanghai/articles/12321 (2013) (original emphasis)

Law, Mathematics, Nature

“The immediate technical cause of the accident was the tearing of the fabric of the outer envelope; this fabric had apparently been embrittled by improper doping treatment. The real reason for the disaster was, however, pride and jealousy and political ambition.”

J.E. Gordon (1913–1998) Materials scientist

Source: Structures (or, Why Things Don't Fall Down) (1978), Chapter 15, A Chapter of accidents

Jealousy, Tear

“The New World Alliance … was a short-lived precursor of the North American Greens. It was founded by Mark Satin (author of New Age Politics) after a nationwide Delphi-type survey among 500 academics, policy experts, and political activists interested in this emerging political paradigm. These new colleagues … were also exploring the relationship between personal and political transformation.”

Mark Satin (1946) American political theorist, author, and newsletter publisher

"Preface." In Woolpert, Stephen; Slaton, Christa Daryl; and Schwerin, Edward W., eds. (1998), Transformational Politics: Theory, Study, and Practice. State University of New York Press, p. xi. ISBN 978-0-7914-3945-6. Woolpert had been a member of the Alliance, see p. xi, and Slaton had worked with the Greens, see McLaughlin quote below.
New Age and Green activism

Age, World, Personality

“From the United States there seemed to be not one but many different kinds of movements developing … as well as a number of ideologies that already then seemed to be in competition with one another: the social ecology of Murray Bookchin, the new-age politics of Mark Satin, the appropriate technology of Amory Lovins, the ecofeminism of Carolyn Merchant, to name some of those that I became acquainted with.”

Mark Satin (1946) American political theorist, author, and newsletter publisher

Jamison, Andrew (2001). The Making of Green Knowledge: Environmental Politics and Cultural Transformation. Cambridge University Press, p. 5. ISBN 978-0-521-79252-3. The author is discussing the period of the late 1970s.
New Age and Green activism

Age

“Silliness, in fact, is where Henson shone. It kept the feel-/do-good-ism from ever succumbing to the piety of political correctness.”

Jim Henson (1936–1990) American puppeteer

About, "The Gospel According to Jim Henson" by David Zahl

Feeling

“It only makes sense in an academic culture in which transgression is by definition political and in which any kind of rage against society can be considered radical.”

Nick Turse (1975) American writer

David Farber, on Turse's views about Columbine High School massacre. The Martyrs of Columbine: Faith and the Politics of Tragedy, p. 25.

Making love, Sense, Rage

“Slavery in the British colonies of North America was more than a century-and-a-half old before independence. It was roundly condemned, at one time or another, by nearly all the important political personages of the Revolution. I know of no instance in which any of these personages contradicted the doctrine of the Declaration, or maintained that slavery was a positive good. We must recognize, however, that slavery next to the family was perhaps the oldest institution of civilized mankind. Its origin in the ancient world came with the discovery that it was more profitable to enslave an enemy defeated in war than to kill him. The ancient law of the ancient city may be seen in the Bible. When the Israelites conquered Jericho, they put to the sword everyone in the city—men and women, young and old, sheep, oxen, and asses. Only Rahab the harlot and her family were spared, since they had given shelter to the Israelite spies. Later, in the custom of ancient warfare, the males of a defeated people would all be killed, but the women and children would be carried into slavery. Eventually the entire population of a defeated people would be enslaved. Such are the steps in the human story. That defeat in war meant slavery was the rule for many thousands of years.”

Harry V. Jaffa (1918–2015) American historian and collegiate professor

2000s, God Bless America (2008), Slavery and the Human Story

Women, Men, War, Children

“During his distinguished public life he set an example of selfless service and stood for value-based politics. He set high standards of moral rectitude and political sagacity as Vice-President and guided the nation successfully.”

Basappa Danappa Jatti (1912–2002) Indian politician

The Hindu Reporter in: Governor, CM condole Jatti's death http://www.thehindu.com/2002/06/08/stories/2002060804340400.htm, The Hindu, 8 June 2002.

Life

“We have now successfully enlisted the aid of many groups of theoretically anti-communist people, all supporting those very causes which lead directly to victory for the Party. These students will be of great value in creating political upheaval here in the next few years. Though they may not vote themselves, they will do a great part of the work for the candidates we shall endorse.”

George Alec Effinger (1947–2002) Novelist, short story writer

“I think it was the vague promise of sexual freedom that did it,” said Weintraub wryly. “That seems to work on everybody. Even the clergy.”
Source: Relatives (1973)., Chapter 11 (p. 177).

People, Support, Victory, Parting

“As you can well imagine, any nuclear bombing study that neglected to target Moscow would be laughed out of the room. (That is, no study at that time; 10 or 15 years later senior policy officials were debating how good an idea this might be. If you wiped out the political leadership of the Soviet Union in the process, who would you deal with in arranging for a truce and who would be left to run the country after the war?) Consequently, two of RAND’s brightest mathematicians were assigned the task of determining, with the help of computers, in great detail, precisely what would happen to the city were a bomb of so many megatons dropped on it. It was truly a daunting task and called for devising a mathematical model unimaginably complex; one that would deal with the exact population distribution, the precise location of various industries and government agencies, the vulnerability of all the important structures to the bomb’s effects, etc., etc. However, these two guys were up to the task and toiled in the vineyards for some months, finally coming up with the results. Naturally, they were horrendous.”

Samuel T. Cohen (1921–2010) American physicist

Harold Mitchell, a medical doctor, an expert on human vulnerability to the H-bomb’s effects, told me when the study first began: “Why are they wasting their time going through all this shit? You know goddamned well that a bomb this big is going to blow the fucking city into the next county. What more do you have to know?” I had to agree with him.
F*** You! Mr. President: Confessions of the Father of the Neutron Bomb (2006)

War, Guy, Imagination, Mathematics

“President with a mind of his own, was a politician of high values, a distinguished parliamentarian, and a great scholar. His brilliant academic and political career was a saga of dedication and abiding commitment to the pursuit of higher learning and public service.”

Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999) Indian politician

A.B.Vajpayee in: p. 233.
Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001

Learning

“Having been distressed by the performance of the hung Lok Sabhas and the instability caused by the coalition governments during his tenure, when three Prime Ministers changed their hands, he took an unprecedented stand by calling the conference of Governors as also leaders of some political parties to discuss this serious problem facing the nation which had weakened the democratic structure of the country. This action earned him a lot of controversy from different quarters. It was even doubted that he was doing so to earn a second term as President of India.”

Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999) Indian politician

Source: Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001, P.257.

Problem, Change, Country

“A veteran of the Indian independence movement against Britain, he was personally popular for his earthy humor and political skills.”

Zail Singh (1916–1994) Indian politician and former President of India

Sanjoy Hazarika, in: Zail Singh, 78, First Sikh To Hold India's Presidency http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/26/obituaries/zail-singh-78-first-sikh-to-hold-india-s-presidency.html, The New York Times, 26 December 1994.

Personality

“His tenure as President was a period of unparelled political turmoil and saw him swear in three governments led by Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Indira Gandhi. He took historic decisions on a number of important issues. By virtue of his long years in public life and close association with leaders from all sections of opinion, he was able to be a steady hand at the wheel of state. His wisdom, friendliness and accessibility endeared him to people belonging to all walks of life. He lent distinction to the highest office of the land by his idealism and patriotism.”

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1913–1996) sixth President of India

Speech by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the concluding function of the centenary celebrations of the former President of India, Dr. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy

Life, Wisdom, People, Decision

“He was not a weak president and he did indulge in politics. He cautioned Prime Minister Morarji Desai on appointment of V. Shankar as principal secretary, Further, he vetoed the outgoing Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s proposal for a broadcast to the nation after his resignation from the post. He also warned the caretaker Charan Singh government not to take any major policy decision.”

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1913–1996) sixth President of India

Singh Hoshiar, in: Indian Administration http://books.google.co.in/books?id=rBcciYfcNQIC&pg=PA41, Pearson Education India, p. 41

Decision

“One of the great sons of Assam and India. His contribution to the Indian freedom struggle was invaluable. A firm believer in the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, he left an indelible imprint on the political landscape of our great nation. His long and distinguished career in public life, which culminated in his occupying the august position of President of India is a shining example of commitment to ethical values and selfless service to the people. Indeed, his contribution to the building of our society and country continues inspiring all of us.”

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977) the fifth President of India and a politician

Manmohan Singh in: PM's Speech on Presentation of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Award 2008 & 2009 and Unveiling of Plaque of Jica Assisted Water Supply Project for Guwahati City http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=69905, Prime Minister's Office, 8-February, 2011

Life, People, Freedom, Country

“Starting his career as a Trade Unionist when Trade Unionism was not prominent of public life, he came to occupy the highest office of this country, with dignity and charm. It was a day of Victory for the labour and Weaker Sections of the Society, when he became the President of India winning a political battle with popular support. He was a fearless champion of the cause of the poor and the working classes. He was always insisting upon cleaner methods in public life. As a labour leader he did not allow Trade Unions to be involved in political activities. He was a stalwart of Indian Nationalism.”

V. V. Giri (1894–1980) Indian politician and 4th president of India

Source: Presidents of India, 1950-2003, p. 84

Life, Support, Victory, Country

“He was different. He had little taste for the finer side of the politics no interest in political philosophy; and he had hardly any values. In any scheme of things, his one target was personal interest. He was anti-Nehru, anti-Indira, anti-Desai, anti-Ramon carrying it, ignoble. He was also given to anger.”

Charan Singh (1902–1987) prime minister of India

Source: Profiles of Indian Prime Ministers, p. 195

Personality, Anger

“He studied law, but unlike many Indian leaders who rose to political power as practicing lawyers, he became known not as a lawyer but as a politician.”

Charan Singh (1902–1987) prime minister of India

Source: Trysts with Democracy: Political Practice in South Asia, p. 80

Law, Study

“He was a lonely man in politics. He was neither liked nor trusted by his colleagues because he went against the grain.”

V. P. Singh (1931–2008) Indian politician

VP Singh: Former prime minister of India who tried to improve the lot of his country's lower castes

“His action which changed the course of Indian politics was implementation of a 10-year-old report advocating quotas in jobs and educational opportunities for those known as Other Backward Castes (OBCs)…. This action is seen as having been responsible for the rapid expansion of parties based on caste, particularly in northern India, although caste already played an important role in politics.”

V. P. Singh (1931–2008) Indian politician

VP Singh: Former prime minister of India who tried to improve the lot of his country's lower castes

Education, Change

“He played a very significant role in the state politics and held many important positions. Even before entering the political life, he had served the Government, as an upright judicial officer, for a period of twelve years. It goes to his credit that he did not compromise his principles under any circumstances.”

Morarji Desai (1896–1995) Former Indian Finance Minister, Freedom Fighters, Former prime minister

Janak Raj Jai in: Commissions and Omissions by Indian Prime Ministers, Volume 1 http://books.google.co.in/books?id=5Wrc1K0uJTgC&pg=PA216, Daya Books, 1996 P.216

Life

“A strident socialist, he made his presence felt in the political life of our country in the past four decades but with the unique distinction of not having held any ministerial office.”

Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) Indian politician

In p. ix
The Long March: Profile of Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar

Life, Past, Country

“He is the president of the Janata Dal (S) (JD-S) political party in India and currently a member of Parliament (MP) representing his home town Hassan district in Karnataka. His party mainly runs on a plank of social justice and has substantial support in South-central Karnataka.”

H. D. Deve Gowda (1933) Indian politician

Profile in: Profile: Haradanahalli Dodde Deve Gowda http://www.indianpoliticians.com/profile/23/ 4 December 2008

Justice, Home, Support

“For this reason neighborhoods should be American and a combination of the best of all the races that live in them. It is here that the school can become the conference center and the council chamber. It is the one American institution to be found in every town free, neutral, and powerful. During the daytime it has the children who can interpret it; during the evening it may have the parents who need it for their community expression. From the schoolhouse come the beliefs that living conditions should be decent, that laws should be enforced for all alike, that there should be no racial discriminations. From participation in neighborhood activities and in governing their own communities, the immigrant will grow into the larger responsibilities of State and nation. In order that American political ideals should be understood by him, they must be lived within his consciousness, in the small radius of his neighborhood, and in that way he must see exemplified whatever American literature, art, music, and science have to give.”

Frances Kellor (1873–1952) American sociologist

What is Americanization? (1919)

Children, School, Law, Art

“Clubs are very peculiar institutions. They are societies of gentlemen who meet principally for social purposes, superadded to which there are often certain other purposes, sometimes of a literary nature, sometimes to promote political objects, as in the Conservative or the Reform Club.”

John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly (1802–1874) English Whig politician and judge

But the principal objects for which they are designed are social, the others are only secondary. It is, therefore, necessary that there should be a good understanding between all the members, and that nothing should occur that is likely to disturb the good feeling that ought to subsist between them.
Hopkinson v. Marquis of Exeter (1867), L. R. 5 Eq. Ca. 67.

Nature

“Andrew Yarranton, Gentlemen was the founder of English political economy, the first man in England who saw and said that peace was better than war, that trade was better than plunder, that honest industry was better than martial greatness, and that the best occupation of a government was to secure prosperity at home, and let other nations alone.”

Andrew Yarranton (1619–1684) English civil engineer

Patrick Edward Dove, Elements of Political Science. Edinburgh, 1854. p. 402

War, Peace, Home

“Later, he graduated from the then Travancore University with specialization in Economics, Politics and History. The varsity honoured him with Moncombu Aandi Iyer Gold Medal for being the best student in Sanskrit.”

Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma (1922–2013) Maharaja of Travancore

Sangeetha Seshagiri, in Marthanda Varma, Titular Head of Travancore Royal Family, Passes Away (16 December 2013) http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/530446/20131216/marthanda-varma-passes-away-travancore-royalfamily-sreepadmanabhaswamytemple.htm

History, Universe

Quotes about politics page 62

Quotes about politics
page 62