“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
—JOHN ADAMS, statesman, diplomat, Aldrin to George Washington’s Armstrong
“It is a greater thing to be a good citizen than to be a good Republican or a good Democrat.”
—GIFFORD PINCHOT, guy you’ve probably never heard of
“Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
—GEORGE ORWELL, English novelist and journalist
“Party leads to vicious, corrupt and unprofitable legislation, for the sole purpose of defeating party.”
—JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, American novelist
“There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour.”
—BENJAMIN DISRAELI, nineteenth-century British Prime Minister
“I find myself . . . hoping a total end of all the unhappy
divisions of mankind by party-spirit, which at best is but the madness
of many for the gain of a few.”
—ALEXANDER POPE, eighteenth-century English poet
“I hate all politics. I don't like either political party. One should not belong to them—one should be an individual, standing in the middle. Anyone that belongs to a party stops thinking.”
—RAY BRADBURY, American novelist
“The old parties are husks, with no real soul within
either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and
privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither
daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly on what should be said on the
vital issues of the day.”
—THEODORE ROOSEVELT, twenty-sixth President of the United States of America
“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
—GEORGE WASHINGTON, dollar bill guy
“I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.”
—GEORGE WASHINGTON, welcoming you to the Hall of Presidents
“All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.”
We would add: “. . . but not nearly fast enough.”
It is a little-known fact that James Fenimore Cooper was deathly afraid of both cameras and portrait painters. In fact, the only know portrait of him was painted by his own murderer! It's the same person who killed Whistler's mother.
ReplyDeleteThat is so shocking and astounding that we can't help but believe it! It’s perhaps even more amazing than the fact that Alexander Pope had a conjoined twin brother to whom he wasn’t related, and who is buried in Grant's tomb. True story.
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