Peggy Noonan Quotes

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

What's fascinating is, people in Washington would rather spend time in Hollywood, and people in Hollywood would rather spend time in Washington.

My biggest ambition is to bring together what happens in the real world with what politicians talk about.

Ambition characterizes and distinguishes national officeholders from other kinds of human beings.

…the Senate, a small body of egos…

The governor’s mansion was not good enough for me, although it was too good for my predecessor.

Every senator sees a president when he looks in the mirror each morning.

He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.

Under every stone lurks a politician

A political career brings out the basest qualities in human nature.

... the trouble is, once you give in to a Voting Bloc, you become an addict. Just about every politician in New York is a political junkie.

Men who have greatness within them don't go into politics.

I have the disease called politics.

Politicians are half ego and half humility.

A most wretched custom is our electioneering and scrambling for office. Misserima omnimo est ambitio honorumque contentio.

Government has come to be a trade, and is managed solely on commercial principles. A man plunges into politics to make his fortune, and only cares that the world shall last his days.

The hazards of politics come not from campaigns and elections, as might be supposed, but rather from the nature of the creature that engages in politics. Ambition, love, jealousy, hate and the many emotions and reactions man is heir to frequently affect the course of nation and world more than principles or circumstances or events.

Politics, as an end in itself, is a poor business to be in.

Politicians respect a lot of things, but nothing so much as success.

Mothers may still want their sons to grow up to become President, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.

Anyone who gets to the top in politics is a control freak.

Politicians reach high and stoop low to get elected. Unfortunately, there has been more stooping than reaching as of late.

Men in political life must be ambitious.

I’m always amused by politicians running against Washington, when they desperately want to get to Washington.

My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth there's hardly any difference.