James Farmer Quotes

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.

He was as great as a man can be without morality

Tim Kaine is a good man.

We have souls. Sure we do. Otherwise we'd do bad things all the time. You know, like politicians.

The person I liked the best was Gerald R. Ford. He was the most decent man in politics I ever had any relationships with.

Bad company corrupts good character.

Politics ruins the character.

It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.

In the interval between the defeat of the patriot cause and the last revolution, he resided in the capital, and in a society not remarkable for strict morals, he was distinguished for his immorality... To judge him from his public papers, I do not think him a man of talents. He is prompt, bold and decisive, and not scrupulous about the means he employs to obtain his ends.

Where there is politics or economics, there is no morality

The great corrupter of public man is the ego.

Bill Clinton is the most corrupt, the most amoral, the most despicable person I've ever seen in the presidency.

Men say that I am a saint losing myself in politics. The fact is that I am a politician trying my hardest to be a saint.

The Decalogue and the Golden Rule have no place in a political campaign. The commander who lost the battle through the activity of his moral nature would be the derision and jest of history.

I have not observed men's honesty to increase with their riches.

There are a lot of smart people in politics and government, but character matters ... it is terribly important that the two be melded.

The more men value money the less they value virtue.

Alexander Hamilton is a man devoid of every moral principle.

I suppose that an honest man shines more in politics than he does elsewhere.

We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.

Base thy life on principle, not on rules.

I never thought I would see a President of the United States say on television that “I am not a crook.” The worst part of it was, Nixon couldn’t even look the camera in the eye.

Truth is a habit of integrity, not a strategy of politics.

It is not true that people of high principle are ill-suited for politics.

I think that at his core, Benjamin Netanyahu is not corrupt.