Paul Ryan Quotes

A politician's goal is always to manipulate public debate. I think there are some politicians with higher goals. But all of them get corrupted by power.

I think that people like Bloomberg, they're complete thugs. No question about it. But on the other hand, it must be said that they are politically savvy. They don't get into those positions of power - in the case of Bloomberg, both economic and political power - by being anybody's fool.

And when people in power can stay in power they do very little to tinker with the apparatus that put them in power.

Idealism is the noble toga that political gentlemen drape over their will to power.

It's wherever business rules, business is going to get the politicians they want because they control the money and money controls the power.

The term Party is applied equally to the peaceful parties of America and to the Communist Party of Russia, the Nazi Party of Germany, and the Fascist Party of Italy. The methodology of these parties varies, but their fundamental objective-to place and keep their leaders in control of the government - is the same.

All political power is primarily an illusion …. Mirrors and blue smoke …

In the struggle for power, propaganda is an instrument to be used by those who want to secure or retain power just as much as it is by those wanting to displace them.

Of all the groups I dealt with, but I found religious leaders the most naive about politics. Maybe that is because so many came from sheltered backgrounds, or perhaps it is the result of a mistaken perception of the demands of Christian charity… Or most worrisome of all, they may simply like to be around power.

As long as public opinion influences politicians, those who can influence public opinion will have great political weight

They could care less about the public. The public comes in third. Number one is keeping their power. Number two are the special interests, the people footing the bill. Finally, the public good might be third — if they can profit from it. If there's no profit, they could care less.

To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it.

The problem with politics isn't the money; it's the power.

My sense was that most of the elected officials in Washington - in their heart of hearts - really believe that the system can't be too bad because it produced them. And when people in power can stay in power they do very little to tinker with the apparatus that put them in power. We've seen it time after time after time.

Power, however it has evolved, whatever its origins, will not be given up without a struggle.

Power is a word the meaning of which we do not understand.

I had learned and written too much history not to know that the great masses always and at once respond to the force of gravity in the direction of the powers that be. I knew that the same voices which yelled "Heil Schuschnigg" today would thunder "Heil Hitler" tomorrow.

What better way for a ruling class to claim and hold power than to pose as the defenders of the nation.

Political organizations are formed to keep the powerful in power.

Power in the hands of the reformer is no less potentially corrupting than in the hands of the oppressor.

In the struggle between those seeking power there is no middle course.

In order to obtain and hold power, a man must love it.

If power corrupts, weakness in the seat of power, with its constant necessity of deals and bribes and compromising arrangements,corrupts even more.

The things they don't tell you in schools these days, geez. Have a look at your owners. The politicians are put there to give you the idea you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice; you have owners. They own you. They own everything.

All power is the same. Magic. Physical strength. Economic strength. Political strength. It all serves a single purpose-it gives its possessor a broader spectrum of choices. It creates alternative courses of action.