John Bercow Quotes

Serving in the United States Senate has been the greatest privilege of my life.

[Warren] Harding didn't like being a Senator; he liked being in the Senate.

I'm not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the U.S. Senate.

I grew up thinking that if I wanted to go be prime minister, I could.

I don't want to become Washington.

Rock stars generally don't last in the Senate, starting with John Kennedy. Too much work, too slow, too little juice. Getting something accomplished takes a remarkable amount of tedious work. Rock stars who become senators either run for something else or retire on the job. They certainly don't make a mark.

I have no political ambitions for myself or my children.

If you want to be a policy maker, run for office.

I would rather have a full term in the Senate—a place in which I would feel more consciously able to discharge the duties required, and where there is more chance to make a reputation, and less danger of losing it than four years of the presidency.

I doubt whether patriotism can stand the ware and tear and temptation of the front benches in the House of Commons.

When I was a young man, I used to dream maybe someday I could be an alderman. Instead of that I became an attorney general, a senator, a vice president, a Democratic nominee.

Before I became a chief minister, I never thought that one day I'd be the chief minister.

I'm not a politician. And I don't want to be.

My childhood dream was to be prime minister.

Having a path to elected office was never the goal for me.

It would be wonderful to be a member of the United States Senate.

I'd love the job of Chancellor one day.

I wouldn't take Father of the House even if I was offered it.

Of course I want to be [prime minister].

The idea that I should become president seems to me too visionary to require a serious answer. It has never entered my head, nor is it likely to enter the head of any other person.

I have zero interest in being vice president.

Ambition, of course, is the politician's currency.

I don't see myself in any way in elective office.

I have no desire to run for public office.

I'm interested in running for an office that would allow me the opportunity to work harder and do a better job for the citizens of this state, and I will not rule out any office that gives me that ability.