Alice Walker Quotes

It is economic power that determines political power, and governments become the political functionaries of economic power.

It is a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.

People live with the illusion that we have a democratic system, but it's only the outward form of one. In reality we live in a plutocracy, a government of the rich.

It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellowmen.

We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.

The political world is a dark place. If you want to portray it accurately, authentically, you've got to turn out the lights from time to time.

The way I see politics is, I don't think it's cynical to accept the fact politicians are human beings, that they're flawed, and they represent the best and the worst of us.

Politics is not a game for naive thinkers. You may go in as an idealist, but you certainly won't come out as one.

The trouble with conservatives is that too many of them come to Washington thinking they are going to drain the swamp, only to discover that Washington is a hot tub.

I have never regarded politics as an arena of morals. It is the arena of interests.

Washington believes in Zero-Sum politics.

I'm well aware of the pragmatism of politics.

I have talked to more people who are in politics who have said to me, "[House of Cards] is closer than you can imagine. It's the most accurate description of how politics actually works that we've ever seen." I mean, West Wing - beautiful, wonderful idea of how democracy should work. But I've had more people in politics say they think House of Cards is closer. I - don't know whether to take that as a compliment or a sad state of affairs.

I think Bush came back because Colin Powell was there. Hey, I'm the brigadier general, baby.

In America you have the mouse now trying to sit down on the elephant, thinking that he's going somewhere. And it's - and it's absurd.

The great divide in American foreign policy thinking is between those who believe in paper and those who believe in power.

In real life, what scares me is politicians, corporations and people that think they know what the world should be.

They'll get it all from you sooner or later 'cause they own this f**kin' place. It's a big club and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club. By the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Good, honest, hard-working people: white collar, blue collar, it doesn't matter what color shirt you have on.

I think the accurate description for the George W. Bush administration is a military plutocracy. Having lived and worked in the United States, I must add that I don't want to make too much of the distinction between the Bush regime and its predecessors. I don't see a great deal of difference.

All working, practical political systems, even those professing to originate in moral grandeur, are based upon and operate by contempt of human life and the individual fate.

Geopolitics needs not just rhetoric, not just certain instincts, not just political skillful manipulation; it needs vision and what the Germans call erdung - you have to be connected to the ground always. You cannot float on your wishful thinking and hope that some miracles will become reality.

I think Donald Trump thinks of Putin as being a strong person, and I think he thinks of himself as being a very strong person. But I don't think in any way that he thinks of the Putin government as a desirable model.

Scholars, who pride themselves on speaking their minds, often engage in a form of self-censorship which is called "realism." To be "realistic" in dealing with a problem is to work only among the alternatives which the most powerful in society put forth. It is as if we are all confined to a, b, c, or d in the multiple choice test, when we know there is another possible answer. American society, although it has more freedom of expression than most societies in the world, thus sets limits beyond which respectable people are not supposed to think or speak.

The people who think that the power of big business is enormous are mistaken