George Bernard Shaw Quotes

One must ease the public into it - that's an art in itself.

People want change but not too much change. Finding that balance is tricky for every politician.

Before some things can be politically expedient, they must first become popular.

A new reign is always a time of hope; everybody is disposed to see something for his own wishes and prospects. The policy of a new Sovereign must therefore be to act in such a manner as to hurt as little as possible the amour-propre [public love] of people, to let circumstances and the force of things bring about the disappointments which no human power could prevent coming sooner or later…

Most governments and people want reform. It’s the prospect of change that makes reform rare.

The great work which is to be done is to change public opinion.

The Prime Minister wins debate after debate and loses battle after battle. The country is beginning to say that he fights debates like a war and the war like a debate.

In politics, reality and appearance are of equal importance. You cannot attend to one and neglect the other. A man must determine both what he is, and what others believe him to be.

As the master politician navigates the ship of state, he both creates and responds to public opinion. Adept at tacking with the wind, he also succeeds, at times, in generating breezes of his own.

John Kerry suspended his campaign for five days this week in honor of President Reagan. And right now, he's ahead in the polls. How's that make him feel? Disappears for a week and he's up in the polls. What else can he do now but go into hiding.

Revolution is man's normal activity, and if he is wise he will grade it slowly so that it may be almost imperceptible - otherwise it will jerk in fits and starts and cause discomfort.

In addition to trying to do the right thing and obey the law and follow principle, there's a part of the conservative, slash, Republican movement that believes if we just show that we're fair and impeccable, then we will get credit from those who think we're all these horrible things, and maybe they won't hate us as much.

President tends to feel that he cannot go beyond what the public will support him in doing. So he tries not to decide what is the best course so much as to decide what the people will support.

Now listen. You can't fool all the people all the time-- but I want you to try.

It is [a politician's] business to get and hold his job at all costs. If he can hold it by lying, he will hold it by lying; if lying peters out, he will try to hold it by embracing new truths. His ear is ever close to the ground.

A successful politician must not only be able to read the mood of the public, he must have the skill to get the public on his side. The public is moved by mood more than logic, by instinct more than reason, and that is something that every politician must make use of or guard against.

An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public.

The skill of the politician consists in guessing what people can be brought to think advantageous to themselves; the skill of the expert consists in calculating what really is advantageous, provided people can be brought to think so.

[Ted] Cruz may have been hoping his reversal would fly under the radar.

I think history has shown that the worst way to [try to] bring people over and actually change public opinion is by insult and applied degradation of them.

When people meet my wife they think better of me. They say: "With a wife like that, he can't be as bad as we thought".

However much one tries to suppress the will of the people they eventually will have the last word.

When aroused the American conscience is a powerful force for reform.

I know the American administration is trying to refurbish its image after Irangate, especially in the Middle East and among their friends in this area. No doubt about it. We are following it.

In the U.S., African- Americans, no matter what we do - when we sit in, when we freedom ride, when we kneel in, whatever it is, the initial response from the public tends to be overwhelmingly negative, because basically we're kind of raining on folks' parades. As time goes on, the Muhammad Ali's and all the people that raised those issues, they then become heroes later when people reflect on the courage they showed and the issues that they raised. And Donald Trump is in danger of being a more and more reviled figure as the years go on.