Ingrid Betancourt Quotes

To those who have exhausted politics, nothing remains but abstract thought.

But generally speaking, I felt to engage in the political process was to sully oneself to such a degree that whatever came out wasn't worth the trouble put in.

The Senate is a place filled with goodwill and good intentions, and if the road to hell is paved with them, it's a pretty good detour.

I wish I could renounce politics.

It would be really hard to get serious about anything political today unless it was a joke.

I really found this campaign odious. I couldn't get up for it. The quality of the candidates and the campaign, I just found the whole thing second-rate. I didn't know how to explain to my granddaughter that I was spending my dotage writing about Al Gore and George W. Bush.

It's a big deal for me to say I'm over politics.

Nobody cares what any politician in Washington says.

I'm not involved in politics any more and they're quite right.

I don't miss politics.

Whoever lives in Berlin note, and doesn't die of Liberalism, will never die of vexation!

The social sciences were for all those who had not yet decided what to do with their lives, and for all those whose premature frustrations led them into the sterile alleys of confrontation.

It's a great country, where anybody can grow up to be president... except me.

Negativity drove me out of politics in the mid-Nineties.

People who leave Washington do so by way of the box... ballet or coffin.

Many young Muslims see no opportunities for themselves and do not feel they have control over their lives or a stake in their nation's future. Such pessimism leads to disengagement. We risk losing a generation of young Muslims to apathy and extremism.

I think a lot of people start out full of idealism and fresh ideas. And then a lot of times, being re-elected becomes more important than staying true to your principles.

It is true what is said in Washington - 'No matter how cynical you get, it's never enough to catch up.'

My friend told me later he got the chicken pox. I told him I caught politics and never got over it.

When people start hurling insults at you, you know their minds are closed and there's no point in debating. You disengage yourself as quickly as possible from the situation.

I've lived in Washington now for 44 years, and that's a lot of folly to witness up close. Whatever confidence and optimism I felt towards the central government when I got here on January 1, 1970 has pretty much dissipated at the hands of the government.

I may have grown cynical from long service, but this is a tendency I do not like, and I sometimes think I'd rather be a dog and bay at the moon than stay in the Senate another six years and listen to it.

I don't think it works to just be mad at them - Maxine Waters out ranting and kicking down the doors. It would be so easy to dismiss you and marginalize you.

Let them fight it out, friend! Things have gone too far.

A Senator of the United States … serves his people by joining in the petty squabbles that occupy so much time of the Senate today. I may have grown cynical from long service, but this is a tendency I do not like, and I sometimes think I’d rather be a dog and bay at the moon than stay in the Senate another six years and listen to it.