Don Cheadle Quotes

When politicians try to govern by raising a wet finger to the wind or on the basis of public opinion polling, the public gets to think that all leaders are interchangeable.

There is a paradox in politics that what it takes to get elected is not necessarily what it takes to govern, and my feeling is that trying to control things too much feels icky to me.

Leadership is important in politics.

Divorced from ethics, leadership is reduced to management and politics to mere technique.

To govern is always to choose among disadvantages.

It's easy enough to get into power. You can make promises and try to be all things to all people. But the moment you have to make decisions, you're going to annoy at least half of them. Whatever you do, in the end you're almost certain to be brought down by your own character traits.

The art of politics is knowing what to do next.

In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions.

In politics, as in business, leadership is crucial.

Politics and ethics belong to different worlds.

At Athens, wise men propose, and fools dispose.

If the critics are right that I've made all my decisions based on polls, then I must not be very good at reading them.

I am not concerned about getting reelected. I can make the unpopular but necessary decision. Your focus from day one is on your legacy rather than political considerations.

There never is a good time for tough decisions. There will always be an election or something else. You have to pick courage and do it. Governance is about taking tough, even unpopular, decisions.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

Politics is about accountability, it is about leadership, it is about courage.

Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?

Polls make leadership impossible.

When you're in the real world as President of the United States it doesn't go according to the script.

To govern is to chose.

Lack of accountability in any decision making structure is not tolerable.

All politicians make huge mistakes.

We always defer … kick the can down the road. The only way you get into trouble in politics is to make choices.

The success of an elected official is doing what everyone knows needs to be done.

The silence of peoples is something kings should study.