Bob Edwards Quotes

There are too many politicians in the world and too few statesmen.

I see myself as an old man and an unqualified teacher to the nation. I think being a teacher is probably the most important thing you can be in politics.

In the end, Ted Kennedy was a politician, plain and simple. Yet he embodied how politics and public service can be successfully intertwined. You can't be a good public servant without being a good politician. Kennedy was both.

A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years.

The statesman's duty is to bridge the gap between his nation's experience and his vision.

You don’t become a statesman unless you are first a good politician.

While not all politicians are statesmen, all statesmen are politicians.

My grandfather... always used to say - I remember it really well - that he was proud to be a politician. He wanted to redeem that word.

A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years.

I really don't have tremendous political ambition. I have policy ambition.

This idea that you can't be an honest man and a Washington politician is a myth, a crock made up by sellouts and careerist hacks who don't stand for anything and are impatient with people who do. It's possible to do this job with honor and dignity.

I said when I came into office that I don't want to be a great leader; I want to be a good democrat.

In politics there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those like John McCain who use their careers to promote change.

I always tell people this: to be a savvy politician or a good head of state and to be charitable are not mutually exclusive things.

When you're out of office, you can be a statesman.

In terms of the principles of politics, I think I understand well. Thailand needs someone who has leadership, who has the management skills to help the country.

It was a pleasure to meet President Obama and Michelle. I'm not a political person, but I admire what he has done.

Whatever you may think of Mrs. Clinton as a character, I think she believes quite strongly in public service.

My mother was a politician in my formative years.

There is a difference between the typical politician and the statesman. A typical politician is that person who tells people what people want to hear, while the statesman tells people what people need to know.

It has always seemed to me that Barack Obama has studied intensely and learned a great deal from Lincoln.

I have tremendous admiration for everyone who enters the political arena so long as their goal is to do what they believe is right for the people of New York.

My father was in Congress when I was born. He was mayor my whole life from when I was in grade school - first grade - to when I went away to college.

A statesman is a politician who’s been dead ten or fifteen years.

A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.