P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

Politics is the business of getting power and privilege without possessing merit

When I came into power, I found that the party managers had taken it all to themselves. I could not name my own Cabinet. They had sold out every place to pay the election expenses.

Politics is ugly. Never doubt what small men will do for great power.

As a lobbyist he had long ago concluded there was no difference in how Democrats and Republicans conducted the business of government. The game stayed the same: It was always about favors and friends, and who controlled the dough. Party labels were merely a way to keep track of the teams; issues were mostly smoke and vaudeville. Nobody believed in anything except hanging on to power, whatever it took.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the government of South Carolina is under domination of a small ring of cunning, conniving men.

A politician's goal is always to manipulate public debate. I think there are some politicians with higher goals. But all of them get corrupted by power.

No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions.

The worst thing for a politician is to try and cling to power by every possible means, and focus only on that.

There is a tendency in all parties, when they have been for a long time in possession of power, to augment it.

Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces

Under every stone lurks a politician

Anything done [in politics] is all right unless you get caught.

Feelings of marginalization and cries of separation are symptomatic of countries where rulers find power sweet and intoxicating, where power is coveted, and when acquired, painstakingly guarded.

The boss of all bosses operates like a shifty-eyed precinct captain on the make ... These are activities on would expect of a small-time ward heeler, not a figure of such influence and stature.

Politicians can be bought and often are.

I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public office in Washington. Here ruining people is considered a sport … Politics is a blood sport.

Friendship is the most corrupting influence in politics.

I'm guilty as sin. I did something morally wrong. I gave in to the prestige and power, the things that went with my job. I knew that the Governor, the man that appointed me, wanted no recommendation for clemency in any death case.

In a free government, the few, finding their schemes and views of interest borne down by the many, to gain the power they cannot constitutionally obtain, always endeavor to get it by cunning and corruption, conscious at the same time that usurpation, when once begun, the safety of the usurper consists only in grasping the whole.

The financial interests have captured the government institutions.

When a man once gets a start holding office, it is nearly always necessary to finally choke him off.

when greed and fear are linked to power, you have a dangerous mix. We see that in political life. In part of the world, the mix of greed and fear means that those who get power become reluctant to give it back. One of the many things I like and admire in our democracies are the norms that make our leaders hand over power when voters tell them to

My three years in politics was very instructive about the way in which the appetite for political power can destroy a human mind, destroy principles and values, and transform people into little monsters.