Mike Mansfield Quotes

People do not use foul language in the House of Commons chamber. They just don't do it, and I don't, either.

Parliament is supposed to be serious. It's not a place for jingoistic cheering.

It is important that the decorum and dignity of the House is upheld at all times. The image of Parliament in the public mind should be one where proceedings, debates and discussions take place with a view to resolve issues through a constructive and co-operative approach.

The leaders of the Senate ... have no power delegated to them except on the basis of courtesy, accommodation, and a sense of responsibility.

… the scene of noise and uproar which the House of Commons now exhibits is perfectly disgusting. This used not to be the case in better, or at lease more gentlemanlike, times; no noises were permissible but the cheer and the cough, the former admitting every variety of intonation expressive of admiration, approbation, assent, denial, surprise, indignation, menace, sarcasm. Now all the musical skill of this instrument is lost and drowned in shouts, hootings, groans, noises of the most discordant that the human throat can emit, sticks and feet beating against the floor.

When members of this House use inflammatory language, use offensive language, it does not help the process. It is beneath the dignity of this body and this country.

We need more women and moms in Congress — both in the House and in the Senate. So we should make sure that the congressional workplace reflects the needs of working moms. The House allows children on the House floor, and I believe it should be allowed in the Senate too. My kids, and having all three of them while serving in the House, have made me a better legislator. Being a mom makes politics real.

As tough as juggling the demands of motherhood and being a Senator can be, I’m hardly alone or unique as a working mother, and my children only make me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hardworking families everywhere. For me to find out that there are issues with the United States Senate’s rules where I may not be able to vote or bring my child onto the floor of the Senate when I need to vote because we ban children from the floor, I thought, ‘Wow, I feel like I’m living in the 19th century instead of the 21st".

My conclusion about Mr. Trump's unsuitability for office is based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect, an idea that should transcend politics. Instead, he opts to mock the vulnerable and inflame prejudices by attacking ethnic and religious minorities.

It was surprising to me to hear a member question whether another member of the House was an adult. We're all adults in the House of Commons, and I think it diminishes us all to suggest otherwise.

It is an outrage that Donald Trump can swear and scream on national television and no one says boo about how he presents himself.

We loved the language in Cormac McCarthy's 'No Country,' which is really about the region, while in 'True Grit' it's more about period: people did speak more formally and floridly.

When you have to write a letter, you're automatically put into a state of composure and a kind of formality. You can't help it. So, no, I never once got a letter where someone just popped off at me.

I may interrupt people or be nasty, but I am never rude. So every interview starts with a shake of a hand and ends with a shake of a hand.

We Montanans take pride in our low crime rate and believe honest people can disagree without being disagreeable. Maybe extremist groups believe they can find a home in Montana because of our easygoing ways.

A campaign ought to demonstrate the basic human decency of the candidate. That means your First Amendment rights end at the tip of your opponent's nose - even in the matter of political rhetoric.

I believe you leave opinions and views with your hat and coat at the door.

I'm not OK with clergy, students, and those of different opinions lying and expressing hateful speech in the name of love, but again, it is their constitutional right. I'm not OK with their conduct, but in America we tolerate it, as obnoxious and spiteful as it may be.

The majority in the Senate is prepared to restore the Senate's traditions and precedents to ensure that regardless of party, any president's judicial nominees, after full and fair debate, receive a simple up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

While romanticizing the Senate of yore would be a mistake, it was certainly better in my father's time.

I found, in the Senate, you can have significant impact whether you're in the minority party or the majority party, and a lot of it goes back to... that you really have to be able to count to 60.

No one knows the Senate better than Joe Biden; he lived there for 35 years.

I don't condone bad language.

Anyone who has ever spent time listening to a legislature knows the astonishing speed at which all presiding officers and reading clerks can spit out the formulaic incantations of parliamentary procedure.

When they told me I couldn't sit on the Senate floor with an iPad - that the technology wasn't even permitted - I breathed deep and knew that I was going to have to start pushing.