Robert Zoellick Quotes

The challenge has been, we make policy in the world of politics.

I will keep working with both parties in the House to get things done for people in our District.

In my opinion, it is not in our interest to have complicated negotiations with a region, and then have to follow it up with 535 negotiations at home. I have experienced recounts, and it is better to vote once.

Congressional staff members do have a considerable amount of responsibility. But in my experience, the loyalty of the vast majority of staffers to their bosses leads them to be honest brokers of information for the members they work for.

I think there's a lot to learn from Rockefeller on how to pass legislation.

This gets back to the fundamental lesson of political survival that Bill Clinton taught me, which is if you make it about the American people's lives instead of your life, you're going to be okay.

I happen to agree with many of President Obama's policies, but in our system, it is often as important how you do something as what you do.

We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement.

I don't know what the strategy will be in Washington. The reality is, is, I have got to go down there, as my mentor, as people like Bill Bradley have told me to do, get to know your colleagues on both sides of the aisle, recognize that they, too, beat with the same heart and the same type of blood.

I see a trend here where the President seems to think his job is to count votes and then try to make a deal That's what we in legislatures do. Mr. Obama's job is to travel the country, fight for the values that he cares about.

One of the things I give Nancy Pelosi a lot of credit for is that she's able to get things passed and hold her members together because she shows us that she's doing everything possible to get our views into these bills.

The dominant color of politics is gray; difficult choices and compromise are required at almost every step of the journey toward a major new program.

All legislation of any consequence is a compromise. You have to recognize that.

When it comes to listening to my constituents or to the governor's staff, who are more interested in their pet projects and their government cars, I'll vote for my constituents every time.

In politics people know how to communicate without having to meet in back rooms.

There is something wrong with the way in which we make our decisions. The Government listen too much to the pollsters and the party managers. The trouble is that they are not even very good at politics, and they are entering too much into policy decisions. As a result, there is too much short-termism, too much reacting to events, and not enough shaping of events. We give the impression of being in office but not in power. Far too many important decisions are made for 36 hours' publicity.

From time to time we must remind ourselves that the President has a role in the legislative process.

We have a constitution that says that the way you get things is by passing legislation, not by threatening to destroy the country unless you get your way.

We are going to get the Civil Right Bill! Dirksen is going to come out in support…. and don’t ask me what I had to give him.

Gingrich, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, and Clinton passed legislation because they understood and appreciated the difficult political process. They fought for their principles yet recognized the need for compromise to get anything done.

Jon Kyl did a really good job of presenting a case and moving issues. John McCain probably is one of the more effective legislators, getting things on through the process. I always thought, too - and this may seem kind of odd - Richard Shelby was just an effective guy a lot of times at stopping things.

Any president has to work with Congress.

In politics, you have to understand that there are some cases where you'll never be able to get votes.

I will continue to ask the president and his subordinates to work with Congress rather than against it.

Typically, members of Congress don't just hear a story about a program and indicate whether they support it or not.