Douglas Brinkley Quotes

I could be like Joe Kennedy and say, 'My kids are going to run for president!'

Life itself has so much politics, why should I make it my profession? I'm just a politician's son, not a politician myself. Two politicians, that's my dad and elder brother, in the family are enough. I'm happy doing my own stuff in Bollywood.

In Pakistan politics is hereditary.

Rock stars generally don't last in the Senate, starting with John Kennedy. Too much work, too slow, too little juice. Getting something accomplished takes a remarkable amount of tedious work. Rock stars who become senators either run for something else or retire on the job. They certainly don't make a mark.

There ain't any first-raters this year .... We don't have any John Shermans or Theodore Roosevelts. We've got a lot of second-raters and Warren G. Harding is the best of the second-raters.

The unexpressed aim of every politician is to influence events that history books will record his name - and spell it right.

I can say with some confidence that President Zardari's legacy will be written in golden words. I don't say this as his son, or patron-and-chief of the Pakistan People's Party - but as a student of history.

The traditional path to making a name for yourself in our family is running for elective office, and I couldn't do that because, for one thing, all the really good offices were taken.

My father was the prime minister and we had Tamil Nadu's support.

I call him Governor Bush because that's the only political office he's ever held legally in this country. I don't care where they hang his portrait, I don't care how big his library is. To me, he'll always be "Governor Bush." I don't even capitalize his name when I type it anymore.

Stephen Harper is probably the most dangerous human being ever elevated to power in Canada.

Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over for him.

I have always liked the Kennedys as politicians. They had such great hair.

The Kennedys formed a Kennedy party.

I think Newt Gingrich has a proven track record of changing Washington and getting results.

The career of politics grants a feeling of power. The knowledge of influencing men, of participating in power over them, and above all, the feeling of holding in one's hands a nerve fiber of historically important events can elevate the professional politician above everyday routine even when he is placed in formally modest positions.

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

Politics is the only profession where there's life after death.

He was born to be a senator. He never said anything important, and he always said it sonorously.

No man ever exercised less influence in the Senate or the House of Representatives than he, but no man ever exercised more power as a political leader.

Ahmed Patel and Sonia Gandhi are not too different political personalities.

For decades, the Congress party has used its power to make Nehru appear as a giant, rendering all other political personalities small before him.

Politicians never fade away; they just keep carrying on, you know, their class.

It is clear that my predecessor as First Minister is frightening the life out of the Tories and the Labour Party. Long may it continue.

Junior is such a great guy. He's the new and improved model. It's a beautiful thing. That's what you train your children to do. He's an inspiration to his brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews who say it's too hard living up to the family name.