Harold Pinter Quotes

It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career.

I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.

Leadership is about doing what you know is right - even when a growing din of voices around you is trying to convince you to accept what you know to be wrong.

But our leaders of today have decided it's more important to be popular, to say and do what's easy, and say yes rather than to say no, when no is what is required.

Political courage is not political suicide.

When you take a stand out of deep conviction, people know. They may not even agree, but they ask, 'Do I want someone who is willing to take a hard stand and someone I can trust to do that when the chips are down?' They want that.

It may not always be easy, convenient, or politically correct to stand for truth and right, but it is the right thing to do. Always.

I stand for all people even if it causes me political heartburn - and I'm going to do that no matter what my future holds.

For me, I will defend what's right - not who I am speaking with at the time or who I think will back me.

Mayors are very different, because mayors can't be on both sides of every issue. Mayors have to take an explicit stance. Just go with your gut and say what you believe, and you'll be fine. If you're not fine, at least you'll like what you see in the mirror.

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.

What's right isn't always popular. What's popular isn't always right.

There are actually very few US politicians who have integrity and vision.

There are times in politics when you must be on the right side and lose.

Leadership is about doing the right thing, even if it going against a vast number of naysayers and mediocre people.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

There comes a time when you have to stand up and be counted.

Be willing to get fired for a good idea.

I've never worried about payback. People are hungry for leadership that's not afraid of political consequence.

All the evils of France have been produced less by the perversity of the wicked and the violence of fools than by the hesitation of the weak, the compromises of conscience, and the tardiness of patriotism. Let every deputy, every Frenchman show what he feels, what he thinks, and we are saved!

I am not concerned about getting reelected. I can make the unpopular but necessary decision. Your focus from day one is on your legacy rather than political considerations.

What the American people want to see in their president is somebody who not necessarily can win every fight, but they want to see him stand up and fight for what he believes, take his case to the American people.

My outspoken positions haven't always been popular in the halls of Congress, but they have been rooted in what I believed was right and necessary.

If you're blessed enough to serve in public office, then you shouldn't just talk a good game about your values; you should cast your vote according to them.

There are things you stand up for because it's right.