Jim Kolbe Quotes

I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism, more humanness, more compassion, more profiles of courage than in any other institution that I have ever known.

Jimmy Carter is the most intelligent. Jimmy Carter is a good man.

No high qualities of statesmanship are expected from a Congressman.

While not all politicians are statesmen, all statesmen are politicians.

I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism, more humaneness, more compassion, more profiles of courage than in any other institution that I have ever known.

The success of an elected official is doing what everyone knows needs to be done.

I'm thinking of trying to talk Jonathan Toews into running for Congress. We could use him.

Voters in 1960 elected the first Catholic president. In 2012, I voted to reelect the first African American president. Each was a vote for a man of principle and character, for a man who had proved himself capable and courageous and who would lead our country with a combination of dignity, compassion and toughness along a path of progress.

Whoever the next prime minister of this country will be, it will be a female prime minister and a female prime minister who has formidable skills and I know whichever one of the two wins they will lead this country well.

Cicero most reminds me of Harold Wilson. Both men knew how to keep the show on the road.

I think we need politicians; we need people who want to serve.

At the moment I am a little bit politician, yes. I think that could be my next step. It is not because I want power, it is because of what I think I could do for the people.

I don't like to see a president who is just out campaigning all year long or for the last four years. I'd like to see somebody who's going in the office. In fact, I'd like to not see them because that way you'd be sure that they'd be working.

I don't want to come to Washington to be just another vote. I want to lead on issues that are important.

I think our politicians could learn a lot from Mandela.

I enjoyed my stay in the Congress. Most people do not. And too many people who have been elected really don't understand the nature of government.

I've committed myself to serve my constituents in South Shields and I have committed myself to British politics.

I see myself as an old man and an unqualified teacher to the nation. I think being a teacher is probably the most important thing you can be in politics.

There are too many politicians in the world and too few statesmen.

I'm not running for state Senate because I wanted to become a politician. I'm running because I wanted to serve.

Gabby Giffords was a mentor of mine in the state Legislature and also in Congress.

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

I always tell people this: to be a savvy politician or a good head of state and to be charitable are not mutually exclusive things.

When you're out of office, you can be a statesman.

In the end, Ted Kennedy was a politician, plain and simple. Yet he embodied how politics and public service can be successfully intertwined. You can't be a good public servant without being a good politician. Kennedy was both.