Thomas Jefferson Quotes

There can be no wise politics without thought beforehand.

What we find is that if you have a goal that is very, very far out, and you approach it in little steps, you start to get there faster. Your mind opens up to the possibilities.

Don't call the question unless you've got the votes.

Shrewd and crafty politicians, when they wish to bring about an unpopular measure, must not go straight forward to work, if they do they will certainly fail; and failures to men in power, are like defeats to a general, they shake their popularity. Therefore, since they cannot sail in the teeth of the wind, they must tack, and ultimately gain their object, by appearing at times to be departing from it.

Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we cannot attain all at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step, reasonably content so long as we do actually make some progress in the right direction.

I do not believe that it is wise or safe for us as a party to take refuge in mere negation …

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

Nearly all legislation is the result of compromise.

All legislation is founded upon the principle of mutual concession.

The last thing you want is to have to make a decision for political purposes.

Great goals are reached step by step.

The senator who is driving you crazy today may be with you tomorrow.

You can't write laws in America if you don't compromise.

You don't compromise principles, but you harmonize tactics to preserve unity.

The Congress is the place where ordinary mortals go about the business of compromise—of compromise that gets us through the day.

Politics is about timing and situations.

Political activity means working for the future; the more we look into the future the more far-sighted will our policy be - so much the more clear and decided. The less far we try to see into the future, the more we content ourselves with the daily routine (Alltäglichkeit), the more weak and uncertain will be our policy of to-day. Every politician of note must, therefore endeavor out of the present to conclude what the future will be, and, if he wants to win the masses to his politics then he must attempt to make his expectations of the future plausible

We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one… The North Vietnamese used their armed forces the way a bull-fighter uses his cape — to keep us lunging in areas of marginal political importance.

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.

In Washington the word “compromise” has come to mean “surrender.” You just can’t do it

Let us give our Republic not the best possible laws but the best which they will bear.

If you can’t learn to compromise an issue without compromising yourself then you better not be a legislator and you better not marry.

If we’re going to do all the things that the Constitution says that legitimately we can do as a country, … we have to be able to have a Congress where people can talk together like our Founding Fathers did.

If progress is to be steady we must have long term guides extending far ahead.

Legislation is the art of compromise.