Naveen Patnaik Quotes

There is no sea more dangerous than the ocean of practical politics none in which there is more need of good pilotage and of a single, unfaltering purpose when the waves rise high.

The prime minister's job is to captain his team, his party and his government.

My approach to politics is very serious. It must be handled by great people with extraordinary skills and human qualities. I feel I don't have qualities of that sort.

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.

We don't want a president who fails at domestic and foreign policy.

When you are President you have to get something done, and that often means compromise.

You don’t become a statesman unless you are first a good politician.

The art of government is the art of negotiating and compromise.

In campaigning, you want to slay your opponent. In governing, you want to make love to your opponent.

Effective Presidents are those who can achieve a balance between purpose and prudence.

No man can be a politician except he be first a historian.

The job of nation building, the job of nation leadership in a difficult, complex coalition has worked.

I am sure of my ability to form a good government.

I never criticized Modi. All I said was that Modi cannot be a chief minister and still nurse prime ministerial ambitions. I only suggested that he should resign as the chief minister and then stake his claim to be prime minister.

I think of Mr Modi as a very hard-working person.

To save and keep our country secure, we need a Prime Minister like Modiji.

Who can keep the country safe? Who can make India a superpower? Can a coalition of 23 parties do so? Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can achieve this.

Politics is not a science...but an art.

The liquor of statecraft is distilled from the mash you got.

Politics is not a science, as the professors are apt to suppose. It is an art.

I ran for president. I ran for governor twice. And I've been the governor now for nearly seven years. I find that the people who are my best advisors are the people who are smart enough to give me really good advice and smart enough to keep their mouths shut about what advice they give me. And so if I want advisors that way, that's the kind of advisor I'm going to be for Donald Trump.

Cynics who say power is all that counts in politics forget that power without ideas is just improvisation.

The heart of a statesman should be in his head.

It must be that to govern a nation you need a specific talent and that this may very well exist without general ability.