Ralph Peters Quotes

Politics is different than business.

Government is not show business.

I did not love politics. As a matter of fact, I hated politics. I loved governing which is … a different thing.

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

There's nothing to be said for opposition. You can only talk about things and you can lay your plans. You can't actually achieve very much; you have to be in government for that.

Given the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.

Forget the consultants, the pundits and the pollsters; good policy is good politics.

We as governors, whether we're Republican or Democrat, we really believe that we know what's best for our people. And in Arizona, and particularly we're very interested about natural resources.

There is a circus around politics. But if you think it is a game, then you forget what the purpose of politics actually is.

I think that Governor Romney needs to talk about the fact that what he tried to do in the state of Massachusetts was him seeing what could be best for his state, but maybe it didn't work out as well.

Politics doesn't matter, policy does.

It is the work of the state to think for the people and plan for the people.

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

Politics is the art of stopping people from minding their own business.

Mao almost never allowed public opinion to restrain his policies; the popular will was something he himself defined …. Today, in contrast, almost all Chinese leaders openly speak about the importance of public opinion with the goal being to preempt problems.

The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

By definition, the moment one crosses from center to left, one accepts more government control of people's lives. Therefore, the further left society moves, the more there is government control over its citizens' lives. It is astonishing that this obvious fact is not universally acknowledged and that the Left has somehow successfully portrayed itself as preoccupied with personal liberty.

You cannot have democracy without the institutions. You cannot have a democracy that is built on the moods of self-interested people.

The future lies with those wise political leaders who realize that the great public is interested more in government than in politics.

The Administration of the United States is such dread I almost feel paralyzed.

The throne we honour is the people's choice.

Governors have to balance budgets. And they have to make decisions. And they have to do things that sometimes aren't popular. And they also have to bring people together to try to solve problems.

What the political left, even in democratic countries, share is the notion that knowledgeable and virtuous people like themselves have both a right and a duty to use the power of government to impose their superior knowledge and virtue on others.

I see myself as more of a policy maker than a political leader.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.