Richard V. Allen Quotes

How many people live on the reputation of the reputation they might have made!.

Washington is dominated by big money.

We have been through a period where we see power leaching away from Washington. Who is more important in the world today: Bill Clinton or Bill Gates? I don't know.

Image is the most important thing about someone's career and longevity.

I'm not a Washington person.

It is the lot of a king to do well but to be ill spoken of.

Life in Washington is pressure.

Credibility is not a renewable resource in Washington.

Why are people so sensitive about the reputation of General [George] McClellan? There is always something rotten about a sensitive reputation. Besides, is not General McClellan an American citizen? And is it not the first attribute and distinction of an American to be abused and slandered as long as he is heard of?

When I watched what public life in Washington is like these days, I concluded that I didn't want it ... the whole climate of public service—that every day you've got to expect a negative story.

Washington has political power combined with the insider illusion of being in control.

Washington can be a very lonely place for Congressman and Senators. Many acquaintances almost all of whom want something and very few friends.

Laugh at a bad reputation. Fear a good one that you could not sustain.

It's better to not have a reputation than a bad one.

I did not have a reputation to defend.

Ones reputation is like a shadow, it is gigantic when it precedes you, and a pigmy in proportion when it follows.

The number one way of becoming powerful in Washington is by becoming the 'Washington Post.'

Now, the typical way you make good things happen in Washington is you find a bunch of wealthy companies who agree with you.

Washington is like playing the Super Bowl, only there are no timeouts, no potty breaks, and the arena is filled with the media. In government, you have to learn to put yourself second in a big way. But I am a business person at heart. I like to be in charge.

All it takes to become president is money and a certain kind of power. Being president is the first thing I can shoot for, not the highest. It may come to a point where people take rock and roll musicians more seriously than they take politicians. It may eventually turn out that musicians have more credibility.

Washington's a cesspool of money.

Reputation runs behind the current state of affairs.

Until you have lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is.

In politics, being ridiculous is more damaging than being extreme.

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.