Political Savvy Quotes

[Theodore] Roosevelt is the most perfectly equipped and the most effective politician thus far seen in the Presidency.

Bill Clinton, Mr. Bob Dole, You too old to understand tha way tha game is told.

Hillary Clinton is tough, clever, and formidably well briefed, and has been politically ambitious all her adult life.

A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.

It really doesn't take brains to be a politician as much as it takes stomach. Both would be nice, but in America we have accepted diminishing returns in this arena.

I have been a practitioner of tough politics for many decades. There is little that amazes me and even less that shocks me.

The essential ingredient of politics is timing.

Mr. [Judah P.] Benjamin, unquestionably, will have great influence with the President [Jefferson Davis], for he has studied his character most carefully. He will be familiar not only with his "likes" but especially his "dislikes.

The ability to change one's views without losing one's seat is the mark of a great politician.

Ronald Reagan knew audiences. It was a key element of his political genius. One of the things at which brilliant politicians are better than mediocre ones is smelling new public concerns over the horizon before they are picked up by polls - before the public even knows to call them 'issues' at all.

Poor Rahul Gandhi doesn't know the ABCD of Karnataka politics.

I think it's true that Mike Pence, having been a politician for much longer than President Trump, certainly has a measured way of answering questions.

What this White House really needs is a chief of staff who can read Machiavelli in the original Italian.

When I was young, all the politicians looked like ancient Latin teachers or greengrocers. They were mumbly, stumbly men with their hair blowing in their eyes, walking into trees, opening the wrong door. They had no idea how to present themselves.

In my opinion, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't qualified to be governor of California.

The chance to be seen as a warm, witty guy is too good an opportunity for a politician to miss.

Talent is really important in politics, but experience is also really important.

Former President Bill Clinton, who is widely regarded as a political mastermind, may have sounded like a traditional liberal at the beginning of his term in office. But what ultimately defined his presidency was his amazing pliability on matters of principle.

The man [Richard Nixon] has no style. No style at all.

You can gain in your effectiveness as a politician from a wide acquaintance with the world and from a degree of independence that having some outside interests gives.

I've been described as a grizzled political veteran.

If you're in politics and you can't tell when you walk into a room who's for you and who's against you, then you're in the wrong line of work.

Failure in the management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in the management of public affairs.

Having studied politics doesn't necessarily give you political nous.

Why, this fellow [Dwight D. Eisenhower] don't know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday.