WIST Quotations

Rogers, Will -- Column (1930-04-07), “Daily Telegram”

Dave — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 21:30:56 +0000

That’s the characteristic of our country. We can get all lathering at the time over some political campaign promise, or some conference pledge, but if the thing just drags along long enough we forget what it was that originally promised. The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist
Column (1930-04-07), “Daily Telegram”

Twain, Mark -- “The Character of Man” (23 Jan 1906), in The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (2010)

Dave — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 00:29:10 +0000

Look at the tyranny of party — at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty — a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes — and which turns voters into chattels, slaves, rabbits, and all the while their masters, and they themselves are shouting rubbish about liberty, independence, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, honestly unconscious of the fantastic contradiction; and forgetting or ignoring that their fathers and the churches shouted the same blasphemies a generation earlier when they were closing their doors against the hunted slave, beating his handful of humane defenders with Bible texts and billies, and pocketing the insults and licking the shoes of his Southern Master.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
“The Character of Man” (23 Jan 1906), in The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (2010)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1938-07-08), Northwest Territory Sesquicentennial, Muskingum Park, Marietta, Ohio

Dave — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:53:33 +0000

Let us not be afraid to help each other — let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and Senators and Congressmen and Government officials but the voters of this country.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman; US President (1933–45)
Speech (1938-07-08), Northwest Territory Sesquicentennial, Muskingum Park, Marietta, Ohio

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1861-03-04), Inaugural Address, Washington, D. C.

Dave — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:36:41 +0000

By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Speech (1861-03-04), Inaugural Address, Washington, D. C.

Gingrich, Newt -- International Herald Tribune, Paris (1 Aug 1988)

Dave — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 17:54:14 +0000

In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.

Newt Gingrich (b. 1943) American politician [Newton Leroy Gingrich]
International Herald Tribune, Paris (1 Aug 1988)