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Administration.

"The government of people will be replaced by the administration of things."  -- Henri de Saint-Simon, eccentric C19th aristocrat.

For forms o' government, let fools contest.  Whate'er is best administered, is best." -- Alexander Pope.

Appearance and Image.

"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?" -- Abraham Lincoln

"The scene of noise and uproar which the House of Commons now exhibits is perfectly disgusting" -- Charles Greville, 1835

"The finest brute votes in Europe" -- Tory MPs, in an opinion recorded by Walter Bagehot, nineteenth century editor of The Economist

"The British happened to the rest of the world.  Now the world happens to Britain."  -- Andrew Marr.

"I have never pretended to be a great House of Commons man, but I pay the House the greatest compliment I can by saying that, from first to last, I never stopped fearing it." -- Tony Blair, in his final QT

"The great virtue of bureaucracy -- indeed, perhaps its defining characteristic -- was that it was an institutional method for applying general rules to specific cases, thereby making the actions of government fair and predictable." -- Max Weber

"When intermediate associations are weak and the state machine so powerful, private interests are always tempted to establish clientele relations with the state.  They seek favours in the dark, so to speak, rather than demanding justice in the light of day." -- Larry Siedentop, Democracy in Europe (New York: Columbia UP, 2001), p.123.

"We draw the line against misconduct.  Not against wealth." -- Theodore Roosevelt

Asked by JP Morgan, "Are you going to attack my other interests, the Steel Trust and others?" Theodore Roosevelt replied, "Certainly not -- unless we find out that in any case they have done something wrong."

"The day of combination is here to stay.  Individualism is gone.  Never to return."  -- John D. Rockefeller

"We bought the son of a bitch, but he wouldn't stay bought."  -- Henry C. Frick, aide to John D. Rockefeller, on Theodore Roosevelt

"My hat is in the ring.  The fight is on; and I am stripped to the buff."  -- Theodore Roosevelt, Feb. 1912

"Like a bull moose."  -- Theodore Roosevelt, asked how he felt during the 1912 campaign of the National Progressive Party.

"To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. -- platform of the 1912 campaign of the National Progressive Party.

"We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord."  -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1912 convention of the National Progressive Party.

"I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose." --  Theodore Roosevelt, Oct. 14, 1912 during campaign of the National Progressive Party.  He spoke for 90 minutes after the bullet lodged in a rib, having been slowed by his manuscript and glasses case.

"The first duty of an American citizen, then, is that he shall work in politics."  --  Theodore Roosevelt

"I have had first class fun."  --  Theodore Roosevelt on his early, losing campaign in New York

"Aggresive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords."  --  Theodore Roosevelt

Civil Rights & Liberties.

"Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." -- US Supreme Court, Brown v Board (1954).

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."  - Benjamin Franklin

"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them." -- Mark Twain

"Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn't even get out of committee." -- F. Lee Bailey

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." -- Louis D. Brandeis

Congress.

"What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?" -- Mayor Marion Barry

"Suppose you were an idiot.  And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain.

"Oh, I don't blame Congress. If I had a billion dollars at my disposal, I'd be irresponsible, too." -- Lichty & Wagner

“Congress consists of one-third, more or less, scoundrels; two-thirds, more or less, idiots; and three-thirds, more or less, poltroons.” – H.L. Mencken
 
 

Americans and British "must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, habeas corpus, trial by jury and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence." -- Winston S. Churchill

"The language of the new nation, its laws, its institutions, its political ideas, its literature, its customs, its precepts, its prayers, primarily derived from Britain." -- Arthur Schlesinger, jr.

"America's Anglo-core predisposed the country to a greater emphasis on property rights and individualism; its Protestant core predisposed it towards hard work.  The melting-pot has had more ingredients poured into it.  But the pot itself is of a recognisable Anglo-Protestant design." -- Lexington (column), "How Anglo is America?" The Economist, 13 Nov. '04, p.39.

Democracy.

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve." -- George Bernard Shaw

"The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid." -- Art Spander

"Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president." -- Johnny Carson

"Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking." -- Clement Attlee, postwar prime minister, UK.

"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.  Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all the others that have been tried." -- Winston Churchill

"Germany's reemergence as a world power has been driven by no one and no cult but by many Germans pulling together in an elaborate demoracy and market economy." -- Nico Colchester.

The meeting of Washington and Lafayette, 1777.
"We are rather embarrassed to show ourselves to an officer who has just left the army of France."
"I am here, sir, to learn, not to teach."

"What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty & Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?" -- James Madison Jr.

"These midnight rambles are great fun.  I get a glimpse of the real life of the swarming millions." -- Theodore Roosevelt, to his sister Anna, about his street observations as NY police commissioner, 1895.

“The emergence of a unified Europe is one of the most revolutionary events of our time.”—Henry Kissinger

"For the institutions of the European Union are at present incomplete.  A European Senate is badly needed to complete them.  By creating an upper chamber in the European parliament, a new bridge could be built between national political classes, which retain democratic legitimacy, and the decision-making process in Brussels.  Such a Senate should be recruited by indirect election from exisiting national parliaments."  -- Larry Siedentop, Democracy in Europe (2001), p.147.

"Over the longer term, the institutions and powers of the [EU] will continue to expand and certain policymaking powers, heretofore vested in the member states, will be delegated or transferred  to, or pooled and shared with [EU] institutions.  As a result, the sovereignty of the member states will increasingly be eroded." -- David Cameron.

"Liberalism, the dominant ideology of our time, has been dangerously distorted by the impact of economism.  It is that impact which has knocked the citizen off his pedestal and replaced him with the consumer." -- Larry Siedentop, Democracy in Europe (2001), p.35.

Future.

"The future will be a better tomorrow." -- VP Dan Quayle.

Homeland Security.

"Homeland security, at its core, is about coordination.  It is not only about developing new tools, but -- more fundamentally -- weaving far more effectively the nation's existing experts and resources." -- Donald Kettl.  2004.  System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics.  Washington DC: CQ Press, p.28.

Ideologies.

"Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true." -- Will Rogers.

"Black cat, white cat, what does it matter as long as the cat catches mice?" -- Deng Xiaoping.

"Knowledge itself is power." -- Francis Bacon.

"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." -- Benjamin Franklin

"The Man with the Muck Rake" -- Theodore Roosevelt, angry at journalists' investigative pieces, he compared them to the character in Pilgrim's Progress.  1906 speech to the Gridiron Club.

"I believe in open government.  I've always believed in open government.  I don't e-mail, however.  And there's a reason: I don't want you reading my personal stuff." [...] "I don't think you're entitled to read my mail between my daughters and me." -- President George W. Bush (43) to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, 14 April 2005, repeating a claim made shortly after becoming president.  [In fact, presidents' personal records are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, and his personal e-mail would not be subject to the Presidential Records Act.]

I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.
-- George H. W. Bush, quoted in shmooth.blogspot.com

Only "the corporation that shrinks from the light" would have anything to fear from government.  "About the welfare of such corporations we need not be oversensitive."  -- Theodore Roosevelt, quoted by Richard Lacayo, "Fighting the Fat Cats," Time, 3 July 2006.

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common." -- John Locke.

"Politicians are like diapers. They both should be changed often. And for the same reason." -- Tim Blair

  "And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city." (Isaiah 1:26)

"I would rather see this administration turned out for enforcing laws than see it succeed for violating them." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1895, on the Sunday Blue Laws that banned drinking.

"I have now run up against an ugly snag, the Sunday Excise Law.  It is altogether too strict, but I have no honorable alternative save to enforce it and I am enforcing it, to the furious rage of the saloon keepers, and of many good people too; for which I am sorry." -- Theodore Roosevelt, to his sister Anna, on the Sunday Blue Laws that banned drinking.

 "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." -- Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 177 (1803).

"Mr. MADISON doubted whether it was not going too far to extend the jurisdiction of the Court generally to cases arising under the Constitution & whether it ought not to be limited to cases of a Judiciary Nature. The right of expounding the Constitution in cases not of this nature ought not to be given to that Department." -- James Madison, Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, pp.462, 463, 539 (Ohio Univ. Press, 1985) (1893).

"A knowledge of Mankind, and of Legislative affairs cannot be presumed to belong in a higher degree to the Judges than to the Legislature.  And as to the Constitutionality of laws, that point will come before the Judges in their proper official character. In this character they have a negative on the laws. Join them with the Executive in the [proposed council of constitutional] Revision and they will have a double negative.
     It is necessary that the Supreme Judiciary should have the confidence of the people. This will soon be lost, if they are employed in the task of remonstrating [against] popular measures of the Legislature." -- Luther Martin of Maryland, in James Madison, Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, p. 340

Alexander Hamilton strongly supported judicial review in The Federalist Nos. 78 and 81.

"We have seen that the tendency of republican governments is to an aggrandizement of the legislative at the expense of the other departments. The appeals to the people, therefore, would usually be made by the executive and judiciary departments." -- James Madison, The Federalist No. 48, p.274. Global Affairs Publishing Co., 1987.

"It is important" that those in government "confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create ... a real despotism." George Washington, "Farewell Address 1796," I  Compilation of Messages and Papers of the Presidents 211 (J. D. Richardson,  ed., 1897).

 "[T]he opinion [Marbury v Madison, 1803] which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional, and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action, but for the legislature and executive also, in their spheres, would make the judiciary a despotic branch." -- Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Abigail Adams, Sept. 11, 1804, 11 The Writings of Thomas Jefferson 51 (Albert Ellery Bergh, ed.,  1907).

"The ... question, whether the judges are invested with exclusive authority to decide on the constitutionality of a law, has been heretofore a subject of consideration with me in the exercise of official duties. Certainly there is not a word in the Constitution which has given that power to them more than to the executive or legislative branches. ...
     The constitutional validity of the law or laws again prescribing executive action, and to be administered by that branch ultimately and without appeal, the executive must decide for themselves also whether, under the Constitution, they are valid or not. So also as to laws governing the proceedings of the legislature, that body must judge for itself the constitutionality of the law, and equally without appeal or control from its coordinate branches.
     And, in general, that branch which is to act ultimately and without appeal on any law is the rightful expositor of the validity of the law, uncontrolled by the opinions of the other coordinate authorities." -- Thomas Jefferson, 9 The Writings of Thomas Jefferson 517 (Paul Leicester Ford, ed., 1898)

The opinion of the judges has no more authority over Congress than the opinion of Congress has over the judges, and on that point the President is independent of both. The authority of the Supreme Court must not, therefore, be permitted to control the Congress or the Executive when acting in their legislative capacities, but to have only such influence as the force of their reasoning may deserve." -- Andrew Jackson, "Veto Message, July 10, 1832," III Compilation of Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1144-45.

"Speak softly, and carry a big stick." -- Theodore Roosevelt, in a 1900 letter, on his refusal to hire a corrupt party official.  He claimed it to be a West African proverb.

"One whose troops repeatedly congregate in small groups here and there, whispering together, has lost the masses.  One who frequently grants rewards is in deep distress.  One who frequently imposes punishments is in great difficulty.  One who is at first excessively brutal and then fears the masses is the pinnacle of stupidity."  Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Ch. 9.  Trans. Ralph D. Sawyer.

"You can only govern men by serving them.  The rule is without exception." -- Victor Cousin.

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty." -- John F. Kennedy

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." -- Harry S Truman

"Yes, Haven, most of us enjoy preaching, and I've got such a bully pulpit." -- Theodore Roosevelt, replying to GH Putnam.  By "bully" he meant first rate.

"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent." -- Abraham Lincoln

"There comes a time in the life of a nation, as in the life of an individual, when it must face great responsibilities, whether it will or no.  We have now reached that time.  We cannot avoid facing the fact that we occupy a new place among the people of the world." --  Theodore Roosevelt

"If a man has a very decided character, has a strongly accentuated career, it is normally the case of course that he makes adent friends and bitter enemies." --  Theodore Roosevelt

"The mind of your own enemy, the pupil, is working away from you, as keenly and eagerly as is the mind of the commander on the other side from the scientific general.  Just what the respective enemies want and think, and what they know or do not know, are as hard things for the teachers as for the general to find out."  William James, psychologist, Talks to Teachers, Ch. 1, p.719.

'[T]hree pillars of [military] professionalism -- political subordination and neutrality; mastery not only of technique but of command, management, and leadership; and an ethos of responsibility -- remain intact, but they are not fixed, immovable and utterly unchangeable." -- Prof. Elliot Cohen, "Meeting New Challenges: The development of the Professional Officer in the Twenty-First Century," 26th Eaker Lecture, 3 May 2004, US Air Force Academy.

"Autocratic leadership existed in Russia for many centuries, changing only its ideological colors and method of legitimization." -- Lilia Shevtsova.

"Costello: Look Abbott, if you're the coach, you must know all the players.
Abbott: I certainly do." -- opening of Abbott and Costello's legendary baseball "Who's on First" radio routine.
... [Costello at last understands the team] ...
"Costello: Same as you! Same as YOU! I throw the ball to who. Whoever it is drops the ball and the guy runs to second. Who picks up the ball and throws it to What. What throws it to I Don't Know. I Don't Know throws it back to Tomorrow, Triple play. Another guy gets up and hits a long fly ball to Because. Why? I don't know! He's on third and I don't give a darn!
Abbott: What?
Costello: I said I don't give a darn!
Abbott: Oh, that's our shortstop." -- finale of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" radio routine.   http://www.baseball-almanac.com/humor4.shtml

"While President, I have been President -- emphatically." -- Theodore Roosevelt

“This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.  So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance”(Inaugural Address, FD Roosevelt, 1933; speaking of the Great Depression.)

"I took the isthmus, started the canal and then left Congress -- not to debate the canal but to debate me.  But while the debate goes on, the canal does too." -- Theodore Roosevelt

[The king] "who does not protect his people or upsets the social order wields his royal scepter in vain.  It is power, and power alone which, only when exercised by the king with impartiality and in proportion to guilt, either over his son or his enemy, maintains both this world and the next." -- Kautilya, Arthashastra; Kautilya was prime minister to emperor Chandragupta Maurya of India, ca. 324-296 BC.

"The printing press is the greatest weapon in the armory of the modern commander." -- T.E. Lawrence

"It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers.  In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late.  Accordingly, I am readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I will, in turn, do my best for the Cause by writing editorials - after the fact." - Robert E. Lee, 1863

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged." -- President Abraham Lincoln

"God has power to create, or destroy, make, or unmake at his pleasure, to give life, or send death, to judge all, and to be judged nor accountable to none: to raise low things, and to make high things low at his pleasure, and to God are both soul and body due. And the like power have Kings; they make and unmake their subjects: they have power of raising, and casting down: of life, and of death: judges over all their subjects, and in all causes, and yet accountable to none but God only." -- James I

Morality, evil and justice in politics.

"If we want to understand the distinctive constitution of Europe, we must go back to its religious foundations.  for the moral beliefs which Christianity fostered still underpin civil society in Europe, the institutions that surround us." -- Larry Siedentop,Democracy in Europe (Columbia UP, 2001), p.190.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Our flag is a proud flag, and it stands for liberty and civilization.  Where is has once floated, there must be no return to tyranny." --  Theodore Roosevelt

"The time is always right to do what is right." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds." -- Henry Adams

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." -- George Bernard Shaw

"In a country well-governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of." -- Confucius

"First they came for the communists, but I didn't do anything because i wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews, but I didn't do anything because i wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, but I didn't do anything because i wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't do anything because i wasn't a Catholic.
Finally, they came for me, and there wasn't anyone left to do anything." -- Pastor Martin Niemoller, 1944.

"As Indian citizens, we subsist on a regular diet of caste massacres and nuclear tests, mosque breakings and fashion shows, church burnings and expanding cell phone networks, bonded labor and the digital revolution, female infanticide and the NASDAQ crash, husbands who continue to burn their wives for dowry and our delectable stockpile of Miss Worlds.  What's hard to reconcile oneself to, both personally and politically, is the schizophrenic nature of it." -- Arundhati Roy.

"Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child." --Dan Quayle

"Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process." -- John F. Kennedy

"The true republic: men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less." -- Susan B. Anthony

Patriotism is  "not short, frenzied ourtbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." -- Adlai Stevenson

The "virtue of the vicious" -- Oscar Wilde,

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives.  I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him." -- Abraham Lincoln

"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else." -- Clarence Darrow

Peace and Security

"Ultimately, the best strategy to ensure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere. Democracies don’t attack each other." (Clinton 1994)

"America is a Nation with a mission––and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. ... Our aim is a democratic peace––a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman. America acts in this cause with friends and allies at our side, yet we understand our special calling: This great Republic will lead the cause of freedom." (Bush 2004)
 

Presidency

"Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president." -- Johnny Carson

"Don't any of you realize, there's only one life between this madman and the presidency?" -- Mark Hanna to fellow Republicans

"And who knows? Somewhere out there in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow my footsteps and preside over the White House as the president's spouse. I wish him well!"
— Barbara Bush, spouse of 41st President George Bush; Commencement Address at Wellesley College

"In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take." -- Adlai Stevenson

“The president’s party, whether it basks in public favor or is declining in public esteem, ordinarily loses House strength at midterm – a pattern that, save for one exception, has prevailed since the Civil War.” – V.O. Key (1958).  Did the 2002 election provide another exception?

"I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat!" -- Will Rogers

"We cannot weaken or destroy political parties in ther United States without weakening or destroying the rule of the people....  Those who support party organization and submit to party discipline are supporting the only course yet discovered for orderly government by the people." -- Pres. Calvin Coolidge, NY Herald Tribune, 30 Dec. 1930.

"They have such refined and delicate palates,
that they can discover no one worthy of their ballots.
And then when someone terrible gets elected, they say,
"There! That's just what I expected!" -- Ogden Nash.

"We will push through health care reform regardless of the views of the American people." --Senator Jay Rockefeller (D)

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it." -- Theodore Roosevelt

"We do not have censorship. What we have is a limitation on what newspapers can report." -- A South African Deputy Minister of Information

"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them." -- Ronald Reagan

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have." -- Barry Goldwater

"We will know it is time to end affirmative action when no one can recall what in Heaven's name it was for in the first place." --Tom Teepen

"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." -- George Bernard Shaw

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -- Thomas Jefferson
 

Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds." -- Henry Adams

"The word politics is derived from the word poly, meaning 'many,' and the word ticks, meaning 'blood sucking parasites.' " -- Larry Hardiman

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies." -- Groucho Marx
 

"Public opinion sets bounds to every government and is the real sovereign in every free one." -- James Madison

“Poor people are poor not because they lack resources or assets but because the assets they have are not always transformed into productive capital and utilized at the optimum” Hernando de Soto, (2000).

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." -- Winston Churchill

"A modest little man, with much to be modest about."  -- Winston Churchill, on Clement Atlee

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."  -- Abraham Lincoln

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge"  --  Thomas Brackett Reed

"He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work he overcame them."  -- James Reston, on Richard Nixon

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."  -- Charles, Count Talleyrand

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend... if you have one." -- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." -- Winston Churchill, in reply

"A sheep in sheep's clothing."  -- Winston  Churchill, on Clement Atlee

"There but for the grace of God, goes God."  -- Winston Churchill, on Stafford Cripps

"He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself and hurried on as if nothing had happened."  -- Winston Churchill, on Stanley Baldwin

Social Contract.

"The social compact sets up among the citizens as equality of such kind, that they all bind themselves to observe the same conditions and should therefore all enjoy the same rights." -- J.J. Rousseau.

"Socialism cannot exist, no matter where, contrary to the will of the people." -- Georgi Arbatov.

“The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They open declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!  -- Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto

“A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism. All the Powers of old Europe have entered into holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies. Where is the Party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where the Opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?” -- Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto

“Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, posses however, this distinctive feature; it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other.”  -- Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto

“In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common interest of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality."   -- Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto

"In the various stages of development which the struggle of working class against the bourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole.”  -- Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto

United States and the US States.

"Perhaps the most striking feature of the recent political history of the United States is the stability of its basic institutions despite the stress of assassinations, war, racial strife, political scandal, and economic dislocation." -- Alan Abramowitz.

The US States are our “laboratories of democracy.” -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.

"When Clinton said he was going to create a million new jobs, I didn't think they were all going to be tax collectors." -- Jay Leno, comedian.

"Terrorists want a lot of people watching and a lot of people listening, and not a lot of people dead." -- Brian Jenkins

Definition: “the commission of atrocious acts against a target population to gain compliance with some demands.”  -- Donald Snow

State Department’s definition: “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.”  [excludes states]  22 USC 2656f(d), cited in US Department of State, Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, April 2006, p.9.

FBI definition: “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a Government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” [Includes states]  28 C.F.R. 0.85, cited in Federal Bureau of Investigation, Terrorism, 2002-2005, p.iv.
 

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival." -- Winston Churchill.

"I have played it in bull luck this summer.  First, to get into the war; then to get out of it." -- Theodore Roosevelt, on the Cuban War.

"Air power is the most difficult of military force to measure or even express in precise terms." -- Winston Churchill.

"Every bomb is a political bomb." -- attributed to Col. John Warden.

"To have acted otherwise ... would have been the betrayal of the interests of the United States." -- Theodore Roosevelt, on sending gunboats to protect the Panamanian revolution against Colombia (and later, build the Panama canal).

"The military world is characterized by the absence of freedom -- in other words, a rigorous discipline-enforced inactivity, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery and drunkenness." -- Leo Tolstoy.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers." -- William Shakespeare, Henry V.

"Those skilled in attack move as from above the nine-fold heavens.  Thus they are capable both of protecting themselves and of gaining complete victory." -- Sun Tzu.

"If you don't like change you are going to like irrelevance a lot less."  -- Gen. Eric Shinseki.

"Then it may be that we shall, by a process of sublime irony, have reached a stage in this story where safety will be the sturdy child of terror, and survival the twin brother of annihilation."  -- Winston Churchill, 3 Jan 1955.

"Today, shooting wars are won or lost before they start.  If they are fought at all, they would be fought principally to confirm which side had won at the outset." -- Gen. Curtis LeMay, April 1956.

"Dealing with the enemy is a simple matter when contrasted with securing the close co-operation of an ally."  Maj. Gen. Fox Connor, 1918.

“Every age has its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions and its own peculiar preconceptions.” -- Carl von Clausewitz, On War, 1832

“The usages and methods of warfare are thus determined by changing circumstances and, therefore, they themselves can in nowise be eternal.” -- Leon Trotsky, Military Writings, 1922

“Victory smiles on those who anticipate the changes of war, not those who wait to adapt themselves after they occur.” -- Giulio Douhet, Command of the Air, 1921

“The first essential of the airpower necessary for our national security is preeminence in research.  The imagination and inventive genius of our people—in industry, the universities, in the armed services, and throughout the nation—must have free play, incentive and every encouragement. American air superiority in this war has resulted in large measure from the mobilization and constant application of our scientific resources. -- Gen. “Hap” Arnold, 1945

“[T]he only time in the history of the world that we have had any extended periods of peace is when there has been a balance of power.  It is when one nation becomes infinitely more powerful in relation to its potential competitors that the danger of war arises.” -- Richard Nixon

The US should avoid "a miserly economy in preparation for war" and not "rely for defence upon a navy composed partly of antiquated hulks, and partly of new vessels rather more worthless than the old." -- Theodore Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812, (1882), after Mahan.

"Though globalization and technological advancement have influenced contemporary conflict, the nature of war in the 21st century is the same as it has been since ancient times, “…a violent clash of interests between or among organized groups characterized by the use of military force.” " -- US Army & Marines Field Manual FM 3-24, p.1-1 (Final Draft, June 2006), accessed on 5 July 2006 at http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24fd.pdf

"Success in war still depends on a group’s ability to mobilize support for its political interests and generate sufficient violence to achieve political consequences. Means to achieve these goals are not limited to regular armies employed by a nation-state. At its core, war is a violent struggle between hostile, independent, and irreconcilable wills attempting to impose their desires on another."  -- US Army & Marines Field Manual FM 3-24, p.1-1 (Final Draft, June 2006), accessed on 5 July 2006 at http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24fd.pdf

"Counterinsurgency thus involves the controlled application of national power in political, information, economic, social, military, and diplomatic fields and disciplines."  -- US Army & Marines Field Manual FM 3-24, p.1-1 (Final Draft, June 2006), accessed on 5 July 2006 at http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24fd.pdf

"Insurgents have an additional advantage in shaping the information environment. While the counterinsurgent seeking to preserve legitimacy must stick to the truth and make sure that words are backed up by appropriate deeds, the insurgent can make exorbitant promises and point out governmental shortcomings, many caused by the insurgency."  -- US Army & Marines Field Manual FM 3-24, p.1-2 (Final Draft, June 2006), accessed on 5 July 2006 at http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24fd.pdf

"Victory cannot be gained until the people accept the legitimacy of the government mounting COIN and stop actively and passively supporting the insurgents."  -- US Army & Marines Field Manual FM 3-24, p.1-3 (Final Draft, June 2006), accessed on 5 July 2006 at http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24fd.pdf

"The printing press is the greatest weapon in the armory of the modern commander." -- T.E. Lawrence

"It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers.  In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late.  Accordingly, I am readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I will, in turn, do my best for the Cause by writing editorials - after the fact." - Robert E. Lee, 1863

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged." -- President Abraham Lincoln

"Do not try and do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not win it for them." -- T.E. Lawrence, on his experience leading the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
 

“If I am able to determine the enemy’s dispositions while at the same time I conceal my own, then I can concentrate and he must divide.” -- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 400-320 BC

“He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies.” -- Thucydides,
History of the Peloponnesian Wars, 404 BC

“Little minds try to defend everything at once, but sensible people look at the main point only; they parry the worst blows and stand a little hurt if thereby they avoid a greater one. If you try to hold everything, you hold nothing.” -- Frederick the Great, Instructions for His Generals, 1747

“To keep your actions and your plans secret always has been a very good thing . . . Marcus Crassus said to one who asked him when he was going to move the army: ‘Do you believe that you will be the only one not to hear the trumpet?” -- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Art of War, 1521

“O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.” -- Sun Tzu, c. 500 BC, The Art of War

US Central Command’s offensive air special planning group, in the Royal Saudi Air Force headquarters, was part of the JFACC staff and eventually became known as the “Black Hole” because of the extreme secrecy surrounding its activities. The Black Hole was led by a USAF brigadier general, ... when Iraq invaded Kuwait. His small staff grew gradually to about 30 and included RAF, Army, Navy, USMC, and USAF personnel. By 15 September, the initial air planning stage was complete; the President was advised there were sufficient air forces to execute and sustain an offensive strategic air attack against Iraq, should he order one. However, because of operations security concerns, most of CENTAF headquarters was denied information on the plan until only a few hours before execution.  -- Final Report to Congress, Conduct of the Persian Gulf War, April 1992

“The world is without precedent.  It is as different from the Cold War as it is from the Middle Ages, so the past offers no basis for comparison.  The planet continues to become more and more unified and at the same time more and more fragmented, and the distinction between war and peace is getting lost.” -- Philippe Delmas, The Rosy Future of War

“More than anything else, reaffirmation of Islam, whatever its specific sectarian form, means the repudiation of European and American influence upon local society, politics and morals.” -- William McNeill, in Fundamentalisms and Society

“We need a new political science for a new world.” -- Alexis de Toqueville

“I would say that in 2000, we understand as much about how today’s system of globalization is going to work as we understood about how the Cold War system was going to work in 1946 . . . .” -- Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

“The  growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions in goods and services and of international capital flows , and also through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology.” -- IMF Definition of Globalization

"Why, then, the world's my oyster." -- William Shakespeare.

"Safety and certainty in oil lie in variety, and variety alone." -- Winston Churchill, after converting the Royal Navy from Welsh coal to imported oil, gaining a 4-knot speed advantage before the Great War.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes."  -- Marcel Proust.

"Decisions made in Washington are more important to us than those made here in Dar es-Salaam. So, maybe my people should be allowed to vote in American presidential elections."  -- Julius Nyerere, former president, Zambia.