Election Quotes

• Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.

  Thomas Sowell

  Income, Might, Pay

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• If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.

  Nelson Mandela

  America, Political, United States

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.

  James Freeman Clarke

  Witty, Thinking, Political

  "A Politician’s Christmas Carol" by Tom Gerdy, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 5, 2012.

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  People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.

  Otto von Bismarck

  Morning, Clever, War

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• One of the reasons people hate politics is that truth is rarely a politician's objective. Election and power are.

  Cal Thomas

  Hate, Objectivity, People

  26 Copy quote

• Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.

  Franklin P. Adams

  Freedom, Men, People

  Nods and Becks (1944) SeeW. C. Fields 21

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• If elected I shall be thankful; if not, it will be all the same.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Being Thankful, Ifs

  Abraham Lincoln (1999). “Lincoln on Lincoln”, p.26, University Press of Kentucky

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  Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.

  John Quincy Adams

  Patriotic, Reflection, Political Will

  "American Prohibition Year Book, Volumes 10-12" (p. 111), 1910.

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  The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Presidential

  Speech, 19 May 1856

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• We always want the best man to win an election. Unfortunately, he never runs.

  Will Rogers

  Running, Winning, Men

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• If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

  Emma Goldman

  Political, Voting, Nerd

  61 Copy quote

• Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good. 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Thinking, Political, Voting

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1977). “Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks: 1852-1855”, p.304, Harvard University Press

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• Popularity should be no scale for the election of politicians. If it would depend on popularity, Donald Duck and The Muppets would take seats in senate.

  Orson Welles

  Ducks, Popularity, Politician

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• Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Government

  "The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw".

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• Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

  H. L. Mencken

  Liberty, Auctions, Politics

  "Prejudices: First Series". Book by H. L. Mencken, 1919.

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• An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Courage, Blood, Soul

  George Bernard Shaw (2007). “Back to Methuselah”, p.176, 1st World Publishing

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• Elections are about choosing sides, but inaugurations are about closing ranks.

  Ted Kulongoski

  Sides, Inauguration, Closing

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• An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

  T. S. Eliot

  Life, Fake People, Peace

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• I am convinced that we as a body must conduct a formal and legitimate debate about election irregularities.

  Stephanie Tubbs Jones

  Body, Debate, Formal

  "Countdown" with Keith Oldermann, www.nbcnews.com. January 7, 2005.

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• During the 1960 election, I saw Richard Nixon as the winner.

  Jeane Dixon

  Saws, Winner, 1960s

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• I think the elections have gone well, although there is so much insecurity in Iraq. So far during the counting of ballots, there has not been a significant complaint. We have to wait to see what the outcome of the counting is.

  Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

  Thinking, Iraq, Waiting

  "Iran's ex-president: U.S should show goodwill". Interview with Barbara Slavin, usatoday30.usatoday.com. February 6, 2005.

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• Without general elections, without unrestricted freedom of press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every public institution, becomes a mere semblance of life, in which only the bureaucracy remains as the active element. Public life gradually falls asleep, a few dozen party leaders of inexhaustible energy and boundless experience direct and rule. Such conditions must inevitably cause a brutalization of public life: attempted assassinations, shootings of hostages, etc.

  Rosa Luxemburg

  Fall, Party, Struggle

  Rosa Luxemburg (1961). “The Russian Revolution, and Leninism Or Marxism?”, p.71, University of Michigan Press

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• There is a sort of exotic preposterousness about a lot of elections, the way arguments are made even cruder.

  Chris Patten

  Voting, Exotic, Way

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• We hope and we've made clear that the forces need to come out. It needs to be full and complete withdrawal. Our position is it needs to be done as soon as possible so that the elections can be free, fair and free of outside influence.

  Stephen Hadley

  Needs, Withdrawal, Done

  "FOX News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, www.foxnews.com. March 14, 2005.

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• It's not clear in the U.S. at the moment, either. We're going through another election.

  Bob Kerrey

  Moments, Clear

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