Policy Quotes

• Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it.

  Mark Twain

  Funny, Sarcastic, Money

  Mark Twain (2012). “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain: A Book of Quotations”, p.33, Courier Corporation

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• The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.

  George McGovern

  Love, Country, Memorial Day

  60 Copy quote

• I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Motivational, Integrity, Character

  23 Copy quote

• A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Ghana, Liable, Creeds

  Mahatma Gandhi (1967). “Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi”

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• Policies are many, Principles are few, Policies will change, Principles never do.

  John C. Maxwell

  Inspirational, Principles

  John C. Maxwell (2005). “Developing the Leader Within You”, p.72, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• Macroeconomic policy can never be devoid of politics: it involves fundamental trade-offs and affects different groups differently.

  Joseph Stiglitz

  Groups, Different, Fundamentals

  60 Copy quote

• By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.

  Albert Camus

  Government, Definitions, Politics

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• Honesty is the best policy.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Truth

  Benjamin Franklin (2007). “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: 1706-1757”, p.209, Regnery Publishing

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• Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.

  William E. Gladstone

  Home, Government, Principles

  Speech, West Calder, Scotland, November 27, 1879.

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• Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

  Hermann Goring

  Country, Peace, Military

  Interview in Göring's jail cell, April 18, 1946. "Nuremberg Diary". Book by Gustave Gilbert, 1947.

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• It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.

  Jerome K. Jerome

  Funny, Truth, Liars

  The Idler Feb. 1892, p. 118

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• Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Inspirational, Friendship, Peace

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”

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• It's been my policy to view the Internet not as an 'information highway,' but as an electronic asylum filled with babbling loonies.

  Mike Royko

  Views, Bipolar, Lunatic Asylums

  45 Copy quote

• Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.

  John F. Kennedy

  Defeat, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs

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• Are we interested in treating the symptoms of poverty and economic stagnation through income redistribution and class warfare, or do we want to go at the root causes of poverty and economic stagnation by promoting pro-growth policies that promote prosperity?

  Paul Ryan

  Class, Roots, Growth

  "Reps. Paul Ryan, Chris Van Hollen Talk Policy, Politics; Justice Stephen Breyer on New Book". "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, www.foxnews.com. December 12, 2010.

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• Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing culture in our land.

  Mao Zedong

  Art, Flower, School

  1957 Speech, Peking, 27 Feb.

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• You do the policy, I'll do the politics.

  Dan Quayle

  Politics

  David S. Broder, Bob Woodward, Dan Quayle (1992). “The man who would be president: Dan Quayle”

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• Bringing democratic control to the conduct of foreign policy requires a struggle merely to force the issue onto the public agenda.

  Eric Alterman

  Struggle, Issues, Agendas

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• Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.

  Edmund Burke

  Kings, Tyrants, Principles

  'Reflections on the Revolution in France' (1790) p. 116

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• The greatest crime since World War II has been U.S. foreign policy.

  Ramsey Clark

  Peace, War, World

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• Governments will always play a huge part in solving big problems. They set public policy and are uniquely able to provide the resources to make sure solutions reach everyone who needs them. They also fund basic research, which is a crucial component of the innovation that improves life for everyone.

  Bill Gates

  Government, Play, Innovation

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• If a policy is wrongheaded, feckless and corrupt, I take it personally and consider it a moral obligation to sound off and not shut up until it's fixed.

  David Hackworth

  Sound, Feckless, Moral

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• Universality has been severely reduced: it is virtually dead as a concept in most areas of public policy.

  Stephen Harper

  Areas, Universality, Has Beens

  Stephen Harper's Speech to the National Citizens Coalition's Colin Brown Memorial Dinner, 1994.

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• The American temptation is to believe that foreign policy is a subdivision of psychiatry.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Believe, Temptation, Foreign Policy

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• The greatest difference between now and 1964, when I began teaching, is that public policy has pretty much eradicated the dream of Martin Luther King.

  Jonathan Kozol

  Dream, Kings, Teaching

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