POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
– Ambrose Bierce
Related Quotes:
- One must realize that war is common, and justice strife, and that all things come to be through strife and are (so) ordained. – Heraclitus
- Public strengthens politics but politics weakens public. – Amit Kalantri
- Or they’ll talk about fear, which we used to call politics- job politics, social politics, government politics – Kurt Vonnegut Jr
- I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. – George Washington
- Everything is a contest. All dealings among men are a contest in which some will succeed and others fail. And some are failing quite spectacularly. – Brandon Sanderson
- The public good must come before private interests. – Bryant McGill
- My first advantage: I have everything. My second advantage: this is just another island. My third advantage: I am bigger than it all. – AnnMarie MacDonald
- Either a municipal bog is a private place or it isn’t. If it is a private place in which to shit, how is it not a private place in which to fellate? – Stephen Fry
- When you have no real power, go public — really public. The public is where the real power is. – Elizabeth Warren
- When you have no real power, go public-”really public. The public is where the real power is. – Elizabeth Warren
- Fear has no brains it is an idiot. The dismal witness that it bears and the cowardly counsel that it whispers are unrelated. – Ambrose Bierce
- acquaintance, n.: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. – Ambrose Bierce
- ARMOR, n. The kind of clothing worn by a man whose tailor is a blacksmith. – Ambrose Bierce
- diplomacy, n.: The patriotic art of lying for one’s country. – Ambrose Bierce
- AMNESTY, n. The state’s magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish. – Ambrose Bierce
- GRAPESHOT, n. An argument which the future is preparing in answer to the demands of American Socialism. – Ambrose Bierce
- You are not permitted to kill a woman who has wronged you, but nothing forbids you to reflect that she is growing older every minute. – Ambrose Bierce
- BELLADONNA, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues. – Ambrose Bierce
- History -“ An account mostly false, of events unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools. – Ambrose Bierce
- God alone knows the future, but only an historian can alter the past. – Ambrose Bierce
- Inhumanity, n. One of the signal and characteristic qualities of humanity. – Ambrose Bierce
- Marriage, n.: The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two. – Ambrose Bierce
- Christian, n.: one who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. – Ambrose Bierce
- Unacquainted with grief, I knew not how to appraise my bereavement; I could not rightly estimate the strength of the stroke. – Ambrose Bierce
- Ah, children of the sunlight and the gaslight, how little you know of the world in which you live! – Ambrose Bierce
- So I say a name, even if self-bestowed, is better than a number. In the register of the potter’s field I shall soon have both. What wealth! – Ambrose Bierce
- Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. – Ambrose Bierce
- Cynic, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are not as they ought to be. – Ambrose Bierce
- The hardest tumble a man can take is to fall over his own bluff. – Ambrose Bierce
- In the presence of death reason and philosophy are silent – Ambrose Bierce
- A popular author is one who writes what the people think. Genius invites them to think something else. – Ambrose Bierce
- Apologize: To lay the foundation for a future offence. – Ambrose Bierce
- Kurti had believed in politics, and politics had deceived him, the way politics deceives everyone. – Imre Kertsz
- What is prudence in the conduct of every private family can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom. – Adam Smith
- Power lacks moral or principles. It only has interests. – Horacio Castellanos Moya
- The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. – Plato
- The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray, and the advantage of science is that it is not emotional. – Oscar Wilde
- Adversity could be an advantage in the future. To be a success, take the advantage of adversity whenever possible. – Debasish Mridha
- …while extraordinary products and unique services still afford a competitive advantage, the one advantage that stands the test of time…is people. – Mark Salsbury
- My family came to this country to take advantage of opportunity, not to take advantage of America. – Jake Danishevsky