Sanford L. Jacobs - The Little Black Book of Political Wisdom

ALSO IN THIS SERIES: The Little Blue Book of Sailing Wisdom The Little Red Book of Graduate Wisdom The Little Black Book of Motorcycle Wisdom The Little Red Book of Golf Wisdom The Little Red Book of Horse Wisdom The Little Red Book of Baseball Wisdom The Little Red Book of Gambling Wisdom The Little Red Book of Hunters Wisdom The Little Red Book of New York Wisdom The Little Red Book of Running The Little Red Book of Dads Wisdom The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing The Little Green Book of Gardening Wisdom The Little Green Book of Irish Wisdom The Little Black Book of Writers Wisdom The Little Black Book of Mafia Wisdom The Little Red Book of Grandmothers Wisdom The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom Copyright 2014 by Sanford L. Jacobs All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications.

For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or . Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design by Danielle Ceccolini Images courtesy of Thinkstock ISBN: 9781629144368 Ebook ISBN: 9781632200297 Printed in China Contents Introduction I n this book you will find quotations by politicians, philosophers, economists, tycoons, journalists, comedians, judges, poets, novelists, historians, and many others, including the dictatorial Mao Zedong, the naughty Mae West, and the humble Pope Francis. As the title promises, a goodly amount of political wisdom is sprinkled across these pages.

A profound example is from Platos Republic , written more than 2,500 years ago: Mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom. Thats what contemporary Turkish-born writer Mehmet Murat ildan meant when he wrote: A very wise quote is a spectacular waterfall! When you see it, you feel its power. One of my favorites was written by the highly regarded Portuguese novelist Jos Maria de Ea de Queiroz, who died in 1900: Politicians and diapers should be changed frequently, and all for the same reason. The Internet makes it easy to find quotations; I got the text of Pope Franciss November 2013 Papal Exhortation from the Vaticans website, vatican.va, in less than a minute. Some presidential libraries and universities allow online access to their digitized collections of official documents, speeches, and other public papers of former presidents. Senate.gov is a great source of senatorial lore and history.

For some reason the House of Representatives lacks a similar digital resource. But anyone using quotations from the web should be wary. With some exceptions, such as wikiquote.org and goodreads.com, a lot of websites include quotations with erroneous attributions. Heres a blatant example (Id like to believe it was posted to fool the clueless and amuse those who know history): The problem with quotes on the Internet is you never know if they are genuine.Joseph Stalin (18791953). Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube all receive endless volumes of political palaver and videos from politicians, pundits, bloggers, and other digitally enabled political junkies. Of the few social media items I kept for the book, this is one of my favorites: If Babies Had Guns, They Wouldnt Be Aborted.

Thats an April 2013 tweet from Congressman Steve Stockman, a Texas Tea Party Republican. His non sequitur quickly went viral; a Google search a year later turned up a million results. An appropriate quotation to end my introduction to The Little Black Book of Political Wisdom is taken from Alexander Hamiltons speech to the Constitutional Convention of 1787: There can be no truer principle than thisthat every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of the government. Amen. Buy the book. Sanford L. Sanford L.

Jacobs Chapter 1 Politics and Politicians One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. PLATO, The Republic (c. 380 BC) Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. HENRY ADAMS, The Education of Henry Adams (1907) What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European, or the descendant of the European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. JOHN HECTOR ST.

JOHN, Letters from an American Farmer (1782) The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. H. L. MENCKEN Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can be killed once, but in politics many times. WINSTON CHURCHILL Thats one of my Goddamn precious American rights, not to think about politics.

JOHN UPDIKE, Rabbit Redux (1971) Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with. WILL ROGERS What is the first part of politics? Education. The second? Education. And the third? Education. JULES MICHELET Finality is not the language of politics. BENJAMIN DISRAELI I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all.

JOHN ADAMS In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE In politics, there is no use looking beyond the next fortnight. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN Politics is the art of turning influence into affluence. PHILANDER CHASE JOHNSON, Senator Sorghums Primer of Politics (1906) They politics like ours profess, the greater prey upon the less. MATTHEW GREEN, The Grotto (1732) If American politics are too dirty for women to take part in, theres something wrong with American politics. EDNA FERBER Politicians are the same all over.

They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV Without alienation, there can be no politics. ARTHUR MILLER In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE Politicks are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in politicks, and their whole conduct proceeds upon it. JAMES BOSWELL, Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) Just because you do not take an interest in politics, doesnt mean politics wont take an interest in you.

PERICLES (attributed) Therefore, the good of man must be the objective of the science of politics. ARISTOTLE, Nicomachean Ethics (353 BC) You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding and a vulgar manner. ARISTOPHANES, The Knights (c. 424 BC) There is little place in the political scheme of things for an independent, creative personality, for a fighter. Anyone who takes that role must pay a price. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.