Political Quotes (Intentional or Not)

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

- Upton Sinclair, on journalists and politicians.

"From my tribe I take nothing. I am the maker of my own fortune."

- Tecumseh, on how a true public servant would act.

"When we have begun to take charge of our lives, to own ourselves, there is no longer any need to ask permission of someone."

- George O'Neil, on the radical notion that other people are not your property.

"Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding."

- Samuel Johnson, on arguing with non-libertarians.

"It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny."

- James Fennimore Cooper, on the merits of a living, breathing Constitution.

"It is seldom that the miserable of the world can help regarding their misery as a wrong inflicted by those who are less miserable."

- George Eliot, on the average Occupy Wall Street protester.

"A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar."

- Anita Brookner, on (fill in name of politician here).

"About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment."

- Josh Billings, on intellectual property law.

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

- George Bernard Shaw, also on intellectual property law.

"All socialism involves slavery. That which fundamentally distinguishes the slave is that he labours under coercion to satisfy another's desires."

- Herbert Spencer, on…well…socialism.

"You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone."

- Al Capone, on the nature of government.