Statesman Quotes

The statesman's duty is to bridge the gap between his nation's experience and his vision.

He has not yet become an elder statesman, though his foreign policy credentials are considerable, but he is certainly our ancient mariner, forever tugging at our sleeve to let him tell his tale of what really happened.

The fastest way for a politician to become an elder statesman is to lose an election.

The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.

A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.

The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opposition than from his fervent supporters.

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

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.

A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him he's a statesman.

I think it better that in times like these a poet's mouth be silent, for in truth we have no gift to set a statesman right.

He was what I often think is a dangerous thing for a statesman to be - a student of history; and like most of those who study history, he learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.

A statesman cannot afford to be a moralist.

It is only natural that for any statesman at the helm of any government the question of his country's security should be a concern of the utmost importance.

A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years.

At home, you always have to be a politician; when you're abroad, you almost feel yourself a statesman.

War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight, the lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade.

When you're out of office, you can be a statesman.

If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.

A statesman wants courage and a statesman wants vision; but believe me, after six months' experience, he wants first, second, third and all the time - patience.

You can always get the truth from an American statesman after he has turned seventy, or given up all hope of the Presidency.

To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the captain, and a positive crime in the statesman.

My father was a statesman, I am a political woman. My father was a saint. I am not.

A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.

A politician is a statesman who approaches every question with an open mouth.

The three great ends which a statesman ought to propose to himself in the government of a nation, are one, Security to possessors; two, facility to acquirers; and three, hope to all.

It is neither the statesman nor the friend who is asking your help and assistance, but simply the man.

To be a statesman, you must first get elected.

A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities.

He's passed from rising hope to elder statesman without any intervening period whatsoever.