Statesman Quotes

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

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

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

The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.

Conservative, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.

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.

Now I know what a statesman is; he's a dead politician. We need more statesmen.

What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.

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.

You know, a statesman is a dead politician.

Nelson Mandela is, for me, the single statesman in the world. The single statesman, in that literal sense, who is not solving all his problems with guns. It's truly unbelievable.

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.

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

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

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

A statesman, we are told, should follow public opinion. Doubtless, as a coachman follows his horses; having firm hold on the reins and guiding them.

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 statesman shears the sheep; the politician skins them.

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

The same contingencies of time and space that force a statesman or soldier to make decisions, impel the historian, though with less urgency, to make up his mind.

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.

Today America lost a great elder statesman, a committed public servant, and leader of the Senate. And today I lost a treasured friend. Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States senator whose influence cannot be overstated. Many have come before, and many will come after, but Ted Kennedy's name will always be remembered as someone who lived and breathed the United States Senate and the work completed within its chamber.

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

A statesman cannot afford to be a moralist.

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.

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

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