The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between

It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts. Bill Vaughan

After you've heard two eyewitness accounts of an accident, it makes you wonder about history. Dave Barry

A splutter of musketry. Winston Churchill on how to solve the Iranian Oil Crisis in 1950

History, n. An account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools. Ambrose Bierce

If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. Michael Crichton

When you say you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice. Otto von Bismarck

Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. Otto von Bismarck

Now that democracy is replacing communism in Eastern Europe, it means the end of elections that are rigged - and the beginning of elections that are bought. Joe Hickman

The Right Honourable Gentleman's smile is like the silver fittings on a coffin. Benjamin Disraeli on Robert Peel.

The people have spoken, the bastards. Dick Tuck, Californian politician

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. Winston Churchill

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. H. L. Mencken

Better to have him inside the tent pissing out, then outside the tent pissing in. Lyndon Johnson

The cardinal rule of politics: never get caught in bed with a live man or a dead woman. JR Ewing (Dallas)

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

Politics is derived from two words - poly, meaning many, and ticks, meaning small blood-sucking insects. Chris Clayton

To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy. Will Durant

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. Robert Frost

Fifty per cent of people won't vote, and fifty per cent don't read newspapers. I hope it's the same fifty per cent. Gore Vidal

If pigs could vote, the man with the slop bucket would be elected swineherd every time, no matter how much slaughtering he did on the side. Orson Scott Card

Natural politicians are skilled actors, recreating reality, adjusting and ad-libbing, synthesizing the words, ideas, and feelings of others, slipping into different roles in different scenes, saying the same thing over and over again and making it seem like they are saying it for the first time. David Maraniss

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. Ronald Reagan

Politicians and diapers must be changed frequently and for the same reason. Eça de Queiroz