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Use the quotes to provide students with a quick access point into politics, prompt discussions and debates in your classroom, and introduce a range of influential thinkers.

We've arranged these quotes in a way that relates to our 5 Big Question framework for TOK, which is our favoured way of structuring the course. There are other ways to structure TOK, such as the Classic structure.

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Any time scientists disagree, it’s because we have insufficient data. Then we can agree on what kind of data to get; we get the data; and the data solves the problem. Either I’m right, or you’re right, or we’re both wrong. And we move on. That kind of conflict resolution does not exist in politics or religion.

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Any time scientists disagree, it’s because we have insufficient data. Then we can agree on what kind of data to get; we get the data; and the data solves the problem. Either I’m right, or you’re right, or we’re both wrong. And we move on. That kind of conflict resolution does not exist in politics or religion.

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Neil deGrasse Tyson

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Our modern world, though infinitely more complex than that of ancient Greece, is also far more superficial. Where the Greeks offered simple psychological training, we live in an age of style and spin in which perceptions of good and evil slither and shift with the political view of the moment.

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Our modern world, though infinitely more complex than that of ancient Greece, is also far more superficial. Where the Greeks offered simple psychological training, we live in an age of style and spin in which perceptions of good and evil slither and shift with the political view of the moment.

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David Gemmell

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The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.

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The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.

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John Dalberg-Acton

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Our politics are our deepest form of expression: they mirror our past experiences and reflect our dreams and aspirations for the future.

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Our politics are our deepest form of expression: they mirror our past experiences and reflect our dreams and aspirations for the future.

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Paul Wellstone

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Politics is politics; art is art. If you play a political role, you have to stop being an artist.

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Politics is politics; art is art. If you play a political role, you have to stop being an artist.

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Youssou N’Dour

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In politics the middle way is none at all.

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In politics the middle way is none at all.

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John Adams

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Politics isn’t about left versus right; it’s about top versus bottom.

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Politics isn’t about left versus right; it’s about top versus bottom.

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Jim Hightower

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I hate all politics. I don’t like either political party. One should not belong to them – one should be an individual, standing in the middle. Anyone that belongs to a party stops thinking.

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I hate all politics. I don’t like either political party. One should not belong to them – one should be an individual, standing in the middle. Anyone that belongs to a party stops thinking.

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Ray Bradbury

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I was a woman in a man’s world. I was a Democrat in a Republican administration. I was an intellectual in a world of bureaucrats. I talked differently. This may have made me a bit like an ink blot.

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I was a woman in a man’s world. I was a Democrat in a Republican administration. I was an intellectual in a world of bureaucrats. I talked differently. This may have made me a bit like an ink blot.

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Jeanne Kirkpatrick

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It is my mission to put sensible and evidence-based information above politics and exaggeration.

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It is my mission to put sensible and evidence-based information above politics and exaggeration.

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Carl Hart

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We all have our likes and our dislikes. But… when we’re doing news – when we’re doing the front-page news, not the back page, not the op-ed pages, but when we’re doing the daily news, covering politics – it is our duty to be sure that we do not permit our prejudices to show. That is simply basic journalism.

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We all have our likes and our dislikes. But… when we’re doing news – when we’re doing the front-page news, not the back page, not the op-ed pages, but when we’re doing the daily news, covering politics – it is our duty to be sure that we do not permit our prejudices to show. That is simply basic journalism.

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Walter Cronkite

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If we lived within our means – by being prudent – the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.

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If we lived within our means – by being prudent – the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.

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José Mujica

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Once the people of planet Earth are all hanging out together online in a virtual world without any borders, I think it could change social networking, entertainment and even politics.

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Once the people of planet Earth are all hanging out together online in a virtual world without any borders, I think it could change social networking, entertainment and even politics.

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Ernest Cline

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The first resistance to social change is to say it’s not necessary.

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The first resistance to social change is to say it’s not necessary.

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Gloria Steinem

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Paddy Chayefsky

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

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

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Otto von Bismarck

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Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.

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Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.

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Charles de Gaulle

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The potential for the abuse of power through digital networks – upon which we the people now depend for nearly everything, including our politics – is one of the most insidious threats to democracy in the Internet age.

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The potential for the abuse of power through digital networks – upon which we the people now depend for nearly everything, including our politics – is one of the most insidious threats to democracy in the Internet age.

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Rebecca MacKinnon

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I think people involved in politics make good actors. Acting and politics both involve fooling people. People like being fooled by actors. When you get right down to it, they probably like being fooled by politicians even more. A skilful actor will make you think, but a skilful politician will make you never have to think.

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I think people involved in politics make good actors. Acting and politics both involve fooling people. People like being fooled by actors. When you get right down to it, they probably like being fooled by politicians even more. A skilful actor will make you think, but a skilful politician will make you never have to think.

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Donna Brazile

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Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be.

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Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be.

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Marshall McLuhan

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I would say that no film is apolitical. There are politics in all films. Any film that is anchored in a society, any film that deals with humanity is necessarily political.

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I would say that no film is apolitical. There are politics in all films. Any film that is anchored in a society, any film that deals with humanity is necessarily political.

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Abbas Kiarostami

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In politics, a lie unanswered becomes truth within 24 hours.

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In politics, a lie unanswered becomes truth within 24 hours.

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Willie Brown

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The money in politics is a cash cow for the media.

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The money in politics is a cash cow for the media.

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Noam Chomsky

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There is a holy, mistaken zeal in politics, as well as in religion. By persuading others, we convince ourselves.

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There is a holy, mistaken zeal in politics, as well as in religion. By persuading others, we convince ourselves.

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Junius

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Every artistic expression is either influenced by or adds something to politics.

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Every artistic expression is either influenced by or adds something to politics.

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Dario Fo

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Of course you can’t ‘trust’ what people tell you on the web anymore than you can ‘trust’ what people tell you on megaphones, postcards or in restaurants. Working out the social politics of who you can trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has evolved to do.

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Of course you can’t ‘trust’ what people tell you on the web anymore than you can ‘trust’ what people tell you on megaphones, postcards or in restaurants. Working out the social politics of who you can trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has evolved to do.

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Douglas Adams

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They say women talk too much. If you have worked in Congress you know that the filibuster was invented by men.

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They say women talk too much. If you have worked in Congress you know that the filibuster was invented by men.

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Clare Booth Luce

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All art is political in the sense that it serves someone’s politics.

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All art is political in the sense that it serves someone’s politics.

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August Wilson

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There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

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There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

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Alexis de Tocqueville

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Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.

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Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.

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Mao Zedong

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Politics and ethics belong to different worlds.

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Politics and ethics belong to different worlds.

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Adam Michnik

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Niccolò Machiavelli

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Aristophanes

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Globalisation has made us more vulnerable. It creates a world without borders, and makes us painfully aware of the limitations of our present instruments, and of politics, to meet its challenges.

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Globalisation has made us more vulnerable. It creates a world without borders, and makes us painfully aware of the limitations of our present instruments, and of politics, to meet its challenges.

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Anna Lindh

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Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.

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Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.

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Mikhail Bakunin

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Where there is politics or economics, there is no morality.

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Where there is politics or economics, there is no morality.

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Friedrich Schlegel

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Either one lives ‘for’ politics or one lives ‘off’ politics.

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Either one lives ‘for’ politics or one lives ‘off’ politics.

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Max Weber

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The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.

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The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.

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Mikhail Kalashnikov

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Benjamin Disraeli

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Aneurin Bevan

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The politics of fear are always the same. They are easily recognisable in retrospect. They are easy to acquiesce in at the time.

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The politics of fear are always the same. They are easily recognisable in retrospect. They are easy to acquiesce in at the time.

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Naomi Alderman

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Politics, as a practise, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

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Politics, as a practise, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

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Henry Adams

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The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own.

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The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own.

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Aldous Huxley

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Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

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Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

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Henry Kissinger

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No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.

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No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.

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Jacob Bronowski

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There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.

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There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.

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Vladimir Lenin

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My three years in politics was very instructive about the way in which the appetite for political power can destroy a human mind, destroy principles and values, and transform people into little monsters.

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My three years in politics was very instructive about the way in which the appetite for political power can destroy a human mind, destroy principles and values, and transform people into little monsters.

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Mario Vargas Llosa

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Thomas Mann

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The method of political science is the interpretation of life; its instrument is insight, a nice understanding of subtle, unformulated conditions.

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The method of political science is the interpretation of life; its instrument is insight, a nice understanding of subtle, unformulated conditions.

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Woodrow Wilson

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Political science has long tried to tackle a fundamental question of voter behavior: Do voters choose politicians because those politicians hold views that they like, or do voters choose policy positions because the politicians they like say those positions are correct?

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Political science has long tried to tackle a fundamental question of voter behavior: Do voters choose politicians because those politicians hold views that they like, or do voters choose policy positions because the politicians they like say those positions are correct?

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Kristen Soltis Anderson

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Economists should be modest and be aware that they are part of the broader social science community. We need to be pragmatic about the methods we use. When we need to do history, we should do history. When we need to study political science, we should study political science.

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Economists should be modest and be aware that they are part of the broader social science community. We need to be pragmatic about the methods we use. When we need to do history, we should do history. When we need to study political science, we should study political science.

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Thomas Piketty

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Otto von Bismarck

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Politics is really religion. Politics is about sacredness. Politics is about offering a vision that will bind the nation together to pursue greatness.

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Politics is really religion. Politics is about sacredness. Politics is about offering a vision that will bind the nation together to pursue greatness.

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Jonathan Haidt

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The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

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The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

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Thomas Sowell

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Aristotle

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Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong.

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Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong.

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Jean Paul Sartre

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One baby is a patient baby, and waits indefinitely until its mother is ready to feed it. The other baby is an impatient baby and cries lustily, screams and kicks and makes everybody unpleasant until it is fed. Well, we know perfectly well which baby is attended to first. That is the whole history of politics.

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One baby is a patient baby, and waits indefinitely until its mother is ready to feed it. The other baby is an impatient baby and cries lustily, screams and kicks and makes everybody unpleasant until it is fed. Well, we know perfectly well which baby is attended to first. That is the whole history of politics.

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Emmeline Pankhurst