quotations about political parties
For a people that invented the modern political party, we have been strangely reluctant to take pride in our handiwork.
CLINTON ROSSITER
Parties and Politics in America
Of course, both major parties today seek to serve the national interest. They would do so in order to obtain the broadest base of support, if for no nobler reason. But when party and officeholder differ as to how the national interest is to be served, we must place first the responsibility we owe not to our party or even to our constituents but to our individual consciences.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
Profiles in Courage
Party is not only, not so much, a group of men as a set of ideas and ideal aims.
LORD ACTON
letter to Mary Gladstone, June 1, 1880
You cannot choose between party government and Parliamentary government. I say you can have no Parliamentary government if you have no party government; and therefore when gentlemen denounce party government, they strike at the scheme of government which, in my opinion, has made this country great, and which, I hope, will keep it great.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
speech in the House of Commons, August 30, 1848
Of the two great political parties which have divided the opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now admit that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and administration of this Government, and that both have required a liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
Inaugural Address, March 4, 1825
It is sometimes easier to form a party than to attain by degrees the head of a party already formed.
LUC DE CLAPIERS, MARQUIS DE VAUVENARGUES
Reflections and Maxims
In order to remain true to oneself one ought to renounce one's party three times a day.
JEAN ROSTAND
"A Biologist's Thoughts", The Substance of Man
It is necessary to have party organization if we are to have effective and efficient government. The only difference between a mob and a trained army is organization, and the only difference between a disorganized country and one that has the advantage of a wise and sound government is fundamentally a question of organization.
CALVIN COOLIDGE
Calvin Coolidge: His Ideals of Citizenship as Revealed Through His Speeches and Writings
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
Politics do not necessarily mean party politics, though in this country, at this moment, the one runs dangerously near to implying the other.
ALFRED AUSTIN
The Bridling of Pegasus
The President of the United States of necessity owes his election to office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a political party, the members of which cherish with ardor and regard as of essential importance the principles of their party organization; but he should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves the country best.
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
Inaugural Address, March 5, 1877
There is an inherent misunderstanding on the part of many voters that political parties are Democratic institutions. While they are regulated, political parties have plenary authority to select their nominees in any way they choose. They are under no obligation to allow the voters to select their nominees.
RICH RUBINO
"Political Parties are Under No Obligation to Operate Democratically", Huffington Post, April 15, 2016
Political parties are like poets, born, not made.
HENRY FORD
"Parties Are Born, Not Made", Ford Ideals