Quotes Library

December 4, 2025

Reader, suppose you were an idiot; and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (“Mark Twain”) (1835–1910), American writer, in Des MacHale, Wit (1997), p.198

Assuming you are an elected politician, do any of your colleagues qualify as idiots? Assuming you are a wannabe, does Twain induce second thoughts? How do you propose to demonstrate you are not an idiot, once elected?

The attention paid in today’s media (both traditional and social) to what in years past would have been obscure members of Congress allows many more people to see the truth in Twain’s statement.


More Quotes

March 12, 2025
00:33
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
September 30, 2025
00:41
[Definition of] Class: when they’re running you out of town, to look like you’re leading the parade.
August 11, 2025
We are here to consult the interests and not to obey the will of the people, if we honestly believe that will conflicts with those interests.
Page 30 of 123