Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
Interpretation
Most politicians are viewed negatively because of the few who act poorly, impacting the perception of the entire group.
This quote by Henry A. Kissinger highlights the tendency to generalize the behavior of all politicians based on the actions of a minority. It suggests that the negative actions of a small percentage of politicians can tarnish the reputation of the majority, making it important to critically assess individuals rather than relying on broad stereotypes.
In practice
During a political debate, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of individual accountability in politics.
Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed. History is a tale of efforts that failed, or aspirations that werenβt realized. So, as a historian, one has to live with a sense of the inevitability of tragedy.
Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.
It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.
The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
If peace is equated simply with the absence of war, it can become abject pacifism that turns the world over to the most ruthless.
What political leaders decide, intelligence services tend to seek to justify.
The Iraq war was always a long shot. But it was made immeasurably longer by its principal architects in Washington, including Douglas Feith, who ignored expert advice, reserved most of their effort for fighting each other in ideological battles, and regarded the Iraqi people as an afterthought.
Without alienation, there can be no politics.
The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose.
The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.
If you are a writer from Turkey, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, you don't have the luxury of being apolitical. You can't say, 'That's politics. I'm just doing my work.'
A man who is not interested in politics is not doing his patriotic duty toward maintaining the constitution of the United States.
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