Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.
Will Rogers
Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect all who seek it.
Frank Herbert
Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.
Henry Kissinger
An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.
Simon Cameron
The lobby is the army of the plutocracy.
William Graham Sumner
A politician always has his arm around your waist and his eye on the clock.
Margot Asquith
You don’t say ‘they all do it’ unless you know you’ve been doing it, too.
Christopher Hitchens
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
PJ O’Rourke
When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer ‘present’ or ‘not guilty’.
Theodore Roosevelt
Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men.
Sydney J Harris
Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich more than the poor.
James Madison
He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.
Benjamin Franklin
There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is.
Mark Hanna
(This story appears in the 30 October, 2015 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)