Quote of the Day (William Shakespeare, on a Fearful People ‘Possessed With Rumors’)

“But as I traveled hither through the land,
I find the people strangely fantasied,
Possessed with rumors, full of idle dreams,
Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear.” —English playwright-poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King John (1594-6), Act 4, Scene 3 

William Shakespeare died on this day in 1616 at age 52, but his influence reverberates to this day.

Following decades of Tudor authoritarianism, Shakespeare knew that it was safer to project his insights into distant times (King John’s death predated the playwright’s by four centuries) and even distant lands (in the case of The Tempest, a small, remote island in the Mediterranean).

His history play King John is one of his thornier and less performed works, but such was The Bard’s genius that even in this passage from the play, he served as a profound analyst of how corruption and tyranny at the highest government levels lead inevitably to rampant conspiracy theories and contagious fear.

Quote of the Day (Ralph Waldo Emerson, on Power and Politics)

“All kinds of power usually emerge at the same time; good energy and bad; power of mind with physical health; the ecstasies of devotion with the exasperations of debauchery. The same elements are always present, only sometimes these conspicuous, and sometimes those; what was yesterday foreground, being to-day background;—what was surface, playing now a not less effective part as basis. The longer the drought lasts the more is the atmosphere surcharged with water. The faster the ball falls to the sun, the force to fly off is by so much augmented. And in morals, wild liberty breeds iron conscience; natures with great impulses have great resources, and return from far. In politics, the sons of democrats will be whigs; whilst red republicanism in the father is a spasm of nature to engender an intolerable tyrant in the next age. On the other hand, conservatism, ever more timorous and narrow, disgusts the children and drives them for a mouthful of fresh air into radicalism.” — American essayist-poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), “Power,” in The Conduct of Life (1860)

Quote of the Day (Peggy Noonan, on the Fallout From the Growth of AI)

“My very human prediction: The spectacular costs associated with AI [i.e., unemployment, shifts in insurance and retirement income] will force a debate on the sharing of its profits. The wealthy and powerful who own the AI companies won’t like that. But those who wished and failed to see the social media companies declared a public utility 10 years ago, and who drew support from the populist left and populist right—they would like that a lot. This will become one of the great political battles of the late 2020s and beyond.”—Former Presidential speechwriter and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Peggy Noonan, “AI Is Here, and a Quiet Havoc Has Begun,” The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 9-10, 2025

TV Quote of the Day (‘Succession,’ on the Law, Politics, and People)

Logan Roy [played by Brian Cox]: “The law? The law is people. And people is politics. And I can handle the people.”—Succession, Season 3, Episode 3, “The Disruption,” original air date Oct. 31, 2021, teleplay by Ted Cohen and Georgia Pritchett, directed by Cathy Yan

TV Quote of the Day (‘Yes, Minister,’ on ‘A Basic Rule of Government’)

Sir Humphrey Appleby [played by Nigel Hawthorne]: “A basic rule of government is never look into anything you don't have to and never set up an inquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be.”—Yes, Minister, Season 3, Episode 6, “The Whisky Priest,” original air date Dec. 16, 1982, teleplay by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, directed by Peter Whitmore

Quote of the Day (Samuel Johnson, on Zealotry and Credulity)

“Of all kinds of credulity, the most obstinate and wonderful is that of political zealots; of men, who, being numbered, they know not how nor why, in any of the parties that divide a state, resign the use of their own eyes and ears, and resolve to believe nothing that does not favour those whom they profess to follow.”— English man of letters Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), “Political Credulity,” in The Idler, June 17, 1758

Quote of the Day (Ralph Waldo Emerson, on ‘The Form of Government Which Prevails’)

“[T]he form of government which prevails, is the expression of what cultivation exists in the population which permits it.”— American philosopher, essayist, and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), “Politics” (1844)

Quote of the Day (Benjamin Disraeli, on How ‘Ignorance Never Settles a Question’)

“Ignorance never settles a question. Questions must be settled by knowledge…. I often remember with pleasure a passage in Plato where the great sage descants upon what he calls ‘double ignorance,’ and that is where a man is ignorant that he is ignorant. But, Sir, in legislating there is another kind of double ignorance that is fatal. There is, in the first place, an ignorance of principles, and, in the second, an ignorance of facts.” — English Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), address in the House of Commons opposing William Gladstone’s Reform Bill, May 14, 1866

I loved this quotation, but groaned when I learned the circumstances surrounding it: i.e., Disraeli’s opposition to a measure that would have effectively widened the franchise in Great Britain to the working class.

Then, researching a bit further, I discovered that, once his own Conservative Party was in power within the year, “Diz” not only endorsed the bill he had once opposed, but strengthened its provisions—by convincing those on the fence that the new members of the electorate would back the Conservatives in the next election.

That didn’t happen, but passage of the bill did stop the momentum towards class-based violence in Britain. 

In the end, then, the “question” of voting was settled, though in a more roundabout way than Disraeli’s understanding of “principles” and “facts” might have originally suggested.

Quote of the Day (Winston Churchill, on ‘The Only Wise and Safe Course’)

“The only wise and safe course is to act from day to day in accordance with what one's own conscience seems to decree." — British Prime Minister and Nobel Literature laureate Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), The Gathering Storm (Volume One of “The Second World War”) (1948)

Quote of the Day (Henry Adams, on ‘Practical Politics’)

“Practical politics consists in ignoring facts, but education and politics are two different and often contradictory things.” — U.S. historian (and descendant of Presidents) Henry Adams (1838-1918), The Education of Henry Adams (1907)

Quote of the Day (David Ogilvy, With a Wildly Incorrect Prediction About Political Campaigns)

“Candidates for political office will stop using dishonest advertising.”— Legendary advertising executive David Ogilvy (1911-1999), Ogilvy on Advertising, edited by Christopher Fagg (1983)

Movie Quote of the Day (‘The Senator Was Indiscreet,’ As a ‘Plain-Talking Man’ Hints at Higher Office)

Senator Melvin G. Ashton [played by William Powell]: “This is no time for emotionalism, but rather for a serious searching of the heart. As you all know, I am a simple, plain-talking man, with no taste for evasion and no talent for fancy words. So, I am going to be open and above board with you, as I have always been. Ladies and Gentlemen, I cannot put this too strongly - I am not a candidate for the presidency... But... there are times when decisions of this sort are no longer a matter of individual...”—The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947), screenplay by Charles MacArthur and Edwin Lanham, directed by George S. Kaufman

Quote of the Day (J. William Fulbright, on Abusive Public Men vs. Democracy)

“When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled. It has no apparatus to deal with the boor, the liar, the lout, and the antidemocrat in general.”— J. William Fulbright, U.S. Senator from Arkansas (1905-1995), speech in the Senate, Feb. 2, 1954

This is what is at stake this Election Day, all across the country. Remember this as you vote.

TV Quote of the Day (‘Yes, Prime Minister,’ As a Financial Crisis Convulses the British Cabinet)

[James Hacker asks Sir Humphrey Appleby about a financial crisis.]

Hacker [played by Paul Eddington]: “Why the sudden crisis? The Treasury must've seen it coming.”

Sir Humphrey [played by Nigel Hawthorne]: “Prime Minister, I'm not the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. You must ask Sir Frank.”

Hacker: “What would Sir Frank say?”

Sir Humphrey: “It is not for a humble mortal such as I to speculate on the complex and elevated deliberations of the mighty. But in general, I think Sir Frank believes that if the Treasury knows something has to be done, the Cabinet shouldn't have too much time to think about it.”

Hacker: “But that's an outrageous view!”

Sir Humphrey: “Yes, indeed. It's known as Treasury policy.”

Hacker: “Suppose the Cabinet has questions?”

Sir Humphrey: “Well, I think Sir Frank's view is that on the rare occasions when the Treasury understands the questions, the Cabinet doesn't understand the answers.”— Yes, Prime Minister, Season 1, Episode 5, “A Real Partnership,” original air date Feb 6, 1986, screenplay by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, directed by Sydney Lotterby

Surely at this point, the above dialogue makes for uncomfortable listening for the Conservative Party grandees in charge—sort of—at Downing Street these last few years—particularly now that the Bank of England, setting its biggest rate hike in 33 years, warns that the UK could experience its longest recession in 100 years.

And we Yanks think we have it bad..

Quote of the Day (Ian McEwan, on the West’s Post-Cold War Descent)

“By what logic or motivation or helpless surrender did we all, hour by hour, transport ourselves within a generation from the thrill of optimism at Berlin’s falling Wall to the storming of the American Capitol?”— English novelist Ian McEwan, Lessons: A Novel (2022)

(Accompanying this post is a photo of Ian McEwan taken during the 2011 Paris book festival on Mar. 20, 2011, by Thesupermat.)

Quote of the Day (Adlai Stevenson, on ‘The Size of a Man’)

“You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad.”—Illinois Governor, Democratic Presidential nominee, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson II (1900-1965), “Faith in Liberalism” (Address to the State Committee of the Liberal Party in New York City), Aug. 28, 1952

Movie Quote of the Day (‘The Great McGinty,’ on Politics Without Graft)

Skeeters [played by William Demarest, pictured right with Brian Donlevy]: “If it wasn't for graft, you'd get a very low type of people in politics. Men without ambition. Jellyfish.”

Catherine McGinty [played by Muriel Angelus]: “Especially since you can't rob the people anyway.”

Skeeters: “Sure.” [Doing a double-take.] “How was that?”

Catherine: “What you rob, you spend, and what you spend goes back to the people. So, where's the robbery? I read that in one of my father's books.”

Skeeters: “That book should be in every home.”— The Great McGinty (1940), screenplay by Preston Sturges, directed by Preston Sturges

Quote of the Day (Mike Lupica, on the Increasingly Tangled Tale of Herschel Walker)

“One more thing about [onetime Heisman Trophy winner and current Senate candidate] Herschel [Walker]? I’m really starting to worry about just the sheer logistics of what next Father’s Day are going to be like for this guy. The more you read, the more you think he hooked up with everybody except Stormy Daniels.”—Columnist Mike Lupica, “Shooting From the Lip,” New York Daily News, Oct. 9, 2022

Stormy Daniels? Please! Don’t go giving the guy any more ideas!

(The photo accompanying this post, showing Herschel Walker at the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Playoff Fan Central, was taken Jan. 6, 2018, by Thomson200.)

Quote of the Day (Gail Collins, on Candidates’ Desperate Fundraising Campaigns)

“Cynics might presume that no candidate has ever, in history, actually reached a fund-raising goal. Really, do you ever remember getting a note saying: ‘Thanks, guys! We’ve got all the money we need now! Give to your pet shelter.’

“You do have to feel some sympathy — Senate campaigns are wicked expensive. The question is whether you should respond to this barrage of email requests for donations. The downside, as you probably suspect, is that it will make you an even more popular target.”—Political commentator Gail Collins, “Do You Think Your Newfound Popularity Has Something to Do With Politics?” The New York Times, Sept. 8, 2022

TV Quote of the Day (‘Veep,’ As Her Personal Trainer Offers to ‘Normalfy’ a Speech)

Vice President Selina Meyer [played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus] [to speechwriter Mike McLintock]: “I want to talk to you about this speech for the World War I service, okay?”

Mike McLintock [played by Matt Walsh]: “Very proud of it, ma'am. I gave this one 100% effort. [pauses] As I do everything I write for you.”

Selina: “Okay, I'm not sure about this... ‘To honor all who fell in frozen Flanders Fields and hold their memory fresh.’ It's just a little bit too ‘F-fy’ for me, you know?”

Mike: “Well, that's kind of the idea, ma'am. I mean, it's poetic.”

Campaign manager Dan Egan [played by Matt Walsh]: “Yeah, but we're trying to appeal to the blue-collar demographic, right? Not the poets.”

[Having been sliding around in the background, Selina’s personal trainer and lover, Ray Whelans, hired by Dan to “relax” Selina for her Presidential campaign, suddenly moves to the front.]

Ray Whelans [played by Christopher Meloni]: “I agree.” [Ray takes paper, starts reading speech aloud.]  “So... ‘16 million perished.’ No, they didn't. They died, so just say that. ‘The loss, though impossible to adequately comprehend...’ That sentence is impossible to comprehend. Just say, ‘hard to understand,’ you know? Plain English.”

Dan: “I kind of agree.”

Ray [helpfully, to Mike]: “I could ‘normalfy’ this for you.”

Mike [horrified]: “No. No, no.”

Selina [to Mike]: “No, no, no. Just listen. He's got sort of a working-class touch, which is something that's valuable, and we should listen to it….”

Ray: “So, Mike, what's your favorite part of this speech?”

Mike: “Okay. This is like Gettysburg. ‘Beneath the...’ [Annoyed, tries to disentangle some wires tying him to Ray] ‘Beneath the dark soil of Passchendaele, 100,000 bodies still lie unaccounted for. Let today be their funeral service and we their mourners.’"

Ray: “How about this? ‘There's a whole lotta guys who never came home. Good guys. Here's to those guys.’”

White House Chief of Staff Ben Cafferty [played by Kevin Dunn] “Holy f-----g Christ. What is that, Ray?”

Ray: “I'm just spitballin'.”— Veep, Season 3, Episode 7, “Special Relationship,” original air date May 18, 2014, teleplay by Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche, directed by Becky Martin