Eugene McCarthy Quotes

The real basis of freedom of speech and of expression is not, however, the right of a person to say what he thinks or what he wishes to say but the right and need of all persons to learn the truth. The only practical approach to this end is freedom of expression.

[T]here should be absolute freedom of expression without any kind of restraint or limitation. This position is generally defended by the uncritical assertion that every person has the right to express his views or judgment on any subject, and the rather obvious limitations are usually demonstrated by irrelevant examples, such as denying a person the right to shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre when there is no fire.

Remember that the worst accidents occur in the middle of the road.

Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it’s important.

There is only one thing to do — take it to the country!

The maple tree that night
Without a wind or rain
Let go its leaves
Because its time had come.

"Broken things are powerful."
Things about to break are stronger still.
The last shot from the brittle bow is truest.

There is danger in the concentration of control in the television and radio networks, especially in the large television and radio stations; danger in the concentration of ownership in the press… and danger in the increasing concentration of selection by book publishers and reviewers and by the producers of radio and television programs.

The two-party system has given this country the war of Lyndon Johnson, the Watergate of Nixon, and the incompetence of Carter. Saying we should keep the two-party system simply because it is working is like saying the Titanic voyage was a success because a few people survived on life-rafts.

We do not need presidents who are bigger than the country, but rather ones who speak for it and support it.

I'm kind of an accidental instrument, really, through which I hope that the judgment and the will of this nation can be expressed.

It is dangerous for a national candidate to say things that people might remember.

I have left Act I, for involution
And Act II. There, mired in complexity
I cannot write Act III.

The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.

"a light rinse" would be sufficient. Said in response to George Romney's claim that he had been "brainwashed" by the US military leaders in Vietnam. It is not clear where or when exactly the quote was supposedly said. See this entry from MediaMythAlert.