George W. Plunkitt Quotes

I've been studyin’ the political game for forty-five years, and I don’t know it all yet. I’m learnin’ somethin’ all the time. How, then, can you expect what they call “business men” to turn into politics all at once and make a success of it? <small>p. 19</small>

There’s always a certain number of suckers and a certain number of men lookin’ for a chance to take them in, and the suckers are sure to be took one way or another. It’s the everlastin’ law of demand and supply. <small>p. 60</small>

Everybody is talkin’ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. <small>p. 3, first line</small>

The name-parted-in-the-middle aristocrats act in just the same way. They don’t want to be annoyed with firecrackers and the Declaration of Independence, and when they see the Fourth comin’ they hustle off to the woods like my dog. <small>p. 71</small>

What’s the use of havin’ ill-smellin’ gashouses if there’s no votes in them? <small>p. 62</small>

It’s because a Brooklynite is a natural-born hayseed, and can never become a real New Yorker. <small>p. 41</small>

If I have a good thing to hand out in private life, I give it to a friend. Why shouldn’t I do the same in public life? <small>p.6</small>

The hayseeds think we are like the Indians to the National Government—that is, sort of wards of the State, who don’t know how to look after ourselves and have to be taken care of by the Republicans of St. Lawrence, Ontario, and other backwoods counties. <small>p. 21</small>

The politicians who make a lastin’ success in politics are the men who are always loyal to their friends, even up to the gate of State prison, if necessary; men who keep their promises and never lie. <small>p. 35</small>

This civil service law is the biggest fraud of the age. It is the curse of the nation. <small>p. 11</small>

Brought up in Tammany Hall, he has learned how to reach the hearts of the great mass of voters. He does not bother about reaching their heads. It is his belief that arguments and campaign literature have never gained votes. <small>p. 91</small>

Another kind of honest graft. Tammany has raised a good many salaries. There was an awful howl by the reformers, but don’t you know that Tammany gains ten votes for every one it lost by salary raisin’? <small>p. 6</small>

They learned how to put up a pretty good bluff—and bluff counts a lot in politics. <small>p. 18</small>

Some young men think they can learn how to be successful in politics from books, and they cram their heads with all sorts of college rot. They couldn’t make a bigger mistake. <small>p. 7</small>

What did the people mean when they voted for Tammany? What is representative government, anyhow? Is it all a fake that this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people? If it isn't a fake, then why isn't the people's voice obeyed and Tammany men put in all the offices? <small>p. 12</small>