George W. Plunkitt Quotes

The man is picked out and somehow he gets to understand what’s expected of him in the way of a contribution, and he ponies up—all from gratitude to the organization that honored him, see? <small>p. 74</small>

Of course, the day may come when we’ll reject the money of the rich as tainted, but it hadn’t come when I left Tammany Hall at 11:25 A.M. today. <small>p. 73</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>

Say, I don’t wish I was a poet, for if I was, I guess I’d be livin’ in a garret on no dollars a week instead of runnin’ a great contractin’ and transportation business which is doin’ pretty well, thank you; but, honest, now, the notion takes me sometimes to yell poetry of the red-hot-hail-glorious-land kind when I think of New York City as a state by itself. <small>p. 67</small>

The time is comin’ and though I’m no youngster, I may see it, when New York City will break away from the State and become a state itself. <small>p. 65</small>

The railroad is a great public institution, and I was never an enemy of public institutions. <small>p. 63</small>

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

Say, ain’t some of the papers awful gullible about politics? <small>p. 59</small>

Jimmy O’Brien brought the manufacture of “Democracies” down to an exact science, and reduced the cost of production so as to bring it within the reach of all. Any man with $50 can now have a “Democracy” of his own. <small>p. 58</small>

You can’t be patriotic on a salary that just keeps the wolf from the door. <small>p. 56</small>

Who is better fitted to run the railroads and the gas plants and the ferries than the men who make a business of lookin’ after the interests of the city? <small>p. 54</small>

Don't show off your learning; that's just another way of style.

I know it’s an awful temptation, the hankerin’ to show off your learnin’. I’ve felt it myself, but I always resist it. I know the awful consequences. <small>p. 53</small>

Putin’ on style don’t pay in politics. <small>p. 50</small>