It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

Where are our women? So, we must be consistent. Politics is a profession like any other profession.

In the United States, politics is a profession, whereas in Europe it is a right and a duty.

I think if you know my background so I think in my family most of the people came from politicians, like my Dad, my sister, my brother, so in terms of understanding politics, I think – I believe I’ve had that since I was young. The only thing is that I never joined politics officially, but I think I understand. And I think right now, the country needs people to manage and to deliver policies to enhance the wealth of the country. So I think at this time the country needs that skill.

Politics is as much a regular business as the grocery or the dry-goods or the drug business. You've got to be trained up to it or you're sure to fail. <small>p. 19</small>

another tradition to politics, a tradition (of politics) that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done.

The political career properly viewed is really a kind of Ministry.

A physician, a civil engineer, and a computer scientist were arguing about what was the oldest profession in the world. The physician remarked, "Well, in the Bible, it says that God created Eve from a rib taken out of Adam. This clearly required surgery, and so I can rightly claim that mine is the oldest profession in the world." The civil engineer interrupted, and said, "But even earlier in the book of Genesis, it states that God created the order of the heavens and the earth from out of the chaos. This was the first and certainly the most spectacular application of civil engineering. Therefore, fair doctor, you are wrong: mine is the oldest profession in the world." The computer scientist leaned back in her chair, smiled, and then said confidently, "Ah, but who do you think created the chaos?"

Politics is the art of the possible,the science of the relative.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

[P]rofessional politics is a trade in which the sly outweigh the wise.

A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.

Do you know, I think you’d like politics at least on Barrayar. Maybe because it’s so similar to what we call war, elsewhere.

Politics is the art of the possible.