Jeff Greenfield Quotes

• The niftiest turn of phrase, the most elegant flight of rhetorical fancy, isn't worth beans next to a clear thought clearly expressed.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Phrases, Fancy, Next

  45 Copy quote

• More things in politics happen by accident or exhaustion than happen by conspiracy.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Political, Politics, Conspiracy

  15 Copy quote

• Well, politics is war, and in war, truth is the first casualty.

  Jeff Greenfield

  War, Firsts, Truth Is

  Jeff Greenfield (1996). “The People's Choice”, Plume Books

  4 Copy quote

• Men and women in my lifetime have died fighting for the right to vote: people like James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who were murdered while registering black voters in Mississippi in 1964, and Viola Liuzzo, who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in 1965 during the Selma march for voting rights.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Fighting, Men, Rights

  25 Copy quote

• After immersing myself in the mysteries of the Electoral College for a novel I wrote in the '90s, I came away believing that the case for scrapping it is less obvious than I originally thought.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Believe, College, Mystery

  54 Copy quote

• In every debate, whatever the format, whatever the questions, there is one and only one way to identify the winner: Who commands the room? Who drives the narrative? Who is in charge?

  Jeff Greenfield

  Narrative, Way, Rooms

  7 Copy quote

• There are good people who are dealt a bad hand by fate, and bad people who live long, comfortable, privileged lives. A small twist of fate can save or end a life; random chance is a permanent, powerful player in each of our lives, and in human history as well.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Powerful, Fate, Player

  52 Copy quote

• In politics, Bugs Bunny always beats Daffy Duck. Daffy's always going berserk, jumping up and down, yelling. Bugs's got that sly smile, like he always knows what's up, like nothing can ruffle him.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Jumping, Yelling, Ducks

  6 Copy quote

• If the court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act, is that a 'liberal' result enabling gay couples married in states where gay marriage is legal to enjoy the same economic advantages that federal laws now grant to straight couples? Or is it a 'conservative' ruling, limiting the federal government's ability to override state power?

  Jeff Greenfield

  Couple, Gay, Government

  4 Copy quote

• History doesn't turn on a dime; it turns on a plugged nickel.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Dimes, Nickels, Turns

  Jeff Greenfield (2011). “Then Everything Changed: Stunning Alternate Histories of American Politics: JFK, RFK, Carter, Ford, Reaga n”, p.9, Penguin

  7 Copy quote

• This is part of the involuntary bargain we make with the world just by being alive. We get to experiences the splendor of nature, the beauty of art, the balm of love and the sheer joy of existence, always with the knowledge that illness, injury, natural disaster, or pure evil can end it in an instant for ourselves or someone we love.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Art, Evil, Joy

  10 Copy quote

• Victory has 1,000 fathers; defeat has 1,000 kibitzers.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Father, Political, Victory

  5 Copy quote

• As a personal matter, I stopped voting more than a decade ago, on the grounds that it helped me as an analyst not to think about making a choice in the voting booth.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Thinking, Choices, Voting

  4 Copy quote

• In another life, before taking the veil of journalistic purity, I practiced the black arts of a political operative, including 'debate prep.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Art, Political, Black

  6 Copy quote

• I got into writing and thinking about politics because I was told there would be no math.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Writing, Math, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• Television is one of the most fickle businesses that there are, you are in favour one minute and out the next.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Business, Favour, Fickle

  5 Copy quote

• It strikes me as a sound, honest statement for a prospective voter to say: 'Look, I haven't given this election a minute's thought, and it's just not fair for me to cancel out the vote of someone who actually gives a damn.' Indeed, it's not just sound and honest - it's the ethically responsible thing to do.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Giving, Sound, Looks

  4 Copy quote

• In early 1961 a new president, John F. Kennedy, was told by military leaders and civilian officials that the Kingdom of Laos - of no conceivable strategic importance to the U.S. - required the presence of American troops and perhaps even tactical nuclear weapons. Why? Because if Laos fell, Asia would go red from Thailand to Indonesia.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Military, Leader, President

  8 Copy quote

• Describing the jury in the OJ Simpson murder trial: These people have served a longer sentence than some people who have committed murder.

  Jeff Greenfield

  People, Trials, Murder

  4 Copy quote

• There is no such thing as political science, but there are tenancies so strong that they might as well be called laws of nature.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Strong, Law, Political

  4 Copy quote

• A citizen at his home in Rockford, Illinois, or Boulder, Colorado, could read a newspaper, listen to a radio, or watch the round-the-clock coverage on television, but he had no way of connecting with those who shared his views. Nor was there a quick, readily available tool for an ordinary citizen to gather information on his own. In 1960, communication was a one-way street, and information was fundamentally inaccessible. The whole idea of summoning up data or reaching thousands of individuals with the touch of a finger was a science-fiction fantasy.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Communication, Home, Ideas

  Jeff Greenfield (2011). “Then Everything Changed: Stunning Alternate Histories of American Politics: JFK, RFK, Carter, Ford, Reaga n”, p.36, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

• Protestations of indifference to higher office are hard to take seriously when the 'non-candidate' is busily engaged in testing the waters.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Water, Office, Indifference

  4 Copy quote

• Think about one of the most powerful influences on a young child's life - the absence of a father figure. Look back on recent presidents, and you'll find an absent, or weak, or failed father in the lives of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Children, Powerful, Father

  4 Copy quote

• Something about her eyes or voice has always suggested the hint of a free spirit, trapped in a Peck and Peck cage, dreaming of making rude noises at public gatherings of Republicans.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Dream, Freedom, Eye

  10 Copy quote

• When an office-holder facing a multi-count indictment says that he has decided to spend more time with his family, the proper response is a horse-laugh. When an accused politician explains that a charge of corruption is 'really' an attack on his or her race, religion, ethnic background or gender, the odds that something felonious happened jumps.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Horse, Race, Odds

  4 Copy quote

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