Profoundly inspirational election quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
Famous Election Quotes
Elections are not a beauty contest. It is all about tolerance. – Vladimir Franz
Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods. – H. L. Mencken
Voting is a civic sacrament. – Theodore Hesburgh
I believe that voting is the first act of building a community, as well as building a country. – John Ensign
The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood – rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky – they all turn out in one day. – David Byrne
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. – John Quincy Adams
The problem with political jokes is they get elected. – Henry Cate, VII
I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. – Adlai Stevenson
Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. – Unknown
There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough US congressmen. – Unknown
We stand today at a crossroads: One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other leads to total extinction. Let us hope we have the wisdom to make the right choice. – Woody Allen
If you put your politicians up for sale, as the US does … then someone will buy them – and it won’t be you; you can’t afford them. – Juan Cole
Don’t buy a single vote more than necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide. – Joseph P. Kennedy
By the time a man gets to be presidential material, he’s been bought ten times over. – Gore Vidal
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. – J. O’Rourke
In a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy. – Matt Taibbi
In America, anyone can become president. That’s the problem. – George Carlin
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. – Winston Churchill
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. – Isaac Asimov
Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half. – Gore Vidal
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election. – Bill Vaughan
If pigs could vote, the man with the slop bucket would be elected swineherd every time, no matter how much slaughtering he did on the side. – Orson Scott Card
A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation. – James Freeman Clarke
Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government when it deserves it. – Mark Twain
By all means stay home if you want, but don’t bullshit yourself that you’re not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard’s vote. – David Foster Wallace
Voting is as much an emotional act as it is an intellectual one. – Monica Crowley
I’ve dropped my pebble in the ocean, and hopefully; throughout the course of the day; millions of others will drop theirs in too. No single one of us knows which pebble causes the wave to crest, but each of us, quite rightly, believes that it might be ours; an act of faith. – Michael J. Fox
That we have the vote means nothing. That we use it in the right way means everything. – Lou Henry Hoover
Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. – Winston Churchill
Don’t boo. Vote. – Barack Obama
Voting isn’t the most we can do, but it is the least. To have a democracy, you have to want one. – Gloria Steinem
There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right. – Martin Luther King Jr.
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you. – Pericles
Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters. – Abraham Lincoln
I am sure that every one of my colleagues – Democrat, Republican, and Independent – agrees with that statement. That in the voting booth, every one is equal. – Barbara Boxer
By voting, we add our voice to the chorus that forms opinions and the basis for actions. – Jens Stoltenberg
People aren’t necessarily as concerned with how you vote as long as they feel they have a voice. If you can cross that basic threshold – that is, when a voter knows you’re willing to listen to them and that you care about their lives – then that’s most of what you need to get their vote. It’s not your voting record. – John Yarmuth
It’s up to all of us, the consumers, to take charge of our health. It’s almost like voting. It’s your responsibility. – Anne Wojcicki
Having personally watched the Voting Rights Act being signed into law that August day, I can’t begin to imagine how we could have all been so wrong in believing that more Americans would vote once they were all truly free to do so. – Andrew Young
Voting is like alchemy – taking an abstract value and breathing life into it. – Sharon Salzberg
Voting is how we participate in a civic society – be it for president, be it for a municipal election. It’s the way we teach our children – in school elections – how to be citizens, and the importance of their voice. – Loretta Lynch
Voting is the expression of our commitment to ourselves, one another, this country and this world. – Sharon Salzberg
Every citizen of this country should be guaranteed that their vote matters, that their vote is counted, and that in the voting booth, their vote has a much weight as that of any CEO, any member of Congress, or any President. – Barbara Boxer
Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves. – Herbert Marcuse
Winning or losing of the election is less important than strengthening the country. – Indira Gandhi
The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. – Joseph Stalin
If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it. – Mark Twain
An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it. – George Bernard Shaw
Leadership is not about the next election, it’s about the next generation. – Simon Sinek
People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election. – Otto von Bismarck
Clever and attractive women do not want to vote; they are willing to let men govern as long as they govern men – George Bernard Shaw
This election could come down to just a handful of votes. It could come down to just one vote. – Vicky Hartzler
The election is not very far off when a candidate can recognize you across the street. – Kin Hubbard
An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. – George Eliot
In an election, one needs both hope and audacity. – Francois Hollande
We elected a man who knows how to build walls when we needed someone who knows how to build bridges. – DaShanne Stokes
Elections determine who is in power, but they do not determine how power is used. – Paul Collier
In elections, the undecided vote is usually the deciding factor. – Evan Esar
In elections, you can’t tell the outcome until you open the ballot boxes. – Katsuya Okada
To finalize, the purpose of an election is to hear the will of the people, not to fabricate votes. – Lincoln Diaz-Balart
During an election campaign the air is full of speeches and vice versa. – Henry Adams
Elections are about the future. – Nancy Pelosi
We deserve elections we can trust. – Jill Stein
An election cannot give a country a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names but are as alike in their principals and aims as two peas in the same pod. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
An election is an opportunity for a new consensus. – Martin O’Malley
The right of election is the very essence of the constitution. – Junius
If elections really changed anything, they would be outlawed. – Emma Goldman
People are what this election is all about. – Patty Berg
Every election is determined by the people who show up. – Larry J. Sabato
You cannot win an election without a fight. – Tony Abbott
