Well, I couldn't do the day-to-day stuff of being a politician or anything, but I just think everybody should have an opinion and everybody should vote, and that's what we're built on.

我不能做一个政客的日常工作，但我认为每个人都应该有自己的观点，每个人都应该投票，这就是我们的基础。

Well, it's taken a long time to get the Department of Homeland Security established. It's taken a long time for the Congress to decide how much it wanted to fund.

嗯，成立国土安全部花了很长时间。国会花了很长时间才决定要资助多少。

What I'm passionate about is History, and politics interest me only insofar as it is the cross-section of History in the present.

我所热爱的是历史，而我对政治的兴趣只在于它是当下历史的横截面。

What better way for a ruling class to claim and hold power than to pose as the defenders of the nation.

对于统治阶级来说，有什么比摆出保卫国家的姿态更好的方式来要求和掌握权力呢?

What do you want to be a sailor for? There are greater storms in politics than you will ever find at sea. Piracy, broadsides, blood on the decks. You will find them all in politics.

你想当水手干什么?政治上有比海上更大的风暴。海盗，舷侧，甲板上有血迹。你会发现他们都在政界。

What is politics but persuading the public to vote for this and support that and endure these for the promise of those?

什么是政治，除了说服公众投票支持这个，支持那个，忍受这些为了那些承诺?

What is the primary purpose of a political leader? To build a majority. If [voters] care about parking lots, then talk about parking lots.

政治领袖的主要目的是什么?建立多数。如果(选民)关心停车场，那就谈谈停车场。

What matters most is not who is sitting in the White House, but "who is sitting in" -- and who is marching outside the White House, pushing for change.

最重要的不是谁将入主白宫，而是“谁将入主白宫”，以及谁将走出白宫，推动变革。

What politicians want to create is irreversible change because when you leave office someone changes it back again.

政客们想要创造的是不可逆转的变革，因为当你离任时，有人会再次改变它。

What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.

政治家最急于在他的公民同胞身上培养出某种道德品质，即具有美德的倾向和表现美德的行为。

What we need is a rebirth of satire, of dissent, of irreverence, of an uncompromising insistence that phoniness is phony and platitudes are platitudinous.

我们需要的是讽刺、异议、不敬的重生，是对虚假是虚假、陈词滥调是陈词滥调的毫不妥协的坚持。

What we ought not do is play politics with those who've been afflicted by disasters. This should not be controversial. Stop playing politics, do the right thing for the country and let's make sure we're not making politics with disaster relief.

我们不应该和那些遭受灾难的人玩政治。这应该没有争议。停止玩弄政治，为国家做正确的事情，让我们确保我们没有在救灾中玩弄政治。

When I entered politics, I took the only downward turn you could take from journalism.

当我进入政界时，我走了一条新闻行业唯一能走的下坡路。

When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.

当我准备和别人交谈时，我花三分之二的时间想他们想听什么，三分之一的时间想我想说什么。

When a Cabinet Minister who is sacked for telling lies is re-appointed, in the face of every constitutional convention, only for the same man to be sacked again from the same Cabinet for the same offence by the same Prime Minister no wonder the public are cynical about politics.

当一位因说谎而被解职的内阁部长在每次制宪会议上都被重新任命时，同样的人却因为同样的罪行被同一位首相从同一内阁中再次解职，难怪公众对政治如此愤世嫉俗。