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George Washington Plunkitt Quotes
1842–1924
George Washington Plunkitt (17 November 1842 – November 19, 1924) was a New York State Senator and, as a member of Tammany Hall, a ward boss for the Fifteenth Assembly District.
Random George Washington Plunkitt quote
31 quotes
Don't show off your learning; that's just another way of style.
Every good man looks after his friends, and any man who doesn’t isn’t likely to be popular. p. 5
I know that the civil service humbug is stuck into the constitution, too, but, as Tim Campbell said: “What’s the constitution among friends?” p. 13
The Irish, above all people in the world, hates a traitor. p. 35
I want to add that no matter how well you learn to play the political game, you won’t make a lastin’ success of it if you're a drinkin’ man. p. 77
Everybody is talkin’ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. p. 3, first line
The railroad is a great public institution, and I was never an enemy of public institutions. p. 63
They learned how to put up a pretty good bluff—and bluff counts a lot in politics. p. 18
The men who rule have practiced keepin’ their tongues still, not exercisin’ them. p. 8
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? p. 54
I honestly believe that drink is the greatest curse of the day, except, of course, civil service, and that it has driven more young men to ruin than anything except civil service examinations. p. 78
You can’t study human nature in books. Books is a hindrance more than anything else. p. 25
What’s the use of havin’ ill-smellin’ gashouses if there’s no votes in them? p. 62
You can’t be patriotic on a salary that just keeps the wolf from the door. p. 56
If I have a good thing to hand out in private life, I give it to a friend. Why shouldn’t I do the same in public life? p.6
The Democratic party of the nation ain’t dead, though it’s been givin’ a lifelike imitation of a corpse for several years. p. 88
Say, ain’t some of the papers awful gullible about politics? p. 59
The most successful saloonkeepers don’t drink themselves and they understand that my temperance is a business proposition, just like their own. p. 77
Putin’ on style don’t pay in politics. p. 50
Once let a man grow up amidst Brooklyn’s cobblestones, with the odor of Newton Creek and Gowanus Canal ever in his nostrils, and there’s no place in the world for him except Brooklyn. p. 41
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