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You send me to Washington to represent you in the senate. But you do not send me there because you are interested in grave questions of national or international policy. When I come back to Arizona, you never ask me any questions about such policies; instead you ask me: “What about my pension?” or “What about that job for my son?” I am not in Washington as a statesman. I am there as a very well paid messenger boy doing your errands. My chief occupation is going around with a forked stick picking up little fragments of patronage for my constituents.

— Henry Fountain Ashurst Attributed

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More quotes by Henry Fountain Ashurst

There has never been superadded to these vices of mine the withering, embalming vice of consistency.

A speech is entertaining only when serenely detached from all information.

No man is fit to be a Senator... unless he is willing to surrender his political life for great principle.

It is still an open question as to whether mankind or insects shall ultimately inherit the earth. It is my opinion that mankind … has about a 50-50 chance....

Poker teaches self-reliance, self-control, self-respect, self-denial, and independence. But when cards are wild or are given fictitious authority, the noble game is robbed of its romance, grace and stimulation and degenerates into a gambling scheme.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Henry Fountain Ashurst (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.