The plain truth is that what holds a free state together is neither general will nor a common interest, but simply politics itself.

The political process is not tied to any particular doctrine. Genuine political doctrines, rather, are the attempt to find particular and workable solutions to this perpetual and shifty problem of conciliation.

Politics are, as it were, the market place and the price mechanism of all social demands - though there is no guarantee that a just price will be struck; and there is nothing spontaneous about politics- it depends on deliberate and continuous activity.

Politics deserves much praise. Politics is a preoccupation of free men, and its existence is a test of freedom. The praise of free men is worth having, for it is the only praise which is free from either servility or condescension.

The agony of international relations is the need to try to practice politics without the basic conditions for political order.

Politics is a way of ruling in divided societies without undue violence...politics is not just a necessary evil; it is a realistic good.

The plain truth is that what holds a free state together is neither general will nor a common interest, but simply politics itself.