I would rather be beaten, and be a man, than to be elected and be a little puppy dog.
You can go to hell -- I'm going to Texas.
I would rather be politically dead than hypocritically immortalized.
Make sure you're right, then go ahead.
It is quite possible that someone is insane and they think they have a chance. Not insane in the clinical sense, but they may have such a strong political ambition that they blind themselves to reality.
It was expected of me that I was to bow to the name of Andrew Jackson... even at the expense of my conscience and judgement. such a thing was new to me, and a total stranger to my principles.