Edward Brooke Quotes

In elective politics, it's up or out. You go up the ladder, or you get out of the game.

The polarization of Congress; the decline of civility; and the rise of attack politics in the 1980s, the 1990s, and the early years of the new century are a blot on our political system and a disservice to the American people.

I had made my reputation on integrity.

When people treat corruption as a routine part of the process, you have something far worse than wrongdoing or moral failing. You have a political cancer that breeds cynicism about democratic government and infects all of society.

I never studied much at Howard, but at Boston University, I didn't do much else but study.

My parents taught me that racial prejudice is a sin, one that robs the world of great minds and talents.

My campaign confirmed my belief that although there are bigots in America, whose hateful rhetoric seizes the media's attention, the vast majority of people do not harbor such prejudice.

In my state, the Republican Party was the most progressive party.

Intemperance and intolerance serve no one, and hatred guarantees failure.

I was one of God's chosen few, no doubt about it. Not only being elected, but the joy and pleasure I derived from it. It was a wonderful life.

I want to be elected on my own ability. Only then do you have progress ... People should not use race as a basis for labelling me.

You can't say the Negro left the Republican Party; the Negro feels he was evicted from the Republican Party.

To stand still is to regress.

Historically we have rejected extremism on the left and the right. Centrism is the right course for America.

Politics is not a tea party. When it is time to act, you have to move fast and decisively.

When I left the Senate in 1979, there were several publishers who had approached me about writing an autobiography, and I knew that politicians write books for many reasons, but at that time, I just thought I wasn't ready and my story wasn't over, and I knew I had a new life ahead of me.

I've never tried to run away from my race. I was born a black man. You know that in your bones as soon as you are able to understand this country ... My approach to life about race is, I don't see the difference between black people and white people.

I always believed there would be an African-American president. It was something I'd dreamed about, thought about, but certainly did not believe would happen in my lifetime.

President Nixon has lost his effectiveness as the leader of this country, primarily because he has lost the confidence of the people.

I don't intend to leave the Republican Party, but I would like to move the Republican Party more to the center.

I chose the Republican Party early on in the 1950s and 1960s in Massachusetts. My father was a Republican, as was my mother, in Virginia.

I can't serve just the Negro cause. I've got to serve all the people of Massachusetts.

I am not a civil rights leader, and I don't profess to be one.

I grew up segregated, but there was not much feeling of being shut out of anything.