37 Quotes by Everett Dirksen

I've decided to be a dull, morose bore at these press meetings. It's the only safe course. You give me no choice. I tell a joke and you convert it into an international incident. I coin a whimsical term and you make it appear I am at odds with the President. I indulge in some polite banter and you interpret it as a split in the Party.

An old man once taught me what a million is. He said, look at your watch, and watch the second hand. You can see it every second, every minute, every day, every night, every week, every month, every year - and in 3 years it would go around 1,000,000 times.

A billion here and a billion there, and soon you're talking about real money.

A billion here, a billion there, sooner or later it adds up to real money.

It is rather tragic, as I look back upon legislative history for the past 20 years, that there has not been more appraisal, that there has not been more careful assessment of the things which we have set in motion in the legislative branch. That is one particular reason why I think there ought to be an automatic time limit.

The mind is no match with the heart in persuasion constitutionality is no match with compassion

I know how easy it is to say, oh, it is only $20,000,000, or, it is only $80,000,000, or it is only $240,000,000 a year that will be taken out of the pockets of the taxpayer. But where will it finally stop? I do not know.

During a political campaign everyone is concerned with what a candidate will do on this or that question if he is elected except the candidate; he's too busy wondering what he'll do if he isn't elected.

Life is not a static thing. The only people who do not change their minds are incompetents in asylums, and those in cemeteries.