Joe Klein

“The first rule of politics is: Don't be a dick.”

“A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him he's a statesman.”

“Skepticism is an important historical tool. It is the starting point of all philosophical thinking.”

“Washington is a very easy city for you to forget where you came from and why you got there in the first place.”

“Anonymous sources are a practice of last resort.”

“When you get to my age, you'll find that it's chiefly your failures that interest you.”

“There has been a concerted effort to frame this as a religious issue, when it's not. It's a moral issue.”

“The notion that the public is tired of politics and wants to avoid it is simply not true.”

“I'm all for engagement, but I think you've got to acknowledge that you're not going to get a lot of accommodation.”

“My guess is that the editor of the New York Times is not going to be thrilled to see me on his op-ed page.”