Barney Frank > Quotes

“But the absence of bad motives in no way alleviates the bad effects.”
― Barney Frank, Frank

“Defending affirmative action gave me the chance to reaffirm my deep commitment to the second of the three questions famously articulated by Rabbi Hillel. My work for LGBT equality represented my answer to his first question: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” Combating racial prejudice and its lasting effects was my fervent response to his second question: “If I am only for myself, what am I?” But even justly revered sages do not get everything right. Hillel’s third question—“If not now, when?”—can be misleading. The proper reply is “It depends.” That is, it depends on how likely you are to succeed; on whether it will be more helpful to your cause to try and fail, or to hold off for more propitious circumstances; on the impact of settling temporarily for partial success; and on what you can do to improve your chances of ultimate success.”
― Barney Frank, Frank

“the fabled three horsemen of the fiscal apocalypse—fraud, waste, and abuse”
― Barney Frank, Frank

“They can vote for every possible war that comes along and still be “pro-life,” while a levy that applies only to the vast fortunes left by the richest 1 percent of Americans when a spousal exemption is claimed is the “death tax.”
― Barney Frank, Frank

“Southern racists were able to protect murderers only because their legislators exploited fears of centralized power.”
― Barney Frank, Frank

“Ballplayers do not argue with the umpire so that he’ll change the decision in question. They want to be on his mind when he makes the next one.”
― Barney Frank, Frank

“I believe very strongly that people on the left are too prone to do things that are emotionally satisfying and not politically useful. I have a rule, and it’s true of Occupy, it’s true of the gay-rights movement: If you care deeply about a cause, and you are engaged in an activity on behalf of that cause that is great fun and makes you feel good and warm and enthusiastic, you’re probably not helping, because you’re out there with your friends, and political work is much tougher and harder. And I think it’s now clear that it is the disciplined political work that we’ve been able to do that’s won us victories. I am going to write about the history of the LGBT movement partly to make the point that, in America at least, this is the way you do progressive causes.”
― Barney Frank

“disconnect between people’s distaste for government and their attraction to its manifestations.”
― Barney Frank, Frank