Jeff Greenfield Quotations

It strikes me as a sound, honest statement for a prospective voter to say: 'Look, I haven't given this election a minute's thought, and it's just not fair for me to cancel out the vote of someone who actually gives a damn.' Indeed, it's not just sound and honest - it's the ethically responsible thing to do.

Describing the jury in the OJ Simpson murder trial: These people have served a longer sentence than some people who have committed murder.

Victory has 1,000 fathers; defeat has 1,000 kibitzers.

There is no such thing as political science, but there are tenancies so strong that they might as well be called laws of nature.

Television is one of the most fickle businesses that there are, you are in favour one minute and out the next.

If the court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act, is that a 'liberal' result enabling gay couples married in states where gay marriage is legal to enjoy the same economic advantages that federal laws now grant to straight couples? Or is it a 'conservative' ruling, limiting the federal government's ability to override state power?

History doesn't turn on a dime; it turns on a plugged nickel.

I got into writing and thinking about politics because I was told there would be no math.

In another life, before taking the veil of journalistic purity, I practiced the black arts of a political operative, including 'debate prep.

This is part of the involuntary bargain we make with the world just by being alive. We get to experiences the splendor of nature, the beauty of art, the balm of love and the sheer joy of existence, always with the knowledge that illness, injury, natural disaster, or pure evil can end it in an instant for ourselves or someone we love.