--- title: "9 Only Quotes By Rick Perlstein" description: "9 Only quotes by Rick Perlstein. Plus more from Rick Perlstein and more Only sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/43e/rick-perlstein-3637_american_i-believe-politics-is-a-team-sport-that_1751812.png" --- > [I believe politics is a team sport. That, for awful and unfortunate reasons beyond any of our control, the American system only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-believe-politics-is-a-team-sport-that-for-awful-and-unfortunate/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/43e/rick-perlstein-3637_american_i-believe-politics-is-a-team-sport-that_1751812.png) > [One thing Republicans understand: In American elections, you have to choose from among only two people - not between the perfect and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/one-thing-republicans-understand-in-american-elections-you-have-to/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d54/rick-perlstein-3637_american_one-thing-republicans-understand-in-amer_450929.png) > [Only liberals know how to make you freer on the job, which is where most of us suffer the gravest indignities in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/only-liberals-know-how-to-make-you-freer-on-the-job-which-is-where/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a74/rick-perlstein-3637_freer_only-liberals-know-how-to-make-you-freer_2386937.png) > [Polling only works in a country without a depressed, frightened populace. Where the public trusts authorities enough to tell them the truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/polling-only-works-in-a-country-without-a-depressed-frightened/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbf/rick-perlstein-3637_authorities_polling-only-works-in-a-country-without_524941.png) > [The only times during my religious instruction I remember hearing God's name invoked with any sincere conviction at all was in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/the-only-times-during-my-religious-instruction-i-remember-hearing-god/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ac/rick-perlstein-3637_any_the-only-times-during-my-religious-instr_199407.png) > [My liberal friends love to dismiss Reagan. You know, they'll say something like, 'Oh, didn't he, like, only read one-page memos when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/my-liberal-friends-love-to-dismiss-reagan-you-know-they-ll-say/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/595/rick-perlstein-3637_dismiss_my-liberal-friends-love-to-dismiss-reaga_1495816.jpg) > [History does not repeat itself. Nor does it unfold in cycles. The real future is contingent, rich beyond imagining, a perennial gobsmack,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/history-does-not-repeat-itself-nor-does-it-unfold-in-cycles-the-real/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a8/rick-perlstein-3637_beyond_history-does-not-repeat-itself-nor-does_2386596.png) > [Republican governors are more lunatic than they used to be - as attested by all the ones so eager to turn down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/republican-governors-are-more-lunatic-than-they-used-to-be-as/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54b/rick-perlstein-3637_citizens_republican-governors-are-more-lunatic-th_2629816.png) > [Somehow, failures in the public sector are always judged as systematic. The private sector thus exists to ride to the rescue -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/somehow-failures-in-the-public-sector-are-always-judged-as-systematic/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1f/rick-perlstein-3637_always_somehow-failures-in-the-public-sector-ar_779990.jpg) ## Other authors on Only ## More by Rick Perlstein > [I love trade magazines - any trade's magazine: by entering into what is taken for granted in a world not your own, you better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-love-trade-magazines-any-trade-s-magazine-by-entering-into-what-is/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [When the 2008 victory of Barack Obama and the defeat of grumpy old John McCain began looking, um, inevitable, I started fielding inquiries about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/when-the-2008-victory-of-barack-obama-and-the-defeat-of-grumpy-old/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Watergate got us to think of leaders as mere mortals. America began to think of itself in a very different way - I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as-mere-mortals-america-began-to/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Part of the fantasy certain pro-reform Republicans like to broadcast about Hispanics, family-oriented, churchgoing traditionalists, is that they are somehow natural conservatives, just waiting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/part-of-the-fantasy-certain-pro-reform-republicans-like-to-broadcast/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [I'm just a Bolshevik with a laptop.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-m-just-a-bolshevik-with-a-laptop/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [The history of American higher education over the twentieth century is an extraordinary one, the story of the creation of a powerhouse set of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/the-history-of-american-higher-education-over-the-twentieth-century/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [The only times during my religious instruction I remember hearing God's name invoked with any sincere conviction at all was in the oft-repeated and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/the-only-times-during-my-religious-instruction-i-remember-hearing-god/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [As a general rule of thumb, Democrats do better in national elections when the year's defining issue is economic fairness, and Republicans do better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/as-a-general-rule-of-thumb-democrats-do-better-in-national-elections/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Computers have cut-and-paste functions. So does right-wing historical memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/computers-have-cut-and-paste-functions-so-does-right-wing-historical/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Empirical debunking cannot reach the deepest fear of the reactionary mind, which is that the state - that devouring leviathan - will soon swallow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/empirical-debunking-cannot-reach-the-deepest-fear-of-the-reactionary/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [I think that all politicians who aspire to the presidency are a little nuts, but for different reasons. What kind of person aspires to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-think-that-all-politicians-who-aspire-to-the-presidency-are-a/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Chicago's privatization mania began during Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration, which ran from 1989 to 2011. Under his successor, Rahm Emanuel, the trend has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/chicago-s-privatization-mania-began-during-mayor-richard-m-daley-s/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [One thing Republicans understand: In American elections, you have to choose from among only two people - not between the perfect and the good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/one-thing-republicans-understand-in-american-elections-you-have-to/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Social conservatism, business conservatism: the one side constitutes the other, like some infernal Mobius strip.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/social-conservatism-business-conservatism-the-one-side-constitutes/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Sometimes I like to think that the responsibility of every new generation of Democrats is to devise a program that mints new Democrats for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/sometimes-i-like-to-think-that-the-responsibility-of-every-new/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/only/rick-perlstein/#itemlist", "name": "9 Only Quotes By Rick Perlstein", "numberOfItems": 9, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I believe politics is a team sport. 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