Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlelady for yielding me the time. Madam Speaker, I often quote the poet Robert Frost, who once admonished us that two roads diverged in the wood, and I picked the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. I would not quarrel with Mr. Frost, but I would believe that it's the people that you meet as you travel the roads of life that really makes the difference with all of us. Several years before I came to this body I met Donald Payne. I was a bit in awe of him because he struck out to attain a seat here, and in that race, right after I met him, things did not go as he had hoped--as many of us had hoped. But Don did not lose faith. He gathered himself, and he tried again. And of course, upon his success, all of us know what a successful Congressman he made. I traveled with Don often. We went to Africa together. Traveling with him on the continent of Africa, going in and out of country after country, sitting with him as he called heads of state by their names, and to see the respect that all of them had for him was just a joy to behold. I learned a lot from Donald Payne. And I always, whenever I could, wanted to be around him. Just this past December, in my congressional district, Donald came to Charleston to help me participate in a congressional panel, talking about sustaining good, healthy communities. Don, that particular day, was sort of the star, as he usually was. I had no idea at that time that we would be in this place today.…”