Quote#Courage
How nice it is for the people to feel that they can get up in the…
Quote byGeorge Washington Plunkitt · 1842–1924
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Chapter 20, Bosses Preserve the Nation.
English (original)
How nice it is for the people to feel that they can get up in the mornin’ without bein’ afraid of seein’ in the papers that the Commissioner of Water Supply has sandbagged the Dock Commissioner, and that the Mayor and heads of the departments have been taken to the police court as witnesses! p. 82
— George Washington Plunkitt
More from George Washington Plunkitt
Another kind of honest graft. Tammany has raised a good many salaries. There was an awful howl by the reformers, but don’t you know that Tammany gains ten votes for every one it lost by salary raisin’? p. 6
Every good man looks after his friends, and any man who doesn’t isn’t likely to be popular. p. 5
Everybody is talkin’ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. p. 3, first line
If I have a good thing to hand out in private life, I give it to a friend. Why shouldn’t I do the same in public life? p.6
There’s an honest graft, and I’m an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin’: “I seen my opportunities and I took ’em.” p. 3
The Wall Street banker thinks it shameful to raise a department clerk’s salary from $1500 to $1800 a year, but every man who draws a salary himself says: “That’s all right. I wish it was me.” And he feels very much like votin’ the Tammany …