"Politicians only get to the top because they have no qualifications to detain them at the bottom."

Peter Ustinov Entertainment See all quotes by Peter Ustinov →

React to this quote

More by Peter Ustinov

See all

“By increasing the size of the keyhole, today's playwrights are in danger of doing away with the door.”

“I am just a man, not fit to do the work of God... or the Devil.”

“Good-bye to you too ol' Rights of Man!”

“Sex is a conversation carried out by other means.”

“The truth is really an ambition which is beyond us.”

“I am an optimist, unrepentant and militant. After all, in order not to be a fool, an optimist must know what a sad place the world can be. It is only the pessimist who finds this out anew every day.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, "Are you going to start listening to me here? Listen to the Americ…"

— Michele Bachmann

Politics1956

#life

"We all know nations that can be identified by the flight of writers from their shores. These are regimes whose fear of unmonitored writing is justified because truth is trouble. It is trouble for the …"

— Toni Morrison

Literature1931–2019

#justice

"It would be a sad thing for an artist if he knew how to paint. – so sad. An artist paints because it is a challenge to him – it is like trying to twist the devil. If you overcome it, there is no sport…"

— Arshile Gorky

Art1904–1948

#art

"The first machine of Papin was very similar to the gunpowder-engine... of Huyghens. In place of gunpowder, a small quantity of water is placed at the bottom of the cylinder, A; a fire is built beneath…"

— Robert Henry Thurston

Technology1839–1903

#philosophy