William Proxmire Quotes

#1. The poor taxpayer may wipe his shoes on a $3 doormat when he goes home, but not the Navy. It is, damn the cost, full feet ahead on a doormat you would be ashamed to get muddy.

William Proxmire

#2. The last few years have been my happiest. I'm happy in the years that most people are blue and sad and waiting to die. I don't feel that a bit. Smiling has a lot to do with it. You can just lift your spirits by smiling a little bit.

William Proxmire

#3. Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous.

William Proxmire

#4. I doubt if there is any occupation which is more consistently and unfairly demeaned, degraded, denounced, and deplored than banking.

William Proxmire

#5. The recommended daily allowances are based on arbitrary, unscientific, and tainted standards.

William Proxmire

#6. As chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for NASA appropriations, I say not a penny for this nutty fantasy.

William Proxmire

#7. The biggest danger for a politician is to shake hands with a man who is physically stronger, has been drinking, and is voting for the other guy.

William Proxmire

#8. He knows the tax code as thoroughly as the pope knows the Lord's Prayer.

William Proxmire

#9. I have spent my career trying to get Congressmen to spend the people's money as if it were their own. But I have failed.

William Proxmire

#10. It's hard enougth to find intelligent life right here in Washington!

William Proxmire

#11. The FDA and much, but not all, of the orthodox medical profession are actively hostile against vitamins and minerals ... They are out to get the health food industry ... And they are trying to do this out of active hostility and prejudice.

William Proxmire

#12. The limousine is the ultimate ego trip, the supreme sign of success. It shouts: Hey, this guy is really and truly Mr Big.

William Proxmire