When Brexiters told the public that people were exaggerating, that there would be a financial meltdown, I think it’s been proven that they were not exaggerating.

There’s a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.

All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable.

One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda.

A President cannot always be popular.

I venture to say no war can be long carried on against the will of the people.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

Every country when they have Olympics, a lot of people come out opposed.

I’m lucky that, despite all the bad press I’ve had over the years, the public still seems to like me.

The more people I reach, the more people there are that have opinions about me. Not everyone loves me, but I have to be okay no matter what they think about me.

Most Americans think there’s already universal background checks. They don’t understand why there wouldn’t be a background check to purchase a weapon.

No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.

I think the 24-hour news cycle has helped exaggerate the differences between the parties. You can always find someone on TV somewhere carping about something. That didn’t happen 20 years ago.

He who molds the public sentiment… makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.

One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

I exaggerate when I’m angry, but I’ve never gone around telling people things that aren’t true about me.

When President George W. Bush attempted to reform Social Security, that proposal was more unpopular with Americans than the Iraq war. People love their entitlements.

I used to wish there was a useful term for those of us who thought American power should be used to remove psychopathic dictators.

The public is strongly in favor of the Kyoto Protocols, so strongly in favor that a majority of Bush voters thought that he was in favor of it. They are simply unaware.

I’ve been talked about by a lot better people than the general public.

How easy it is to govern when one follows a system of consulting the will of the people and one holds as the only norm all the actions which contribute to the well being of the people.

Voters quickly forget what a man says.

If the American people don’t love me, their descendants will.

A very large majority of the U.S. population is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and has been for a long time with some fluctuations. And even part of the business world is in favor of it, too. But the government won’t allow it.

I think, in politics, half the people are gonna like you, and half the people are not gonna like you, no matter what you do or what you say… It’s like there are no right answers. If there were, everyone would choose the right answers. They’re all opinions.

You pick up some fans and a handful of haters along the way.

Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blamable.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

The more cats you have, the longer you live. If you have a hundred cats, you’ll live 10 times longer than if you have 10. Someday this will be discovered, and people will have a thousand cats and live forever. It’s truly ridiculous.

Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills.

All movements go too far.

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion.

Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.

People are skeptical of many televangelists, and I’m sensitive to that.

There’s backlash about everything I do.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

The public doesn’t mind people living together without being married, providing they don’t overdo it.

The polls show that concern over inequality among the general public rose pretty sharply after the Occupy movement started, very probably as a consequence. And there are other policy issues that came to the fore, which are significant.

Sometimes negative news does come out, but it is often exaggerated and manipulated to spread scandal. Journalists sometimes risk becoming ill from coprophilia and thus fomenting coprophagia: which is a sin that taints all men and women, that is, the tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive aspects.

I get to hear the really good or the really bad things in the press, but I don’t read it. I can afford to say that because public opinion does not drive U2’s audience.

I do not believe any of the statistical claims that are made about public opinion. I don’t see why anybody does.

Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States – old as well as new – North as well as South.

When I look at public opinion, I’m not far out of the mainstream. I’m in it, in many respects. In some respects, public opinion goes beyond anything I’ve ever said.

We are not trying to entertain the critics. I’ll take my chances with the public.

I heard that when Christina Aguilera went back to her prom, people, like, booed her. I can’t imagine going through that. If you know that’s going to happen, why put yourself in that situation? I’d rather play for 20,000 screaming people, you know?

As an entrepreneur, I have been known for taking risks throughout my career, but leaving the European Union is not one of the risks I would want the U.K. to take – not as an investor, not as a father, and not as a grandfather. I am deeply concerned about the impact of leaving.

We all know what flopping is when we see it. The stuff that you see is where guys aren’t really getting hit at all and are just flailing around like a fish out of water.

My act is an exaggeration of a part of me. I’m much more expressive off stage.

Generally speaking, the public appetite for criminal justice policy is just tough talk.

I think the American people, with some justification, think that most politicians live in la-la land.

So, for example, a country was into recession right after I was sworn in, a dot-com bust had taken place. Then the attacks of September the 11th, and then of course the great financial meltdown in the -the fundamental question facing any presidency is how do you deal with the hand you’re dealt?

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.

Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else.

And all who told it added something new, and all who heard it, made enlargements too.

There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.

Public opinion in Egypt is very antagonistic to the way the dictatorship, Mubarak dictatorship, interpreted relations with Israel. Very antagonistic.

Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper.

Public opinion can be influential, the media can be influential.

I don’t believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.