100+ Barney Frank Quotes On Politics, Education And Government

Barney Frank was an American politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. He was the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay and was an advocate for LGBT rights. He was also a major advocate for financial reform, helping to pass the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Barney Frank on politics, education, life.

Top 10 Barney Frank Quotes

1. The best humor is offered up to you by the stupidity of your opponents.
2. Capitalism works better from every perspective when the economic decision makers are forced to share power with those who will be affected by those decisions.
3. The Moral Majority supports legislators who oppose abortions but also oppose child nutrition and day care. From their perspective, life begins at conception and ends at birth.
4. When community action was put into federal law in the early sixties as part of the effort to combat poverty and social injustice, I supported it intellectually.
5. These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis.
6. People are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
7. It is because the fight against the harshest aspects of unrestricted capitalism is therefore a political problem and not an intellectual one that community action remains so essential.
8. They appear to have become so attached to their outrage that they are even more outraged that they won't be able to be outraged anymore.
9. What's troubling is that the Republicans to defend Mr. DeLay are weakening the ethics process.
10. This bill is the legislative equivalent of crack. It yields a short-term high but does long-term damage to the system and it's expensive to boot.

Barney Frank Short Quotes

• Community action is as valuable a principle on the international level as it has been domestically.
• I smoke a cigar or two a day. I did have a brownie once. It made me sleepy.
• The best antidote to prejudice is reality.
• We don't get ourselves dry cleaned.
• We all have the right to call each other names. Rudeness is a deeply held constitutional value.
• I believe it is a good thing to get rid of Gaddafi. But does America have to do everything?
• Ronald Reagan believes in the free market like some people believe in unicorns.
• I will tell you, I'm a lousy cook, but I think I'm a pretty good judge of a good meal.
• I have been mislabeled as a big advocate of low-income home ownership over rental.
• And unless you think there is a serious chance you're going to jail, don't listen to your lawyer.

Barney Frank Quotes About Politics

I had always been interested in politics. I had assumed - for two reasons, being Jewish and being gay back in the late '50s, early '60s - that I would never be elected or anything, but I would participate as an activist. — Barney Frank

Before this learning experience, I had assumed that with regard to programs that sought to help people out of poverty, the political world was essentially divided into two camps: conservatives who opposed these for a variety of reasons, and liberals who supported them. — Barney Frank

Excessive partisanship is the problem. There has never been a democracy in the history of the world in a polity of any size where you didn't have political parties. Even sometimes over the objections of the people who started it. — Barney Frank

Let us not say that we will decide on a political basis at the national level that no State is competent to regulate the practice of medicine in that State if they decide to allow a doctor to prescribe marijuana, because that is what we are talking about. — Barney Frank

Serving in Congress is like having a second shot at high school. — Barney Frank

The single most important thing you can do politically for gay rights is to come out. Not to write a letter to your congressman but to come out. — Barney Frank

Barney Frank Quotes About Life

The Clinton tax increase - which was an increase in taxes primarily on upper-income people - not only made the tax code more nearly progressive, it preceded one of the most productive economic periods in American life. — Barney Frank

Conservatives believe that from the standpoint of the federal government, life begins at conception and ends at birth. — Barney Frank

For most of my life, I have eaten to deal with stress. — Barney Frank

Barney Frank Quotes About Government

But here too it should be noted that the President's approach was to first ask the repressive and brutal Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden to us, and only after that government refused to do that did we invade. — Barney Frank

I do not believe that the federal government should treat adults who choose to smoke marijuana as criminals. — Barney Frank

Alec Baldwin has done this great Donald Trump. I wish somebody would hire Leslie Jordan to play Jeff Sessions. The only way is to put the two of them out there. it is the most bizarre, pathetic silliness I can imagine at what should be the most serious deliberations in the American government. — Barney Frank

[Democrats] are trying on every front to increase the role of government. — Barney Frank

In a free society, a large degree of human activity is none of the government's business. We should make criminal what's going to hurt other people and other than that we should leave it to people to make their own choices. — Barney Frank

Barney Frank Quotes About People

These two entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing. — Barney Frank

I am very proud of the role I played in getting legal equality for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and in helping get rid of the prejudice by being visible about it, helping to block the conviction of Bill Clinton of impeachment. — Barney Frank

If people knew of ethics violations, they should have sent them to the Ethics Committee. If you think there was serious ethics violation that ought to be looked at, you don't hold it back for retaliatory purposes. — Barney Frank

I do not think that any self-respecting radical in history would have considered advocating people’s rights to get married, join the Army, and earn a living as a terribly inspiring revolutionary platform. — Barney Frank

But on those occasions when I do strongly disagree with the Democrats and I don't say anything, I think I forfeit my right to have people pay attention to me when I say the things that I don't like about what Republicans are saying. — Barney Frank

It is, of course, further indication that a fundamentalist right has really taken over much of the Republican Party, People might cite George Bush as proof that you can be totally impervious to the effects of Harvard and Yale education. — Barney Frank

For many of those who had historically supported welfare programs in the broadest sense, it was perfectly reasonable to enact legislation in which poor people were the objects of efforts to assist them. — Barney Frank

Take free speech: most of the tough cases on free speech involve very unpleasant people saying very obnoxious things. — Barney Frank

I think there was an absolute, deep gap between consensual relations between adults, which people may like or dislike, and people who physically impose themselves on children or misuse their authority to impose on children. — Barney Frank

Donald Trump has done more for getting people to understand the importance of public policy that respond to public needs in an affirmative way than anything we could have done on our own. — Barney Frank

Barney Frank Quotes About Decisions

Increasing inequality in income distribution in this country has broader policy implications, and there is also the growing problem of perverse incentives that result from executives receiving grossly disproportionate compensation based on decisions they themselves take. — Barney Frank

But when others suggested that the poor should not simply be the objects of these programs but also the subjects - that they should be actively involved in shaping the programs, making decisions about how to spend the money etc. - some of the previous supporters reconsidered. — Barney Frank

In this view, the role of the great majority of Americans is simply to buy the products produced, work happily for their wages, and leave all of the significant economic decisions to the capitalists. — Barney Frank

Barney Frank Famous Quotes And Sayings

The left and the right live in parallel universes. The right listens to talk radio, the left's on the Internet and they just reinforce one another. They have no sense of reality. I have now one ambition: to retire before it becomes essential to tweet. — Barney Frank

Regarding homophobia in general, the good news is that there is a lot less of it than there used to be. The bad news is that it ever existed in the first place, and the worse news is that it remains far stronger than is healthy for a society dedicated in theory to equality under the law. — Barney Frank

I'm used to being in the minority. I'm a left-handed, gay Jew. I've never felt, automatically, a member of any majority. — Barney Frank

I was still closeted, but from the day I decided to run for office, knowing that I was gay, I decided that I would, of course, still be closeted but that I would work very hard for gay rights. It would be totally dishonorable, being gay, not to do that. So I had that as kind of a secondary agenda. — Barney Frank

But it is also clear that left entirely untouched by public policy, the capitalist system will produce more inequality than is socially healthy or than is necessary for maximum efficiency. — Barney Frank

While I was pleasantly surprised by the relatively high number of jobs created in April, the fact is that job creation during this recovery period has significantly lagged both historical experience in recovery, and the projections of the Bush Administration. — Barney Frank

When I was here there was still a requirement that students had to swim 50 yards to graduate...because Harry Elkins Widener had drowned with the sinking of the Titanic. And it made me very grateful at the time that he had not gone down in a plane crash. — Barney Frank

Disruption never helps your cause. ... It just looks like you're afraid to have rational discussion. — Barney Frank

Well, many of us believe that excessive media concentration is a subject that ought to be addressed, and it is, of course, the intention of the majority party not to allow that to be discussed. — Barney Frank

I should have voted for the first Iraq war. George Bush did that one very well. I had been skeptical. I was afraid that George Bush was going to treat the first Iraq war the way his son treated the second. — Barney Frank

Today, many people take for granted the notion that people whose lives are going to be very heavily affected by public policies should have a say in how they are formulated and carried out. — Barney Frank

There are no moderate Republicans left, with the exception of a few who would vote with us when it doesn’t make any difference,” Frank said. “It’s the most rigid ideological party since before the Civil War. … The bumper sticker I’m going to have printed up for Democrats this year is, ‘We’re not perfect, but they’re nuts.’ — Barney Frank

A leader can`t move a country that`s not ready. You can`t make the waves, but when you see them coming, you can help direct them. — Barney Frank

I hope we will not so characterize religious people as being so narrow and so biased towards people not of their own religion that they cannot even work with them in this common cause to which you say they are committed. — Barney Frank

NATO was a wonderful idea. It was formed in 1949. We are as far away from NATO as NATO was when it was done in time from the presidency of Grover Cleveland. — Barney Frank

Now, most of the time I'm going to agree with the Democrats and disagree with the Republicans. — Barney Frank

Particularly marijuana, I think is a great hypocrisy. I think frankly it contributes to a good deal of the sense of unfairness you have among younger people who are told they shouldn't do this because it’s got all these negative effects, but then older people are engaging in all kinds of things that probably have a greater impact on people. — Barney Frank

And I think there is too much bloviating around from politicians. — Barney Frank

They have to convert our agenda into something aggressive. Two guys wanting to be happy together are invading their marriages. Helping a kid who's getting beaten up in school is promoting homosexuality. If you gave me a million dollars, I wouldn't know how to promote homosexuality. — Barney Frank

Moderate Republicans are reverse Houdinis. They tie themselves up in knots and then tell you they can’t do anything because they’re tied up in knots. — Barney Frank

In the West everybody recognizes the need for a private sector, pretty much, even the one Socialist group understands this now, and so there tends to be debate about how much public sector intervention you think is needed for a variety of reasons, and there are very important differences on party lines that should be fought out. — Barney Frank

The rights of the people who have done terrible things are hard to defend. You have to keep pointing out, the question is the process to determine whether they've done the terrible things. — Barney Frank

Martin Luther King said, and it is sadly still true, that one of the most segregated times in America is the hour of worship. — Barney Frank

I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court. — Barney Frank

I have this fear that one day there's going to be a fire in the Senate and there are only going to be 57 senators there and they’ll all die because they won't have 60 votes to allow themselves to leave the building. — Barney Frank

Nothing in the world is as mobile as capital. It can move anywhere in the world instantaneously. — Barney Frank

Whenever people are being intellectually dishonest in debate, it is an implicit concession they have lost the fight — Barney Frank

The most active people in the country know different things, and because each one tends to hear mostly and deal mostly with people with whom they agree, they are reinforced not simply in the conviction that they are right, which is totally appropriate, but that they are the majority. So you have both sides, the Left and the Right, thinking that the majority of the country is really with them. — Barney Frank

There is parallels these two great men John McCain and Ted Kennedy of great impact in the Senate, you don`t agree with everything they did but certainly they had major impacts as senators. Their one major political failure not to be elected president but that didn`t stop them from having enormous impact and at roughly the same age, exactly the same disease. It`s kind of a poignant sad parallel. — Barney Frank

It seems to me that politicians ought to use the same words as other people. — Barney Frank

There is a correlation between people who attack same-sex marriage and have difficulty maintaining their own. — Barney Frank

There was a degree of interventionism in American foreign policy, the notion that we must be the superpower and we have to intervene everywhere, that I think makes no sense. — Barney Frank

If you care deeply about a cause and you are then engaged on behalf of that cause in an activity that makes you feel very good and very brave and you're really in solidarity with all your friends, and you're enjoying it, you're probably not advancing the cause very much, because you're spending all your time with people you agree with cheering each other on and not engaging. — Barney Frank

In the debate between those who believe in essentially unregulated markets and others who hold that reasonable regulation diminishes market excesses without inhibiting their basic function, the subprime situation unfortunately provides ammunition for the latter view. — Barney Frank

Lawyers are very, very good at keeping you out of prison, but they will sacrifice your reputation and credibility to do so. — Barney Frank

Going before an audience of people who expect you to be funny is tough. Going before an audience that expect you to be boring, and then being a little funny, is much easier. I prefer easier. — Barney Frank

One of the striking things and Donald Trump is right, he gets no Democratic votes. It`s interesting there were Democrats from states some of them more conservative states that voted him, Indiana, Missouri, West Virginia, Montana, North Dakota. They`re not afraid of Donald Trump those Democratic Senators because they know more than he knows and know what the people want. — Barney Frank

The regulation of medicine has been a State function. — Barney Frank

Bush senior used to say that we have more will than wallet. So he urged the country to attack poverty with a thousand points of light, none of which could be eaten. — Barney Frank

I am not aware of any specific provision that mandates any tightening of lending to small business other than a requirement that people who lend and then sell that loan be prepared to take a part of the risk. And I'm proud of that. — Barney Frank

The people who started the American government, the founders of the Constitution, didn't like political parties but they were forced to start them. Nobody ever created political parties in England, they evolved. And there do tend to be two general tendencies that focus around how much government you think you need. — Barney Frank

I don't think Donald Trump is the right person because I very much disagree with him. — Barney Frank

If Bob Barr (conservative republican congressman from Georgia) caught on fire and I was holding a bucket of water, it would be great act of discipline to pour it on him. I would do it, but I'd hate myself in the morning. — Barney Frank

I think there were two criticisms you can make of Donald Trump`s involvement in the Health Care Bill. First of all, there were times when he wasn`t being helpful. Secondly, there were times when he was trying to be helpful. I`m not sure which one did more damage. — Barney Frank

For the trustees to turn away from the entirely reasonable request of the students that a hearing-impaired individual be made president of the college is a very unfortunate expression of insensitivity. — Barney Frank

The issue is not that morals be applied to public policy, it's that conservatives bring public policy to spheres of our lives where it should not enter. — Barney Frank

I can tell you about health care and also about the financial reform bill. The Barack Obama, the President personally and his administration officials at his direction were very much involved. — Barney Frank

The problem with the war in Iraq is not so much the intelligence as the stupidity. — Barney Frank

Ronald Reagan got a lot of democrats. I wish he hadn`t. I got to Congress with Reagan coming to the Whitehouse. The Reagan Program, a very radical one, a very drastic one passed because he had a lot of democrats. He worked at it personally and also because Reagan retained a popularity. — Barney Frank

There is an irony that the most active anti-gay groups are Al-Qaeda and the American Right wing. — Barney Frank

The fact that they're a congressionally chartered group should no more incline people to give to that group than the fact that it's National Pickle Month should make them eat more pickles. — Barney Frank

The public is ready now for a safety net for the middle class, something not just for the poor, but for everyone who will need help, from time to time, in order to own a home, educate their kids, keep themselves healthy or have something to retire on. — Barney Frank

There were a lot of Romneys. There's the Romney who was going to be better on gay rights than Ted Kennedy; now there's a Romney who checks with Rick Santorum on that issue. — Barney Frank

Life Lessons by Barney Frank

1. Barney Frank taught the importance of standing up for what you believe in, no matter the opposition. He was a champion for LGBT rights and civil rights and was unapologetic in his advocacy.
2. He also showed the power of resilience and hard work, as he was able to overcome adversity and remain in office for over 30 years.
3. Finally, Barney Frank was a great example of how to remain humble and kind, even in the face of criticism. He was known for his wit and humor, and was always willing to listen to different points of view.