“Politics is the art of the possible” is an intensely annoying quotation. A lot of my irritation comes from the self-satisfied projection of wisdom with which it is invariably delivered. Plus there’s the exquisitely displeasing level of assonance within the phrase. Not none but not enough. It feels like it should either be “politics is the art of the polible” or “possitics is the art of the possible”. Or even “possibilitics”, though that would be a great name for a PR agency, particularly if it was exclusively staffed by people with twitches. A different way of expressing the sentiment would be preferable.
Let’s get on to the sentiment itself. What does it mean? There’s a range of polibilities. “Don’t bother trying to do what you think would be good because it’ll never work out”? “Don’t waste your energy on pipe dreams, focus on achievable goals”? “Embrace compromise”? “Give up”? It’s somewhere in the middle of all that, like politics always is, so it’s almost as if it’s an idea not worth expressing and the various sages would have been no less illuminating if they’d just said: “I’m standing on the ground because of the effect of gravity.”
