Politicians are the same all over; they promise to build a bridge even where there is no water.
—Nikita Kruschchev
A promise made is a debt unpaid.
—Robert W. Service
She had made a promise to herself that she intended on keeping. She was never going to go out with another writer: no matter how charming, sensitive, inventive, or fun they could be. They weren't worth it in the long run. They were emotionally too expensive, and the upkeep was complicated. They were like having a vacuum cleaner around the house that broke all the time and only Einstein could fix it. She wanted her next lover to be a broom.
—Richard Brautigan
The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
—Napoleon Bonaparte
No wonder Americans hate politics when, year in and year out, they hear politicians make promises that won't come true because they don't even mean them—campaign fantasies that win elections but don't get nations moving again.
—Bill Clinton
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises; for never intending to go beyond promises; it costs nothing.
—Edmund Burke
Promises that you make to yourself are often like the Japanese plum tree—they bear no fruit.
—Francis Marion
He that promises most will perform least.
—Gaelic Proverb
He who promises more than he is able to perform, is false to himself; and he who does not perform what he has promised, is a traitor to his friend.
—George Shelley
You can make those promises with just as much passion the second time around. Such is the regenerative power of the human heart.
—Marion Wink
When life seems chaotic, you don't need people giving you easy answers or cheap promises. There might not be any answers to your problems. What you need is a safe place where you can bounce with people who have taken some bad hops of their own.
—Gordon Atkinson
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
—Robert Frost
Magnificent promises are always to be suspected.
—Theodore Parker
Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken.
—Jonathan Swift