“The statesman shears the sheep, the politician skins them”

“The statesman shears the sheep, the politician skins them” is from Austin O’Malley’s book, Keystones of Thought (1914). O’Malley’s thought has been included in many collections of political quotations.
 
The saying is even more appropriate as a reflection of the modern slang word “sheeple” (sheep + people), but the saying has been only infrequently used.
 
   
Google Books
Keystones of Thought
By Austin O’Malley
New York, NY: The Devin-Adair Company
1914
Pg. 18:
The statesman shears the sheep, the politician skins them.
 
Google Books
Speaker’s Handbook of Epigrams and Witticisms
Edited by Herbert V. Prochnow
Blackpool: A. Thomas & Co.
1955
Pg. 286:
The statesman shears the sheep, the politician skins them. Austin O’Malley
 
Google Books
The Modern Handbook of Humor
By Ralph Louis Woods
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
1967
Pg. 90:
The statesman shears the sheep, the politician skins them. — Austin O’Malley
 
Google Books
20,000 Quips & Quotes
By Evan Esar
New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Books
1995, ©1968
Pg. 615:
If he shears the sheep, he’s a statesman; if he skins them, a politician.
 
Google Books
Wise Words and Quotes
By Vernon K. McLellan
Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House
2000
Pg. 195:
The statesman shears the sheep; the politician skins them.
AUSTIN O’MALLEY
 
Google Books
Quotable Quotes, Adages & Sayings
Edited by D. V. Rangarajan
Chennai: T. Krishna Press
2001
Pg. 108:
The statesman shears the sheep, the politician skins them.—Austin O’Malley.