"This is an area where North Carolina does excel. I have known more colorful North Carolina political figures than I have colorless ones"
About this Quote
The line also works as a piece of self-portraiture. Helms, the master of polarizing clarity, benefited from an electorate trained to treat politics as character theater. In that sense, the quote is an inoculation against criticism: if the state is full of “colorful” figures, then controversy becomes not evidence of extremism but simply a regional style - a folksy dialect of power. It’s a rhetorical move that makes intensity seem inevitable and dissent seem humorless.
Context matters because North Carolina’s modern identity has often been pitched as “moderate” and business-friendly, even as its political machinery has reliably produced hard-edged battles over race, religion, and cultural hierarchy. Helms is winking at that contradiction. He’s praising the carnival while guarding the tent: if politics is personality, then policy becomes secondary, and the loudest character gets to write the plot.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Helms, Jesse. (2026, January 17). This is an area where North Carolina does excel. I have known more colorful North Carolina political figures than I have colorless ones. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-is-an-area-where-north-carolina-does-excel-i-60649/
Chicago Style
Helms, Jesse. "This is an area where North Carolina does excel. I have known more colorful North Carolina political figures than I have colorless ones." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-is-an-area-where-north-carolina-does-excel-i-60649/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"This is an area where North Carolina does excel. I have known more colorful North Carolina political figures than I have colorless ones." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-is-an-area-where-north-carolina-does-excel-i-60649/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.



