The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.