The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

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

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

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.