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

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

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.

To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.

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

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.

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

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

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

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

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.