No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

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

Every country has the government it deserves.

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

I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.

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.

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

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.

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.