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

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

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.

On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.

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

Envy is the basis of democracy.

It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

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

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

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

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.