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

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

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

The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!

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.

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.

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

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

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.