You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

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

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

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

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

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

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.

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

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

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