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.

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.

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

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

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

If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

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.

Every country has the government it deserves.

Politics is the art of the possible.

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

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

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

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.