Archive

Quotes

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

—John Nance Garner, c. 1967

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

—Alexander Hamilton, 1787

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

—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832

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

—Charles de Gaulle, 1963

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

—G.K. Chesterton, 1908

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

—John Wilkes Booth, 1865

An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.

—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

—H. Rap Brown, 1967

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.

—Anacharsis, c. 550 BC

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

—Anthony Trollope, 1862

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

—Shimon Peres, 1995

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

—Aristophanes, c. 424 BC

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.

—Judge Learned Hand, 1944