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

Envy is the basis of 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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

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.

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

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.