Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.

I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.

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

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

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

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

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

To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.

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

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

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.