Archive

Quotes

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.

—Frederick the Great, c. 1770

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.

—Frederick Douglass, 1855

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

—Judge Learned Hand, 1944

Envy is the basis of democracy.

—Bertrand Russell, 1930

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

—Catherine the Great, c. 1796

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

—George H. W. Bush, 1990

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

—Al Smith, 1933

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

—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 BC

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

—George Bernard Shaw, 1944

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

—Laozi, c. 500 BC

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

—John Nance Garner, c. 1967

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

—Charles de Gaulle, 1963

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850