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

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

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.

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.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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.

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.

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

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

There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

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

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.

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.