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.

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

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

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

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

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

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

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

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

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.

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

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

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