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 poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

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

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

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

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

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

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.

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.

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

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.