Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

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

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

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.

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

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

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

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

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

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

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.

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