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

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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