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.

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 say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

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

Politics is the art of the possible.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

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.

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.