Every country has the government it deserves.

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

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

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

An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.

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

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

Politics is the art of the possible.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

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.

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.