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

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

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

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

If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

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

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

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

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

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.

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