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.

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

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.

Every country has the government it deserves.

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

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.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

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

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

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