On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.

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

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

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

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

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

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.

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

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

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.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.