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

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

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

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

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.

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

Politics is the art of the possible.

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!

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

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

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.

Envy is the basis of democracy.