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

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

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.

To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

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.

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

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

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

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

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

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.