It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

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

People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

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

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

Politics is the art of the possible.

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

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.

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

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.