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

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.

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.

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.

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

Envy is the basis of democracy.

Every country has the government it deserves.

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

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.

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

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.