The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

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

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

Every country has the government it deserves.

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

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

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

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

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

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.

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

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

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