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

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

Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

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.

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.

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

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

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

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

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

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.