There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

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

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

Politics is the art of the possible.

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

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.

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.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

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.

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

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