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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

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

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.