There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

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

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.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

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.

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

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

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

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.