If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

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

Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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