Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

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

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

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.

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.

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

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

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

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

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

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

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

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.