The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

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 poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

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

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

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.

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.

Politics is the art of the possible.

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

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

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

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