I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

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

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

To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

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

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

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

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.