Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

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

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.

I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.

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

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

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

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

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.