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

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

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

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

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

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

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

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

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.