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

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

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

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

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

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

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

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

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

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

Every country has the government it deserves.

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

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.