The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.

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

Every country has the government it deserves.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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.

It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.

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

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

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

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

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

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