Archive

Quotes

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

—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865

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

—Laozi, c. 500 BC

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

—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

—John Nance Garner, c. 1967

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.

—H.L. Mencken, 1921

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

—Shimon Peres, 1995

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

—Judge Learned Hand, 1944

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

—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792

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

—Henrik Ibsen, 1882

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

—Michel de Montaigne, 1580

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

—Laozi

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

—Mario Cuomo, 1985

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

—H. Rap Brown, 1967