The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

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

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

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

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

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.

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.

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

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

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.

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

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.