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

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

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

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

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

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

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.