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

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

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.

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

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

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

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

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

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

My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.

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

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.