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.

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

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

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

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

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

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

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

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

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