The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.
—G.K. Chesterton, 1908Quotes
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1787I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCThere is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1944Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.
—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.
—Robert Byrd, 2005The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.
—Anthony Burgess, 1972