He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

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

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

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

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.

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.

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

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.

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

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