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

Politics is the art of the possible.

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

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

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.

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

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.

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

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

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