I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

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

People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

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

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

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.