Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

Every country has the government it deserves.

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

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

If 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.

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.

There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

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