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.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.

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

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

Envy is the basis of democracy.

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

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.

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

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.