Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Politics is the art of the possible.

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.

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

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

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

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

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

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

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

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.