Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

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.

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

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

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

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

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

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

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

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

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