Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

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

I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.

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.

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

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

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

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.

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.

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

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.