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

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

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

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.

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

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.

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

Envy is the basis of democracy.

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