Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

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

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

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.

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

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

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

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.