People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

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

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

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.

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.