The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.
—Che Guevara, 1968Quotes
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.
—Frederick the Great, c. 1770Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.
—John Wilkes Booth, 1865Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
—E.B. White, 1944You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1944Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCI’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus, c. 117Written 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.
—Anacharsis, c. 550 BC