Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

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.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

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

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

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

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

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.

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

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

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

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.

Every country has the government it deserves.