On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.

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

It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.

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.

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

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

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.

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

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.

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

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

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