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.

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

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

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

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

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.

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.

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

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

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

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.