The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

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

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

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.

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

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

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.