Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

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.

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

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.

Every country has the government it deserves.

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

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

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

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

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.