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

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.

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

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

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

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

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.

If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

Politics is the art of the possible.

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.

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

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

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