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.

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

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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