Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

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.

Politics is the art of the possible.

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

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.

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

To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!

People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

Every country has the government it deserves.