It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

Politics is the art of the possible.

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.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

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

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.

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

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

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

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

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

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