The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

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.

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

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

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.

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

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

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