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

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

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

There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

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.

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

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

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

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

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

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.