Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things.

He who talks more is sooner exhausted.

You can't let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you.

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

If you make peaceful revolution impossible you make violent revolution inevitable

Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot.

Getting people to like you is merely the other side of liking them.

If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.

A conservative is a man who sits and thinks, mostly sits.

Let them call me a rebel and welcome. I feel no concern from it. But should I suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

When everything has to be right, something isn't.

Action expresses priorities.

I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.