The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind.
An aristocracy in a republic is like a chicken whose head has been cut off; it may run about in a lively way, but in fact it is dead.
Actual aristocracy cannot be abolished by any law: all the law can do is decree how it is to be imparted and who is to acquire it.
The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it.
Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.
It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.
In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny.
Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women.
If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed
Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.
Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life.
Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
He who talks more is sooner exhausted.
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
Necessity is blind until it becomes conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity.
