Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself - that is my doctrine.

The upward course of a nation's history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you'll do things differently.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

A handful of soldiers is always better than a mouthful of arguments.

As government expands, liberty contracts.

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.

Let my enemies devour each other.

So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.

Democracy arose from men's thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely.

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

Capitalists are no more capable of self-sacrifice than a man is capable of lifting himself up by his own bootstraps.

Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.

You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.

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.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

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

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.