There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.
Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.
Don't fight forces, use them.
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.
Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of government is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is the history of the limitation of government, not the increase of it.
Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.
Every unpunished murder takes away something from the security of every man's life.
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.
I never expect men to give us liberty. No, women, we are not worth it until we take it.
In a war of ideas, it is people who get killed.
Let my enemies devour each other.
Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows us that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.
Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.
Hence 'the overthrow of government' as a coercive power, thereby denying God in another form.
Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who'll get the blame.
It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.
