I know some who are constantly drunk on books as other men are drunk on whiskey.
The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup.
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...
If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.
In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.
A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
On one issue, at least, men and women agree: they both distrust women.
The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.
A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.
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