In early life he may have been a sincere republican; but he hated anarchy and disorder, and, before his campaign in Italy was over, he had begun to plan to make himself ruler of France. He worked systematically to transform the people's earlier ardor for liberty into a passion for military glory and plunder.

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

A constitution should be short and obscure.

Give them a whiff of grapeshot.

Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.

There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.

The melancholy thing in our public life is the insane desire to get higher.