The quote database

princes ought to leave affairs of reproach to the management of others, and keep those of grace in their own hands

Therefore it must be inferred that good counsels, whencesoever they come, are born of the wisdom of the prince, and not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels.

the nature of the people is variable, and whilst it is easy to persuade them, it is difficult to fix them in that persuasion

It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.

Great men never wait for opportunities; they make them.

who did not delay for any formal vote to empower him to do so, but followed him because he was born to command

Numa's virtue made him so celebrated that he was judged worthy to be king, Lykurgus' made him so great that he did not care to be king.

He who is wise tries to harmonise the wishes that seek for self-gratification with the wish for the social good, and only thus can he realise his higher self.

We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but we can try to make no one our enemy.

The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.

Let us measure what we will do for others by what they will do for themselves.

With all its defects, delays and inconveniences, men have discovered no technique for long preserving free government except that the Executive be under the law, and that the law be made by parliamentary deliberations.

Presidential powers are not fixed but fluctuate, depending upon their disjunction or conjunction with those of Congress.

Difficult and embarrassing questions meet us at the threshold of this subject.

he should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves the country best

They meant that public officers should owe their whole service to the Government and to the people.

It is during our most challenging and uncertain moments that our Nation's commitment to due process is most severely tested; and it is in those times that we must preserve our commitment at home to the principles for which we fight abroad.

our responsibility is heavy, to ourselves, to the world as it is to-day, and to the generations yet unborn

Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us.

Alas, we have known Times call loudly enough for their great man; but not find him when they called!

Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here.

Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him?

When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground.

I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make

It is men who wait to be selected, and not those who seek, from whom we may always expect the most efficient service.