Never was a government that was not composed of liars, malefactors and thieves.

I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare—I have no use for him, either.

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.

Are you one of the flock that follows, or Are you one that shall lead the way?

All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.

It's a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have now seen.

He who does not trust enough, will not be trusted.

Here must all distrust be left behind; all cowardice must be ended.

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.

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.

However much you deny the truth, the truth goes on existing.

I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud.

Freedom of information is a fundamental human right...for a nation that is afraid to let its people to judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I've learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one's reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one's master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person's view requires to be faked.

The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.

I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

But all my life through, the very insistence on truth has taught me to appreciate the beauty of compromise.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.