“Government ought to be all outside and no inside. Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety.”

It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilizationitself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things we have always carried closest to our hearts.

A man may be defeated by his own secondary successes.

What is the use of voting? We know that the machines of both parties are subsidized by the same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction.

I do not want a government that will take care of me, I want a government that will make other men take their hands off me so I can take care of myself.

I would never read a book if it were possible for me to talk half an hour with the man who wrote it.

Progressiveness means not standing still when everything else is moving.

The seed of revolution is repression.

There is something better, if possible, that a man can give than his life. That is his living spirit to a service that is not easy, to resist counsels that are hard to resist, to stand against purposes that are difficult to stand against.

The history of liberty is a history of resistance.

The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self-preservation—until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the Southern country.

I would rather lose in a cause that will some day win, than win in a cause that will some day lose.

Every people has a right to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live.

We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world.

I have long enjoyed the friendship and companionship of Republicans because I am by instinct a teacher, and I would like to teach them something.

I would not speak with disrespect of the Republican Party. I always speak with great respect of the past.

We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.

When you blame and criticize others, you are avoiding some truth about yourself.

Our triumph over sorrow is not that we can avoid it but that we can endure it. And therein lies our hope; that in spirit we might become bigger than the problems we face.

I’ve never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question.

What the hell-you might be right, you might be wrong but don’t just avoid.

Avoid being seized by the police. The cops are not your friends. Don’t tell them anything.

When you run for president you have certain obligations. One of them would be to avoid even the appearance of conflicts of interest.

The best fights are the ones we avoid.

If you strive only to avoid the darkness or to cling to the light, you cannot live in balance. Try striving to be conscious of all that you are.