“The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.”

Absolute identity with one’s cause is the first and great condition of successful leadership.

That a peasant may become king does not render the kingdom democratic.

Only peace between equals can last.

To be free is not necessarily to be wise. Wisdom comes with counsel, with the frank and free conference of untrammeled men united in the common interest.

The sum of the whole matter is this – our civilization cannot survive materially unless it be redeemed spiritually.

The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.

The masters of the government of the United States are the combined capitalists and manufacturers of the United States.

We must believe the things We teach our children

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.

Never murder a man when he’s busy committing suicide.

I have the feeling that he would rather see a good cause fail than succeed if he were not the head of it.

One of the proofs of the divinity of our gospel is the preaching it has survived.

If you wish your children to be Christians you must really take the trouble to be Christian yourselves. Those are the only terms upon which the home will work the gracious miracle.

I had rather have everybody on my side than be armed to the teeth.

I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.

When correcting a child, the goal is to apply light, not heat.

Democracy doesn’t work unless people are well informed, and I don’t know that we are. People just don’t have the time. Most people’s daily lives are just about surviving. Most people don’t have time to really study crucial issues.

Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States.

In 1956, I shall not go to the polls. I have not registered. I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no ‘two evils’ exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say.

There can be no perfect democracy curtailed by color, race, or poverty. But with all we accomplish all, even peace.

The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience.

The Democrats promised equalizing outcomes through unlimited federal assistance while Republicans offered something that seemed less tangible – the promise of equalizing opportunity through free markets.

You know, when Republicans were in charge, we doubled the debt. But, now, our concern is the Democrats are in charge and they’re tripling the debt. So, really, our concern is that we want smaller government.

I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, there is something profoundly un-American about using the brute force of government to bully someone.