The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.
Democracy is a device that insures that we shall be governed no better than we deserve. Whose fault is it? ... It is the fault of you the people. Your public servants serve you right; indeed, often they serve you better than your apathy and indifference deserve.
I have often thought that if I had any epitaph that I would rather have more than another, it would be to say that I had disturbed the sleep of my generation.
[in a UN Security Council meeting, when confronting the Russian
ambassador about whether or not the Russians had placed nuclear
missiles in Cuba] Sir, I am prepared to wait for your answer until
hell freezes over, if that's your decision.
[on Richard Nixon] He's the kind of politician who could cut down a tree and then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.
That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another.
I offer my opponents a bargain. If they stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.