I am a politician because I cannot help myself; it is the trade I am fittest for, and ambition is my resource to make it tolerable.

In politics we cannot keep our hands clean.

I have done many things in my political career that are not defensible.

To act with entire honesty and self-respect, one should always live in a pure atmosphere, and the atmosphere of politics is impure.

Domestic life is the salvation of many public men, but I have for many years been deprived of it.