The art of governing consists simply of being honest, exercising common sense, following principle, and doing what is right and just.

Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure

There is no sea more dangerous than the ocean of practical politics - none in which there is more need of good pilots and of a single, unfaltering purpose when the waves rise high.

God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It .

High politic is only common sense applied to great things.

The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men