There are men, in all ages, who mean to exercise power usefully; but who mean to exercise it. They mean to govern well; but they mean to govern. They promise to be kind masters; but they mean to be masters.

Notes from Wikiquote

The Works of Daniel Webster, Boston, Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851, vol. 1, p. 358 .

Discourse in Commemoration of Adams and Jefferson (1826)

Argument on the murder of Captain Joseph White (1830)

On the Agriculture of England (1840)

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Daniel Webster (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.