Committee: A group which succeeds in getting something done only when it consists of three members, one of whom happens to be sick and another absent.

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.

No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.

In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free.

Public opinion, though often formed upon a wrong basis, yet generally has a strong underlying sense of justice.

The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.

You know I dislike slavery; and you fully admit the abstract wrong of it.