In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.

Nothing is so dangerous as that of violence employed by well-meaning people for beneficial objects.

If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of the United States - that is to say, they will owe their origin not to the equality but to the inequality of conditions.

The legislator is like the navigator of a ship on the high seas. He can steer the vessel on which he sails, but he cannot alter its construction, raise the wind, or stop the waves from swelling beneath his feet.

One of the most ordinary weaknesses of the human intellect is to seek to reconcile contrary principles, and to purchase peace at the expense of logic.

One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government...is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows.

Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people's reach.