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.

Chance does nothing that has not been prepared beforehand.

[R]eligion cannot share the material strength of the rulers without being burdened with some of the animosity roused against them.

I have no hesitation in saying that although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within it, nowhere does she enjoy a higher station. And if anyone asks me what I think the chief cause of the extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due to the superiority of their women.

Men seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a man like themselves, upon trust.

Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.

I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.