Nothing is quite so wretchedly corrupt as an aristocracy which has lost its power but kept its wealth and which still has endless leisure to devote to nothing but banal enjoyments. All its great thoughts and passionate energy are things of the past, and nothing but a host of petty, gnawing vices now cling to it like worms to a corpse.

Remember that life is neither pain nor pleasure; it is serious business, to be entered upon with courage and in a spirit of self-sacrifice.

Society is endangered not by the great profligacy of a few, but by the laxity of morals amongst all.

The happy and powerful do not go into exile, and there are no surer guarantees of equality among men than poverty and misfortune.

In the absence of government each man learns to think, to act for himself, without counting on the support of an outside force which, however vigilant one supposes it to be, can never answer all social needs. Man, thus accustomed to seek his well-being only through his own efforts, raises himself in his own opinion as he does in the opinion of others; his soul becomes larger and stronger at the same time.

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

There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.