The evil which one suffers patiently as inevitable seems insupportable as soon as he conceives the idea of escaping from it.

There is hardly a pioneer's hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin.

Religion in America . . . Must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions for that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it . . . I do know know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion - for who can search the human heart? - But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.

We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.

In America, more than anywhere else in the world, care has been taken constantly to trace clearly distinct spheres of action for the two sexes, and both are required to keep in step, but along paths that are never the same.

Of all nations, those submit to civilization with the most difficulty which habitually live by the chase.

When the people rule, they must be rendered happy, or they will overturn the state.