Men living in democratic times have many passions, but most of their passions either end in the love of riches, or proceed from it.

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.

everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure

Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.

Men cannot abandon their religious faith without a kind of aberration of intellect and a sort of violent distortion of their true nature; they are invincibly brought back to more pious sentiments. Unbelief is an accident, and faith is the only permanent state of mankind.

No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.

We can state with conviction, therefore, that a man's support for absolute government is in direct proportion to the contempt he feels for his country.