If it be admitted that a man, possessing absolute power, may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority not be liable to the same reproach? Men are not apt to change their character by agglomeration; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their strength. And for these reasons I can never willingly invest any number of my fellow creatures with that unlimited authority which I should refuse to any one of them.

The taste for well-being is the prominent and indelible feature of democratic times.

A man's admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.

The taste which men have for liberty and that which they feel for equality are, in fact, two different things...among democratic nations they are two unequal things.

The aspect of American society is animated, because men and things are always changing; but it is monotonous, because all the changes are alike.

Physical strength therefore is one of the first conditions of happiness and even of the existence of nations.

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