The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies.

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

The tie of language is perhaps the strongest and the most durable that can unite mankind.

Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people's reach.

It is almost never when a state of things is the most detestable that it is smashed, but when, beginning to improve, it permits men to breathe, to reflect, to communicate their thoughts with each other, and to gauge by what they already have the extent of their rights and their grievances. The weight, although less heavy, seems then all the more unbearable.

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

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.