One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government...is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows.

No stigma attaches to the love of money in America, and provided it does not exceed the bounds imposed by public order, it is held in honor. The American will describe as noble and estimable ambition that our medieval ancestors would have called base cupidity.

A newspaper is an adviser who does not require to be sought, but who comes of his own accord, and talks to you briefly every day of the common wealth, without distracting you from your private affairs.

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

Local assemblies of the people constitute the strength of free nations. Municipal institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science: they bring it within the people's reach, and teach them how to use and enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty.

The last thing a political party gives up is its vocabulary.

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