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

It must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life. For my part, I should be inclined to think freedom less necessary in the great things than in the little ones, if it were possible to be secure of the one without the other.

The most durable monument of human labor is that which recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.

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

In the absence of government each man learns to think, to act for himself, without counting on the support of an outside force which, however vigilant one supposes it to be, can never answer all social needs. Man, thus accustomed to seek his well-being only through his own efforts, raises himself in his own opinion as he does in the opinion of others; his soul becomes larger and stronger at the same time.

Rulers who destroy men's freedom commonly begin by trying to retain its forms. ... They cherish the illusion that they can combine the prerogatives of absolute power with the moral authority that comes from popular assent.