As I see it, only God can be all-powerful without danger, because his wisdom and justice are always equal to his power. Thus there is no authority on earth so inherently worthy of respect, or invested with a right so sacred, that I would want to let it act without oversight or rule without impediment (p. 290).

When a large number of organs of the press come to advance along the same track, their influence becomes almost irresistible in the long term, and public opinion, struck always from the same side, ends by yielding under their blows.

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

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

In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.

Slavery...dishonors labor. It introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the powers of the mind and benumbs the activity of man.

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