Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details, which must be attended to if rules have to be adapted to different men, instead of indiscriminately subjecting all men to the same rule.

So many of my thoughts and feelings are shared by the English that England has turned into a second native land of the mind for me.

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.

All around you everything is on the move.

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.

If an American was condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence.

There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.