The principle of equality does not destroy the imagination, but lowers its flight to the level of the earth.

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

He [Napoleon] was as great as a man can be without morality.

The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.

All revolutions more or less threaten the tenure of property: but most of those who live in democratic countries are possessed of property - not only are they possessed of property but they live in the condition of men who set the greatest store upon their property.

The more I view the independence of the press in its principal effects, the more I convince myself that among the moderns the independence of the press is the capital and so to speak the constitutive element of freedom.

There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to begin a war and to end it.