No government can be long secure without a formidable opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.

Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action.

If you want to be a leader of people, you must learn to watch events.

The eyes of the social herd, who always observe little things, and generally form from them their opinions of great affairs.

I feel a very unusual sensation - if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.

The art of conversation is to be prompt without being stubborn, to refute without argument, and to clothe great matters in a motley garb.

We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.