Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver; and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings.

But a good patriot, and a true politician, always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country. A disposition, to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Everything else is vulgar in the conception, perilous in the execution.

Religious persecution may shield itself under the guise of a mistaken and over-zealous piety.

Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.

Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.

There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief.

We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.