The exact measure of the progress of civilization is the degree in which the intelligence of the common mind has prevailed over wealth and brute force.

Truth is not exciting enough to those who depend on the characters and lives of their neighbors for all their amusement.

Beauty is but the sensible image of the infinite. Like truth and justice, it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law, it is a companion of the soul.

Sedition is bred in the lap of luxury and its chosen emissaries are the beggared spendthrift and the impoverished libertine.

The exact measure of the progress of civilization is the degree in which the intelligence of the common mind has prevailed over wealth and brute force.

If hours did not hang heavy, what would become of scandal?

The best government rests on the people, and not on the few, on persons and not on property, on the free development of public opinion and not on authority.