When a politician is in opposition he is an expert on the means to some end; and when he is in office he is an expert on the obstacles to it.

The coziness between church and state is good for the state and bad for the church

A society is in decay, final or transitional, when common sense really becomes uncommon.

We all feel the riddle of the earth without anyone to point it out. The mystery of life is the plainest part of it. The clouds and curtains of darkness, the confounding vapors, these are the daily weather of this world.

There are a great many good people, and a great many sane people here this afternoon. Unfortunately, by a kind of coincidence, all the good people are mad, and all the sane people are wicked.

As regards moral courage, then, it is not so much that the public schools support it feebly, as that they suppress it firmly.

I have argued with him on almost every subject in the world, and we have always been on opposite sides, without affectation or animosity... It is necessary to disagree with him as much as I do, in order to admire him as I do; and I am proud of him as a foe even more than as a friend.