The big corporation is not in the least remarkable for efficiency; it is only too big to be blamed for its inefficiency.

Nine times out of ten it is the coarse word that condemns an evil, and the refined word that excuses it.

If there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only one single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep.

When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it. The two things that nearly all of us have thoroughly and really been through are childhood and youth. And though we would not have them back again on any account, we feel that they are both beautiful, because we have drunk them dry.

Whatever else may be said of man, this one thing is clear: He is not what he is capable of being.

There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.

When giving treats to friends or children, give them what they like, emphatically not what is good for them.