In the United States, as elsewhere, there are, and have always been, two parties in politics ... It is remarkable how nearly their positive statements of political doctrine agree, while they differ in almost every possible application of their common principles.

Authorship has never been with me a matter of choice. I have not done it for amusement, or for money, or for fame, or for any reason but because I could not help it.

Men who pass most comfortably through this world are those who possess good digestions and hard hearts.

If there is any country on earth where the course of true love may be expected to run smooth, it is America.

There have been few things in my life which have had a more genial effect on my mind than the possession of a piece of land.

As the astronomer rejoices in new knowledge which compels him to give up the dignity of our globe as the centre, the pride, and even the final cause of the universe, so do those who have escaped from the Christian mythology enjoy their release from the superstition which fails to make them happy, fails to make them good, fails to make them wise, and has become as great an obstacle in the way of progress as the prior mythologies which it took the place of two thousand years ago.

Who is apt, on occasion, to assign a multitude of reasons when one will do? This is a sure sign of weakness in argument.