I certainly had no idea how little faith Christians have in their own faith till I saw how ill their courage and temper can stand any attack on it.

The highest condition of the religious sentiment is when. . . the worshiper not only sees God everywhere, but sees nothing which is not full of God.

As new discoveries are causing all-penetrating physical lights so to abound as that, as has been said, we shall soon not know where in the world to get any darkness, so our new facilities for every sort of communication work to reduce privacy much within its former limits.

If the national mind of America be judged of by its legislation, it is of a very high order ... If the American nation be judged of by its literature, it may be pronounced to have no mind at all.

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.

. . . is it to be understood that the principles of the Declaration of Independence bear no relation to half of the human race?

it matters infinitely less what we do than what we are.