He never labored so hard to learn a language as he did to hold his tongue, and it affected him for life. The habit of reticence — of talking without meaning — is never effaced.

No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

All taxation is an evil, but heavy taxes, indiscriminately levied on every everything are one of the greatest curses that can afflict a people

Chaos breeds life; Order creates habit.

American society is a sort of flat, fresh-water pond which absorbs silently, without reaction, anything which is thrown into it.

Women have, commonly, a very positive moral sense; that which they will, is right; that which they reject, is wrong; and their will, in most cases, ends by settling the moral.

The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant was alone evidence to upset Darwin.