There are two classes of men called poets. The one cultivates life, the other art,... one satisfies hunger, the other gratifies the palate.

Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.

I have always endeavored to acquire strict business habits; they are indispensable to every man. If your trade is with the Celestial Empire, then some small counting house on the coast, in some Salem harbor, will be fixture enough.

We can conceive of nothing more fair than something which we have experienced.

It is strange to talk of miracles, revelations, inspiration, and the like, as things past, while love remains.

Fire is the most tolerable third party

If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth