f the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth - certainly the machine will wear out... but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.

The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.

Commerce is unexpectedly confident and serene, alert, adventurous, and unwearied. It is very natural in its methods withal, far more so than many fantastic enterprises and sentimental experiments, and hence its singular success.

Of what use were it, pray, to get a little wood to burn, to warm your body this cold weather, if there were not a divine fire kindled at the same time to warm your spirit?

But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon plowed into the soil for compost.

We cannot put a noose around another man's neck without first hanging ourselves.

Thus men will lie on their backs, talking about the fall of man, and never make an effort to get up.