When a man's conscience and the laws clash, it is his conscience that he must follow.

I never yet knew the sun to be knocked down and rolled through a mud-puddle; he comes out honor-bright from behind every storm. Let us then take sides with the sun, seeing we have so much leisure.

The pleasures of the intellect are permanent, the pleasures of the heart are transitory.

You have but little more to do than throw up your cap for entertainment these American days.... Farmers' sons will stare by the hour to see a juggler draw ribbons from his throat, though he tells them it is all deception. Surely, men love darkness rather than light.

The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles.

The most attractive sentences are, perhaps, not the wisest, but the surest and roundest. They are spoken firmly and conclusively,as if the speaker had a right to know what he says, and if not wise, they have at least been well learned.

Wherever you have planted a seed, I am prepared to expect wonders.