It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly.

Compare society to a boat. Her progress through the water will not depend upon the exertion of her crew, but upon the exertion devoted to propelling her. This will be lessened by any expenditure of force in fighting among themselves, or in pulling in different directions.

Man must be doing something, or fancy that he is doing something, for in him throbs the creative impulse; the mere basker in the sunshine is not a natural, but an abnormal man.

We have made, and still are making, enormous advances on material lines. It is necessary that we commensurately advance on moral lines. Civilization, as it progresses, requires a higher conscience, a keener sense of justice, a warmer brotherhood, a wider, loftier, truer public spirit.

It is not from top to bottom that societies die; it is from bottom to top.

Trade has ever been the extinguisher of war, the eradicator of prejudice, the diffuser of knowledge.

Property in land is as indefensible as property in man.