Social reform is not to be secured by noise and shouting; by complaints and denunciation; by the formation of parties, or the making of revolutions; but by the awakening of thought and the progress of ideas. Until there be correct thought, there cannot be right action; and when there is correct thought, right action will follow.

Capital is a result of labor, and is used by labor to assist it in further production. Labor is the active and initial force, and labor is therefore the employer of capital.

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. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve.

It is but a truism that labor is most productive where its wages are largest. Poorly paid labor is inefficient labor, the world over.

If you would have the slave show the virtues of the freeman, you must first make him free.

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

That alone is wise which is just; that alone is enduring which is right.