Much dearer be the things which come through hard distress.

Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded.

Rightness expresses of actions, what straightness does of lines; and there can no more be two kinds of right action than there can be two kinds of straight lines.

No one can be perfectly happy till all are happy.

Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity…It is a part of nature.

Government is essentially immoral.

What, then, do they want a government for? Not to regulate commerce; not to educate the people; not to teach religion, not to administer charity; not to make roads and railways; but simply to defend the natural rights of man -- to protect person and property -- to prevent the aggressions of the powerful upon the weak -- in a word, to administer justice. This is the natural, the original, office of a government. It was not intended to do less: it ought not to be allowed to do more.