Few men in our history have ever obtained the Presidency by planning to obtain it.

Individuals may wear for a time the glory of our institutions, but they carry it not to the grave with them. Like raindrops from heaven, they may pass through the circle of the shining bow and add to its luster; but when they have sunk in the earth again, the proud arch still spans the sky and shines gloriously on.

The best system of education is that which draws its chief support from the voluntary effort of the community, from the individual efforts of citizens, and from those burdens of taxation which they voluntarily impose upon themselves.

The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until it is regulated by law.

Whoever controls the volume of money in our country is absolute master of all industry and commerce...when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate.

True art is but the anti-type of nature; the embodiment of discovered beauty in utility.

I love agitation and investigation and glory in defending unpopular truth against popular error.