Swift defined observation to be an old man's memory.

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 divorce between Church and State ought to be absolute. It ought to be so absolute that no Church property anywhere, in any state or in the nation, should be exempt from equal taxation; for if you exempt the property of any church organization, to that extent you impose a tax upon the whole community.

The ideal college is Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other.

Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.

History is constantly repeating itself, making only such changes of programme as the growth of nations and centuries requires.

A noble life crowned with heroic death, rises above and outlives the pride and pomp and glory of the mightiest empire of the earth.