English character and English freedom depend comparatively little on the form which the Constitution assumes at Westminster. A centralised democracy may be as tyrannical as an absolute monarch; and if the vigour of the nation is to continue unimpaired, each individual, each family, each district, must preserve as far as possible its independence, its self-completeness, its powers and its privilege to manage its own affairs and think its own thoughts.

Justice without wisdom is impossible.

Philosophy goes no further than probabilities, and in every assertion keeps a doubt in reserve.

Men think to mend their condition by a change of circumstances. They might as well hope to escape from their shadows.

The Providence that watches over the affairs of men works out of their mistakes, at times, a healthier issue than could have been accomplished by their wisest forethought.

Crime is not punished as an offense against God, but as prejudicial to society.

We enter the world alone, we leave it alone.