It is accepted as an axiom by all Americans that the civil power ought to be not only neutral and impartial as between different forms of faith, but ought to leave these matters entirely on one side, regarding them no more than it regards the artistic or literary pursuits of the citizens.

When you find that a book is poor ... waste no more time upon it.

California, more than any other part of the Union, is a country by itself, and San Francisco a capital.

In Europe we have cities wealthier and more populous than yours and we are not happy. You dream of your posterity; but your posterity will look back to yours as the golden age, and envy those who first burst into this silent, splendid Nature.

There is a hearty Puritanism in the view of human nature which pervades the instrument of 1787. It is the work of men who believed in original sin, and were resolved to leave open for transgressors no door which they could possibly shut.

Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity.

To most people, nothing is more troublesome than the effort of thinking.