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.

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

The tendency everywhere in America to concentrate power and responsibility in one man is unmistakable.

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

The People, though we think of a great entity when we use the word, means nothing more than so many millions of individual men.

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.

The ordinary American voter does not object to mediocrity. He likes his candidate to be sensible, vigorous, and, above all, what he calls 'magnetic,' and does not value, because he sees no need for, originality or profundity, a fine culture or a wide knowledge.