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

The chief practical use of history is to deliver us from plausible historical analogies.

Life is too short for reading inferior books.

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.

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.

Of all the differences between the Old World and the New, this is perhaps the most salient. Half the wars of Europe, half the internal troubles that have vexed European States... have arisen from theological differences or from the rival claims of Church and State. This whole vast chapter of debate and strife has remained virtually unopened in the United States. There is no Established Church. All religious bodies are equal before the law, and unrecognized by the law, except as voluntary associations of private citizens.

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