Three-fourths of the mistakes a man makes are made because he does not really know the things he thinks he knows.

Life is too short to read inferior books.

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

The national park is the best idea America ever had.

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.

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.

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