Contact with the affairs of state is one of the most corrupting of the influences to which men are exposed.

The press, like fire, is an excellent servant, but a terrible master.

Systems are to be appreciated by their general effects, and not by particular exceptions.

The very existence of government at all, infers inequality. The citizen who is preferred to office becomes the superior of those who are not, so long he is the repository of power.

All greatness of character is dependent on individuality.

The listeners got some such insights into their past lives, as one gets into the darker parts of the woods, when a stray gleam of sunshine finds its way down to the roots of the trees.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.