The most absolute authority is that which penetrates into a man's innermost being and concerns itself no less with his will than with his actions.

Although modesty is natural to man, it is not natural to children. Modesty only begins with the knowledge of evil.

Not all the subtilties of metaphysics can make me doubt a moment of the immortality of the soul, and of a beneficent Providence. I feel it, I believe it, I desire it, I hope it, and will defend it to my last breath.

It is unnatural for a majority to rule, for a majority can seldom be organized and united for specific action, and a minority can.

The science of government is only a science of combinations, of applications, and of exceptions, according to times, places and circumstances.

Generally we obtain very surely and very speedily what we are not too anxious to obtain.

The members of a body-politic call it "the state" when it is passive, "the sovereign" when it is active, and a "power" when they compare it with others of its kind. Collectively they use the title "people," and they refer to one another individually as "citizens" when speaking of their participation in the authority of the sovereign, and as "subjects" when speaking of their subordination to the laws of the state.