Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure... they govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it.

It is vain to talk of the interest of the community, without understanding what is the interest of the individual

The spirit of dogmatic theology poisons anything it touches.

Kind words cost no more than unkind ones . . . and we may scatter the seeds of courtesy and kindliness around us at so little expense. If you would fall into any extreme let it be on the side of gentleness. The human mind is so constructed that it resists vigor and yields to softness.

A civilized society must count animals as worthy of moral consideration and ethical treatment. The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?

Is it possible for a man to move the earth? Yes; but he must first find out another earth to stand upon.

All government is a trust. Every branch of government is a trust, and immemorially acknowledged to be so.