In the long-run, the best proof of a good character is good actions.

The study of science teaches young men to think, while study of the classics teaches them to express thought.

The only power deserving the name is that of masses, and of governments while they make themselves the organ of the tendencies and instincts of masses.

There is an imaginary circle drawn around every human being, over which no government should be able to step.

In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.

The natural tendency of representative government, as of modern civilisation, is towards collective mediocrity: and this tendency is increased by all reductions and extensions of the franchise, their effect being to place the principal power in the hands of classes more and more below the highest level of instruction in the community.

Marriage is the only actual bondage known to our law. There remain no legal slaves, except the mistress of every house.