Every opinion which embodies somewhat of the portion of truth which the common opinion omits, ought to be considered precious, with whatever amount of error and confusion that truth may be blended.

The disease which inflicts bureaucracy and what they usually die from is routine.

A man of clear ideas errs grievously if he imagines that whatever is seen confusedly does not exist; it belongs to him, when he meets with such a thing, to dispel the midst, and fix the outlines of the vague form which is looming through it.

That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.

What little recognition the idea of obligation to the public obtains in modern morality, is derived from Greek and Roman sources, not from Christian; as, even in the morality of private life, whatever exists of magnanimity, high-mindeness, personal dignity, even the sense of honour, is derived from the purely human, not the religious part of our education, and never could have grown out of a standard of ethics in which the only worth, professedly recognized, is that of obedience.

The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power.

To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality