It is possible to get an education at a university. It has been done; not often.

We need some great failures. Especially we ever-successful Americans - conscious, intelligent, illuminating failures.

My mother would thump me sharply on the head with a thimble or a spoon if I became too noisy with the whistle when I was playing I was a steamboat captain. She had no sense of the dignity of command.

The misgovernment of the American people is misgovernment by the American people.

My father, the practical joker, did not care for practical jokes on himself; he did not encourage the practice in me.

If we would vote in mass on the more promising ticket, or, if the two are equally bad, would throw out the party that is in, and wait till the next election and then throw out the other party that is in - then, I say, the commercial politician would feel a demand for good government and he would supply it.

My summary of all our experiences was that it showed that heaven and hell are one place, and we all go there. To those who are prepared, it is heaven; to those who are not fit and ready, it is hell.