Piety sometimes gives birth to scruples, and faith to superstition, when they are not directed by wisdom and knowledge.

The few have not strength to achieve great changes unaided; the many have not wisdom to be moved by truth unmixed.

There are many things the government cant do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot teach the people. It cannot convert the people.

There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.

Far from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country.

The true natural check on absolute democracy is the federal system, which limits the central government by the powers reserved, and the state governments by the powers they have ceded.

Before men can find peace and harmony within themselves they must first fall in love with their country.