Whenever a single definite object is made the supreme end of the State, be it the advantage of a class, the safety of the power of the country, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, or the support of any speculative idea, the State becomes for the time inevitably absolute. Liberty alone demands for its realization the limitation of the public authority, for liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition.

Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.

There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.

Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.

The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.

The wisdom of divine rule appears not in the perfection but in the improvement of the world... History is the true demonstration of Religion.

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.