The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.

I saw in States' rights the only availing check upon the absolutism of the sovereign will, and secession filled me with hope, not as the destruction but as the redemption of Democracy.... Therefore I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization, and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo.

A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.

Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty.

I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo.

Every class is unfit to govern.

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.