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

Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.

Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.

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.

Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.

Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority...

Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.