The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.

For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate. But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power....When the revolutionary theory of government began to prevail, and Church and State found that they were educating for opposite ends and in a contradictory spirit, it became necessary to remove children entirely from the influence of religion.

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

Writers the most learned, the most accurate in details, and the soundest in tendency, frequently fall into a habit which can neither be cured nor pardoned,-the habit of making history into the proof of their theories.

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

Guard against the prestige of great names; see that your judgments are your own; and do not shrink from disagreement; no trusting without testing

History is not only a particular branch of knowledge, but a particular mode and method of knowledge in other branches.