Evolution is a blind giant who rolls a snowball down a hill. The ball is made of flakes-circumstances. They contribute to the mass without knowing it. They adhere without intention, and without foreseeing what is to result. When they see the result they marvel at the monster ball and wonder how the contriving of it came to be originally thought out and planned. Whereas there was no such planning, there was only a law: the ball once started, all the circumstances that happened to lie in its path would help to build it, in spite of themselves.

I could be an idiot, or I can serve in Congress, but I repeat myself.

The public is the only critic whose judgment is worth anything at all.

That cat will write her autograph all over your leg if you let her.

The government is merely a servant―merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

It must be well-nigh a maximum of sense to behave so that one escapes being hanged.

To stand still is to fall behind.