I have no expectation that any man will read history aright who thinks that what was done in a remote age, by men whose names have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing today.

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey the laws too well. What satire on government can equal the severity of censure conveyed in the word politics ....?

When at last in a race a new principle appears, an idea--that conserves it; ideas only save races.

As soon as a child has left the room his strewn toys become affecting.

Every burned book enlightens the world.

He cumbers himself never about consequences, about interests; he gives an independent, genuine verdict. You must court him: he does not court you. But the man is, as it were, clapped into jail by his consciousness.

Wise men are not wise at all hours, and will speak five times from their taste or their humor, to once from their reason.