There are countries in which it would be as absurd to establish popular governments as to abolish all the restraints in a school or to unite all the strait-waistcoats in a madhouse.

Our judgment ripens; our imagination decays. We cannot at once enjoy the flowers of the Spring of life and the fruits of its Autumn.

As civilization advances, poetry almost necessarily declines.

Every sect clamors for toleration when it is down.

With respect to the doctrine of a future life, a North American Indian knows just as much as any ancient or modern philosopher.

War is never lenient but where it is wanton; where men are compelled to fight in self-defence, they must hate and avenge. This may be bad, but it is human nature; it is the clay as it came from the hands of the Potter.

The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence.