No particular man is necessary to the state. We may depend on it that, if we provide the country with popular institutions, those institutions will provide it with great men.

The maxim, that governments ought to train the people in the way in which they should go, sounds well. But is there any reason for believing that a government is more likely to lead the people in the right way than the people to fall into the right way of themselves?

The opinion of the great body of the reading public is very materially influenced even by the unsupported assertions of those who assume a right to criticize.

Shakespeare has had neither equal nor second.

I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read.

History distinguishes what is accidental and transitory in human nature from what is essential and immutable.

Nothing except the mint can make money without advertising.