We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities.

Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.

In reviewing the history of the English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice nor warped by interest, would declare that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.

The representative system of government is calculated to produce the wisest laws, by collecting wisdom where it can be found.

A world of little cares is continually arising, which busy or affluent life knows nothing of, to open the first door to distress. Hunger is not among the postponable wants; and a day, even a few hours, in such a condition is often the crisis of a life of ruin.

The mind, in discovering truths, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it.

It is the object only of war that makes it honorable.