Every banker knows that if he has to prove that he is worthy of credit, however good may be his arguments, in fact his credit is gone: but what we have requires no proof.

A princely marriage is the brilliant edition of a universal fact, and, as such, it rivets mankind.

The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards

You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-door neighbor.

The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will leap to a hasty opinion rather than undergo it.

The maxim of science is simply that of common sense-simple cases first; begin with seeing how the main force acts when there is as little as possible to impede it, and when you thoroughly comprehend that, add to it in succession the separate effects of each of the incumbering and interfering agencies.

Public opinion is a permeating influence, and it exacts obedience to itself; it requires us to drink other men's thoughts, to speak other men's words, to follow other men's habits.