It was in the recognition that there is in each man a final essence, that is to say an immortal soul which only God can judge, that a limit was set upon the dominion of men over men.

In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.

A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society. Without criticism and reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern. For there is no adequate way in which it can keep itself informed about what the people of the country are thinking and doing and wanting.

A man cannot sleep in his cradle: whatever is useful must in the nature of life become useless.

In the blood of the martyrs to intolerance are the seeds of unbelief

The disesteem into which moralists have fallen is due at bottom to their failure to see that in an age like this one the function of the moralist is not to exhort men to be good but to elucidate what the good is. The problem of sanctions is secondary.

Every man whose business it is to think knows that he must for part of the day create about himself a pool of silence.