The best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper unpleasant truths in the master's ear. It is the court fool, not the foolish courtier, whom the king can least afford to lose.

Almost always tradition is nothing but a record and a machine-made imitation of the habits that our ancestors created.

What each man does is based not on direct and certain knowledge, but on pictures made by himself or given to him...

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

For the newspaper is in all literalness the bible of democracy, the book out of which a people determines its conduct. It is the only serious book most people read. It is the only book they read every day.

Without criticism and reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern.

In a place where everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks very much.