Robinson Crusoe, the self-sufficient man, could not have lived in New York city.

The prophecy of a world moving toward political unity is the light which guides all that is best, most vigorous, most truly alive in the work of our time.

It is impossible to abolish either with a law or an axe the desires of men.

There is nothing so good for the human soul as the discovery that there are ancient and flourishing civilized societies which have somehow managed to exist for many centuries and are still in being though they have had no help from the traveler in solving their problems.

The news of the days it reaches the newspaper office is an incredible medley of fact, propaganda, rumor, suspicion, clues, hopes, and fears, and the task of selecting and ordering that news is one of the truly sacred and priestly offices in a democracy. For the newspaper is in all literalness the bible of democracy, the book out of which a people determines its conduct.

You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative; the jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers.

It is perfectly true that that government is best which governs least. It is equally true that that government is best which provides most.