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

I demand from you in the name of your principles the rights which I shall deny to you later in the name of my principles.

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.

While the right to talk may be the beginning of freedom, the necessity of listening is what makes that right important.

Only the very rarest of princes can endure even a little criticism, and few of them can put up with even a pause in the adulation.

Men fall into a routine when they are tired and slack: it has all the appearance of activity with few of its burdens.

In making the great experiment of governing people by consent rather than by coercion, it is not sufficient that the party in power should have a majority. It is just as necessary that the party in power should never outrage the minority.