[H]istory assures us that civilizations decay quite leisurely.

Historically the belief in heaven and the belief in utopia are like compensatory buckets in a well: when one goes down the other comes up. When the classic religions decayed, communistic agitation rose in Athens (430 B.C.), and revolution began in Rome (133 B.C.); when these movements failed, resurrection faiths succeeded, culminating in Christianity; when, in our eighteenth century, Christian belief weakened, communism reappeared. In this perspective the future of religion is secure.

Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos.

If you wish to be loved, be modest; if you wish to be admired, be proud; if you wish both, combine external modesty with internal pride.

Nature has never read the Declaration of Independence. It continues to make us unequal.

The great snare of thought is uncritical acceptance of irrational assumptions.

Art lies in conceiving and designing, not in the actual execution' - this was left for lesser minds.