To be engaged in opposing wrong affords...but a slender guarantee for being right.

The book must of necessity be put into a bookcase. And the bookcase must be housed. And the house must be kept. And the library must be dusted, must be arranged, must be catalogued. What a vista of toil, yet not unhappy toil!

For works of the mind really great there is no old age, no decrepitude. It is inconceivable that a time should come when Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, should not ring in the ears of civilized man.

Man is to be trained chiefly by studying and by knowing man.

Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.

Censure and criticism never hurt anybody. If false, they can't hurt you unless you are wanting in manly character; and if true, they show a man his weak points, and forewarn him against failure and trouble.

[The British constitution] presumes more boldly than any other the good sense and the good faith of those who work it.