All quotes

Overlooking partial and temporary evils as inseparable from the practical operation of all human institutions, and looking only to the general result, every patriot has reason to be satisfied.

Slavery to monarchs and ministers, which the world will be long in freeing itself from, and whose deadly grasp stops the progress of the human mind, is not yet abolished.

The many have always been enthralled by the few; and, monsters who have scarcely shown any discernment of human excellence, have tyrannized over thousands of their fellow creatures.

If happiness is what you’re after, then you are going to be let down frequently and be unhappy much of your time.

Men who are successful always seek the company of others who are successful, while men who are on the ragged side of life always seek the company of those who are in similar circumstances.

this vice of ingratitude has its source either in avarice or in suspicion

the nature of the people is variable, and whilst it is easy to persuade them, it is difficult to fix them in that persuasion

Their once flaming regard is sobered by time in either breast, and losing in violence what it gains in extent, it becomes a thorough good understanding.

I know that peace does not come through wishing for it--that there is no substitute for days and even years of patient and prolonged diplomacy.

A hopeless feeling descends on one and is hard to fight off.

Noble disappointment, noble self-denial, are not to be admired, not even to be pardoned, if they bring bitterness.

The time of such a man is always spent in forming schemes, which a change of wind hinders him from executing, his powers fume away in projects and in hope, and the day of action never arrives.

Other decent men are so alienated by such conduct that in their turn they abandon all effort to fight for reform, believing reformers to be either hypocrites or fools.

A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.

Little by little, through patience and long-suffering, thou shalt conquer by the help of God, rather than by violence and thine own strength of will.

Now dost thou resolve to avoid a fault, and within an hour thou behavest thyself as if thou hadst never resolved at all.

Alas, we have known Times call loudly enough for their great man; but not find him when they called!

Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.

Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much of government, and at the same time do for it too little.

There is no short cut to the making of these ideals into glad realities.

If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes.

The great Government we loved has too often been made use of for private and selfish purposes, and those who used it had forgotten the people.

was it not obvious that flocks and herds were more ready to obey their keepers than men their rulers

Our attempts should be not to extinguish nature, but to repress it; not to stand unmoved at distress, but endeavour to turn every disaster to our own advantage. Our greatest glory is, not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.