“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.”

Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained; most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources.

The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.

Who indeed, after pulling off the coloured glasses of prejudice and thrusting out of sight his pet projects, can help seeing the folly of these endeavours to protect men against themselves? A sad population of imbeciles would our schemers fill the world with, could their plans last.

An argument fatal to the communist theory, is suggested by the fact, that a desire for property is one of the elements of our nature.

Music must take rank as the highest of the fine arts – as the one which, more than any other, ministers to the human spirit.

Education has for its object the formation of character.

Old forms of government finally grow so oppressive that they must be thrown off even at the risk of reigns of terror.

Divine right of kings means the divine right of anyone who can get uppermost.

Every cause produces more than one effect.

A living thing is distinguished from a dead thing by the multiplicity of the changes at any moment taking place in it.

All socialism involves slavery.

A jury is composed of twelve men of average ignorance.

Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold.

Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom.

The Republican form of government is the highest form of government: but because of this it requires the highest type of human nature, a type nowhere at present existing.

The fact disclosed by a survey of the past that majorities have been wrong must not blind us to the complementary fact that majorities have usually not been entirely wrong.

Characters make their own plot. The dimensions of the characters determine the action of the novel.

I love the ground under his feet, and the air over his head, and everything he touches and every word he says. I love all his looks, and all his actions and him entirely and all together.

What are we doing here, that is the question.

Good words,” I replied. “But deeds must prove it also; and after he is well, remember you don’t forget resolutions formed in the hour of fear.

Men should not petition for rights, but take them.

Shooting at a man who is returning the compliment means going into action with the greatest speed of which a man’s muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick shooting involves.

Honest people don’t hide their deeds.

I never considered my dreams wasted energy; they were invariably linked to some form of action. When I dreamed about having a lemonade stand, for example, it wasn’t long before I set up a lemonade stand.