“Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.”

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 great aim of education is not knowledge but action.

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.

Let’s means-test benefits – let’s means-test Social Security and Medicare and make the rich pay more for these benefits.

The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.

A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.

Humanity is an organism, inherently rejecting all that is deleterious, that is, wrong, and absorbing after trial what is beneficial, that is, right

God himself would not permit evil in this world if good did not come of it for the benefit and harmony of the universe.

Always demanding the best of oneself, living with honor, devoting one’s talents and gifts to the benefits of others – these are the measures of success that endure when material things have passed away.

The political system is not for the people. The people are secondary to the economy. It’s about what generates money, not about what benefits the people.

Self-care often means doing what you don’t feel like doing in the present moment to benefit the future.