“History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.”

In the principle of equality I very clearly discern two tendencies; one leading the mind of every man to untried thoughts, the other prohibiting him from thinking at all.

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.

Slavery…dishonors labor. It introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the powers of the mind and benumbs the activity of man.

One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows.

Socialism is a new form of slavery.

If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of the United States – that is to say, they will owe their origin not to the equality but to the inequality of conditions.

Rulers who destroy men’s freedom commonly begin by trying to retain its forms. … They cherish the illusion that they can combine the prerogatives of absolute power with the moral authority that comes from popular assent.

In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.

It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.

When a large number of organs of the press come to advance along the same track, their influence becomes almost irresistible in the long term, and public opinion, struck always from the same side, ends by yielding under their blows.

I vow that I do not hold that complete and instantaneous love for the freedom of the press that one accords to things whose nature is unqualifiedly good. I love it out of consideration for the evils it prevents much more than for the good it does.

A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

To remain silent is the most useful service that a mediocre speaker can render to the public good.

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

An argument can be logically valid, but unsound in that it contains a false premise and, therefore, leads to a false conclusion (e.g., Scientists are smart; smart people do not make mistakes; therefore, scientists do not make mistakes).

What is the best safeguard against false doctrine? The Bible regularly read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied.

Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips, and the world in your heart.

Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice.

You proceed from a false assumption: I have no ego to bruise.

Find the trend whose premise is false, and bet against it.

There’s no substitute for will. Sometimes you have to fake will when you don’t feel it at all.

I don’t think that you can fake warmth. You can fake lust, jealousy, anger; those are all quite easy. But actual, genuine warmth? I don’t think you can fake it.