“It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play.”

Political differences essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles.

History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.

Far from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country.

The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.

Great men are almost always bad men.

False principles, which correspond with the bad as well as with the just aspirations of mankind, are a normal and necessary element in the social life of nations.

There are many things the government cant do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot teach the people. It cannot convert the people.

Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.

There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.

The finest opportunity ever given to the world was thrown away because the passion of equality made vain the hope for freedom.

A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.

I have reached the end of my time, and have hardly come to the beginning of my task.

Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.

Progress, the religion of those who have none.

In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.

As for our majority… one is enough.

If we are to take for the criterion of truth the majority of suffrages, they ought to be gotten from those philosophic and patriotic citizens who cultivate their reason.

Let me say to you that truth has always lived with the minority; what the majority says at a given moment is usually wrong.

Of course, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists or sympathetic to terrorists. Equating all Muslims with terrorism is stupid and wrong. But acknowledging that there is a link between Islam and terror is appropriate and necessary.

What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their inability to act according to their beliefs.

The reasons of the majority cannot be taken as good reasons.

Majorities, of course, are often mistaken. This is why the silencing of minorities is necessarily dangerous.