“There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.”

Government ought to be all outside and no inside. Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety.

The whole purpose of democracy is that we may hold counsel with one another, so as not to depend upon the understanding of one man.

Character, my friends, is a byproduct. It is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty.

We came to America, either ourselves or in the persons of our ancestors, to better the ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had seen before, to get rid of the things that divide and to make sure of the things that unite.

A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.

Has justice ever grown in the soil of absolute power? Has not justice always come from the … heart and spirit of men who resist power?

To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fibre of national life.

At every crisis in one’s life, it is absolute salvation to have some sympathetic friend to whom you can think aloud without restraint or misgiving.

Any man that resists the present tides that run in the world, will find himself thrown upon a shore so high and barren that it will seem he has been separated from his human kind forever.

When I give a man an office, I watch him carefully to see whether he is swelling or growing.

The right is more precious than peace.

We are citizens of the world. The tragedy of our times is that we do not know this.

It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilizationitself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things we have always carried closest to our hearts.

A man may be defeated by his own secondary successes.

What is the use of voting? We know that the machines of both parties are subsidized by the same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction.

I do not want a government that will take care of me, I want a government that will make other men take their hands off me so I can take care of myself.

I still like me, inside and out. Not in a vain way – I just feel good in my skin.

If you find it impossible to pray, hide behind your good Angel and charge him to pray in your stead.

Truth is sought not because it is truth but because it is good.

The secret of the law of abundance is this: In order to receive and appreciate the good things of life, you must first give.

Any mind that is capable of real sorrow is capable of good.

To be good to the vile is to throw water into the sea.

Nobody is a good judge in his own cause!

A good scientist values criticism almost higher than friendship: no, in science criticism is the height and measure of friendship.