Self Quotes — page 74

Never forget that if you leave your law to judges and your religion to bishops, you will presently find yourself without either law or religion.

nothing is security to any individual but the common interest of all.

From that time it became possible to make politics a matter of principle and of conscience, so that men and nations differing in all other things could live in peace together, under the sanctions of a common law.

You will form a very inadequate estimate of a man's character, if you judge by what a fond sister says of him. The worst of them generally know how to hide their misdeeds from their sisters' eyes, and their mother's, too.

You know that it was Jefferson who said that the best government is that which does as little governing as possible…. But that time is passed. America is not now and cannot in the future be a place for unrestricted individual enterprise.

I feel with a peculiar sympathy all that relates to Scotland. The natives of Scotland, and all those who have Scotch blood in their veins—particularly if, like me, they only have Scotch blood in their veins—are not apt to forget the …

Don't mind anything anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.

The first character of a general idea so resulting is that it is living feeling. A continuum of this feeling, infinitesimal in duration, but still embracing innumerable parts, and also, though infinitesimal, entirely unlimited, is …

It is equally clear that a government must govern, must prescribe and enforce laws within its sphere or cease to be a government. Moreover, the individual must be independent and free within his own sphere or cease to be an individual. The …

Every man for himself, his own ends, the Devil for all.

The most important of all outstanding facts of Iranian history is the religious reform brought about by Zarathustra. There can be hardly any question that he was the first man we know who gave a definitely moral character and direction to …

I wish I could keep war from all Nations; but that is beyond my power. I can at least make certain that no act of the United States helps to produce or to promote war. I can at least make clear that the conscience of America revolts …

The great delusion of mankind is in supposing that to be individual and exceptional which is universal and according to law.

Each individual is a cosmos of organs, each organ is a cosmos of cells, each cell is a cosmos of infinitely small ones; and in this complex world, the well-being of the whole depends entirely on the sum of well-being enjoyed by each of the …

Charity is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands.

The highest strength is acquired not in overcoming the world, but in overcoming one’s self. Learn to be cruel to thyself, to withstand thy appetites, to bear thy sufferings, and thou shalt become free and able.

No man lives without jostling and being jostled; in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offense.

God made man and placed good and evil before him, allowing him to choose for himself, being responsible for the choice he should make.

1657. Give him but Rope enough, and he'll hang himself.

Respect for character is always diminished in proportion to the number among whom the blame or praise is to be divided. Conscience, the only remaining tie, is known to be inadequate in individuals: In large numbers, little is to be …

Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.

Whatever else he may do, a critic reveals and criticises himself.

He who aspires to master the art of expression must first of all consecrate himself completely to some great cause.

What we call knowing a man's character, is knowing how he will act in such and such conditions. The better we know him the more surely we can prophesy. If we know him perfectly, we are certain.