The quote database

The soul should take care of the body, just as a pilgrim on his way to Mecca takes care of his camel.

The aim of moral discipline is to purify the heart from the rust of passion and resentment, till, like a clear mirror, it reflects the light of God.

Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government.

There is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for equality which excites men to wish all to be powerful and honored.

the liberty of association is become a necessary guarantee against the tyranny of the majority

On the other hand, in a State where the citizens are nearly on an equality, it becomes difficult for them to preserve their independence against the aggressions of power.

Unable to perceive a single chance of regaining their equality, they give up to despair, and allow themselves to fall below the dignity of human nature.

The happy and the powerful do not go into exile, and there are no surer guarantees of equality among men than poverty and misfortune.

It tends to isolate them from each other, to concentrate every man's attention upon himself; and it lays open the soul to an inordinate love of material gratification.

At first sight there is something surprising in this strange unrest of so many happy men, restless in the midst of abundance.

In the ages of equality all men are independent of each other, isolated and weak.

The soul has wants which must be satisfied; and whatever pains be taken to divert it from itself, it soon grows weary, restless, and disquieted amidst the enjoyments of sense.

In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power trusting thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its authority.

Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power.

Our Constitution does not contain the absurdity of giving power to make laws, and another power to resist them.

Men of the best intentions and soundest views may differ in their construction of some parts of the Constitution, but there are others on which dispassionate reflection can leave no doubt.

The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality.

The laws of the United States must be executed.

The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union.

The powers of patronage and rule which would have been exercised, under the President, over a vast and populous and naturally wealthy region are greater than, unless under extreme necessity, I should be willing to intrust to any one man.

Now military governments, established for an indefinite period, would have offered no security for the early suppression of discontent, would have divided the people into the vanquishers and the vanquished, and would have envenomed hatred rather than have restored affection.

The ancient republics absorbed the individual in the state--prescribed his religion and controlled his activity.

The American system rests on the assertion of the equal right of every man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to freedom of conscience, to the culture and exercise of all his faculties.

The Constitution to which life was thus imparted contains within itself ample resources for its own preservation.

Let us then, here and now, recognize this force and resolve to make the most of it—not the boys less, but the girls more.