The quote database

The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.

The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.

I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government but civilization itself.

Your every voter, as surely as your Chief Magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust.

Our diplomacy should be direct and frank, neither seeking to obtain more nor accepting less than is our due.

National honor is national property of the highest value.

If errors have been committed they ought to be corrected; if the policy is sound it ought to be supported.

ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country

Responsibility is null when nobody knows who is responsible; nor, even when real, can it be divided without being weakened.

A good despotism is an altogether false ideal, which practically (except as a means to some temporary purpose) becomes the most senseless and dangerous of chimeras.

One of the benefits of freedom is that under it the ruler can not pass by the people's minds, and amend their affairs for them without amending them.

In regard to foreign nations, the groundwork of my policy will be justice on our part to all, submitting to injustice from none.

The observed worker should be made to realize the purpose and importance of the measurement. The observing should always be done with his full knowledge and hearty coöperation.

Surely the United States Senate is big enough to take self-criticism and self-appraisal.

As members of the minority party, we do not have the primary authority to formulate the policy of our government. But we do have the responsibility of rendering constructive criticism, of clarifying issues, of allaying fears by acting as responsible citizens.

All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess.

Shirking responsibility has never been a fault with which colored women might be truthfully charged.

And so, lifting as we climb, onward and upward we go, struggling and striving, and hoping that the buds and blossoms of our desires will burst into glorious fruition ere long.

With tireless energy and eager zeal, colored women have, since their emancipation, been continuously prosecuting the work of educating and elevating their race, as though upon themselves alone devolved the accomplishment of this great task.

No one may become a real leader in any walk of life without practicing the habit of doing more work and better work than that for which he is paid.

Nevertheless, he who has relied least on fortune is established the strongest.

Therefore it must be inferred that good counsels, whencesoever they come, are born of the wisdom of the prince, and not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels.

A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it.

there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new

Great men never wait for opportunities; they make them.