R.S. Thomas Quotes

Let those flatter, who fear: it is not an American art. To give praise where it is not due, might be well from the venal, but would ill beseem those who are asserting the rights of human nature.

I would rather have newspapers without a government than a government without newspapers.

music, drawing, books, invention & exercise will be so many resources to you against ennui.

I like to see the people awake and alert.

The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor I.

To take a single step beyond the text would be to take possession of a boundless field of power.

It has been thought that the people are not competent electors of judges learned in the law. But I do not know this to be true, and, if doubtful, we should follow principle.

The Habeas Corpus secures every man here, alien or citizen, against everything which is not law, whatever shape it may assume.

If thinking men would have the courage to think for themselves, and to speak what they think, it would be found they do not differ in religious opinions as much as is supposed.

Resisting tyranny is obeying God

A free government is of all others the most energetic.

Not for ourselves alone, but for all humanity... Let us hasten to find the path that leads to liberty, safety, and peace for everyone.

Bind them down by the chains of the Constitution where they can do no mischief.

Printers shall be liable to legal prosecution for printing and publishing false facts injurious to the party prosecuting: but they shall be under no other restraint.

Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error.

Not less than two hours a day should be devoted to exercise, and the weather shall be little regarded. If the body is feeble, the mind will not be strong.

Perseverance in object, though not by the most direct way, is often more laudable than perpetual changes, as often as the object shifts light.

I see no comfort in outliving one's friends, and remaining a mere monument of the times which are past.

While prudence will endeavor to avoid this issue of war, bravery will prepare to meet it.

Health is value greater than studying.

Money, not morality, constitutes the principle of commercial nations.

The opinions and beliefs of men follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds.

Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.

I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.

All we can do is to make the best of our friends, love and cherish what is good in them, and keep out of the way what is bad.

A little revolution is a good thing.

Industry, commerce and security are the surest roads to the happiness and prosperity of people.

Take things always by their smooth handle.

Opinion, and the just maintenance of it, shall never be a crime in my view.

Malice will always find bad motives for good actions. - Shall we therefore never do good?

But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments?

Every Christian sect gives a great handle to Atheism by their general dogma that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof of the being of god.

The great cause which divides our countries is not to be decided by individual animosities. The harmony of private societies cannot weaken national efforts.

I do not pretend that language is science. It isan instrument for the attainment of science.

While learning the language in France a young man's morals, health and fortune are more irresistibly endangered than in any country of the universe.

There is not a single crowned head in Europe whose talents or merit would entitle him to be elected a vestryman by the people of any parish in America.

The more a subject is understood, the more briefly it may be explained.

Courts love the people always, as wolves do the sheep.

The ordinary affairs of a nation offer little difficulty to a person of any experience.

Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

A single good government is a blessing to the whole earth.

The Earth is given as a common for men to labor and live in.

Books may be classed from the Faculties of the mind

We sometimes from dreams pick up some hint worth improving by reflection.

I have a right to nothing which another has a right to take away.

life is of no value but as it brings gratifications. among the most valuable of these is rational society. it informs the mind, sweetens the temper, chears our spirits, and promotes health.

besides the comfort of knowlege, every science is auxiliary to every other.

ours are the only farmers who can read Homer

Travelling. ... when men of sober age travel, they gather knowlege which they may apply usefully for their country

the study of the law is useful in a variety of points of view. it qualifies a man to be useful to himself, to his neighbors, & to the public.