No man can be a sound lawyer in this land who is not well read in the ethics of Moses and the virtues of Jesus.

A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way.

The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty.

Liberty is not to be enjoyed, indeed it cannot exist, without the habits of just subordination; it consists, not so much in removing all restraint from the orderly, as in imposing it on the violent.

The happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend on piety, religion, and morality.

A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; a republic is a raft which will never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.

[the framers of the Constitution] intended our government should be a republic, which differs more widely from a democracy than a democracy from a despotism.

The rights of conscience, of bearing arms, of changing the government, are declared to be inherent in the people.

I have heard it remarked that men are not to be reasoned out of an opinion they have not reasoned themselves into.

We are, heart and soul, friends to the freedom of the press...It is a precious pest, and a necessary mischief, and there would be no liberty without it.

All such men are, or ought to be, agreed, that simple governments are despotisms; and of all despotisms, a democracy, though the least durable, is the most violent.

Sometimes life seems like a poorly designed cage within which man has been sentenced to be free.

Of course, you won't confirm or deny it, which means I'm probably right, since if I was wrong, you'd be gloating about it.

Basically, my work is play. It never actually feels that way - I'm always aiming to attain that state. But I get to do for a living what I did as a child for fun, and that's pretty cool.

Theology is a thing of unreason altogether, an edifice of assumptions and dreams, a superstructure without a substructure

Towards the end of your meditation session, or when you feel your meditation is deep, chant "Kring" seven times. Repeat it with sharp intensity, without elongating the syllables.

The greatest thing that will please God is that you maintain an attitude of unshakable joy.

I'm not the beautiful one.

Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.

I think we fall in love and become adults and become citizens in a way by writing stories about ourselves.

If repentance is neglected for an instant, one can lose the power of the Resurrection as he lives with the weakness of tepidity and the potential of his fall.