A popular author is one who writes what the people think. Genius invites them to think something else.
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.
Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.
Happiness [is] an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.
If you want to read a perfect book there is only one way: Write it.
In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, [intelligence] is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.
Philosophy [is] a route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.
The most intolerant advocate is he who is trying to convince himself.
[A boundary is] an imaginary line between two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of the other.
[A conservative is] a statesman enamored of existing evils, as opposed to a liberal, who wants to replace them with others.
[History is] an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.
[The vote is] the instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.
