You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative; the jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers.

Unless democracy is to commit suicide by consenting to its own destruction, it will have to find some formidable answer to those who come to it saying: "I demand from you in the name of your principles the rights which I shall deny to you later. . ."

No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people.

It is impossible to abolish either with a law or an ax the desires of men

The study of error is not only in the highest degree prophylactic, but it serves as a stimulating introduction to the study of truth.

There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.