Maxioms by James Fenimore Cooper
The affairs of life embrace a multitude of interests, and he who reasons in any one of them, without consulting read more
The affairs of life embrace a multitude of interests, and he who reasons in any one of them, without consulting the rest, is a visionary unsuited to control the business of the world.
The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are read more
The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority.
Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction read more
Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to publick opinion. This is the weak point of our defenses, and the part to which the enemies of the system will direct all their attacks. Opinion can be so perverted as to cause the false to seem the true; the enemy, a friend, and the friend, an enemy; the best interests of the nation to appear insignificant, and trifles of moment; in a word, the right the wrong, and the wrong the right.
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
It is the besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which read more
It is the besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which the masses of men exhibit their tyranny.
