When an opinion has taken root in a democracy and established itself in the minds of the majority, it afterward persists by itself, needing no effort to maintain it since no one attacks it. Those who at first rejected it as false come in the end to adopt it as accepted, and even those who still at the bottom of their hearts oppose it keep their views to themselves, taking great care to avoid a dangerous and futile contest.

What is the most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way …

When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.

We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.

The conception that government should be guided by majority opinion makes sense only if that opinion is independent of government. The ideal of democracy rests…

The successful politician owes his power to the fact that he moves within the accepted framework of thought, that he thinks and talks conventionally. It would …

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.