James Fenimore Cooper Quotes

Everybody says it, and what everybody says must be true.

Everybody says it, and what everybody says must be true.

All that a good government aims at...is to add no unnecessary and artificial aid to the force of its own read more

All that a good government aims at...is to add no unnecessary and artificial aid to the force of its own unavoidable consequences, and to abstain from fortifying and accumulating social inequality as a means of increasing political inequalities.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity, since the tastes, knowledge, and principles of the majority form read more

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity, since the tastes, knowledge, and principles of the majority form the tribunal of appeal.

Candor is a proof of both a just frame of mind and of a good tone of breeding. It is read more

Candor is a proof of both a just frame of mind and of a good tone of breeding. It is a quality that belongs equally to the honest ;man and to the gentleman.

...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty read more

...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty is said to be less. In other words, men are thought to be more under the control of extra-legal authorities, and to defer more to those around them, in pursuing even their lawful and innocent occupations, than in almost every other country.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.

Those families, you know, are our upper crust, not upper ten
thousand.

Those families, you know, are our upper crust, not upper ten
thousand.

Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving the citizen as much freedom of action and of being as read more

Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving the citizen as much freedom of action and of being as comports with order and the rights of others, the institutions render him truly a freeman. He is left to pursue his means of happiness in his own manner.

It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which read more

It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny.

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.