James Fenimore Cooper quotes - page 2

I will go upon the rock, boys, and look abroad for the savages," said Ishmael shortly after, advancing towards them with a mien which he intended should be conciliating, at the same time that it was authoritative. "If there is nothing to fear, we will go out on the plain; the day is too good to be lost in words, like women in the towns wrangling over their tea and sugared cakes." (James Fenimore Cooper)
'Tis grand! 'tis solemn! 'tis an education of itself to look upon! View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
I can never tire of speaking of the bridges of Paris. By day and by night have I paused on them to gaze at their views; the word not being too comprehensive for the crowds and groupings of objects that are visible from their arches. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
I sometimes wish I had been educated a Catholic, in order to unite the poetry of religion with its higher principles. Are they necessarily inseparable? Is man really so much of a philosopher, that he can conceive of truth in its abstract purity, and divest life and the affections of all the aids of the imagination? View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
It is not a very difficult task to make what is commonly called an amusing book of travels. Any one who will tell, with a reasonable degree of graphic effect, what he has seen, will not fail to carry the reader with him; for the interest we all feel in personal adventure is, of itself, success. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
All sacrifices of common sense, and all recourse to plausible political combinations, whether of individuals or of men, are uniformly made at the expense of the majority. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
If newspapers are useful in overthrowing tyrants, it is only to establish a tyranny of their own. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
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. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
No civilized society can long exist, with an active power in its bosom that is stronger than the law. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
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. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Ignorance and superstition ever bear a close and mathematical relation to each other. (James Fenimore Cooper)
The common faults of American language are an ambition of effect, a want of simplicity, and a turgid abuse of terms. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Slavery is no more sinful, by the Christian code, than it is sinful to wear a whole coat, while another is in tatters, to eat a better meal than a neighbor, or otherwise to enjoy ease and plenty, while our fellow creatures are suffering and in want. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Systems are to be appreciated by their general effects, and not by particular exceptions. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Advice is not a gift, but a debt that the old owe to the young. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving to 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. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Contact with the affairs of state is one of the most corrupting of the influences to which men are exposed. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Party leads to vicious, corrupt and unprofitable legislation, for the sole purpose of defeating party. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson! View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
How easy it is for generous sentiments, high courtesy, and chivalrous courage to lose their influence beneath the chilling blight of selfishness, and to exhibit to the world a man who was great in all the minor attributes of character, but who was found wanting when it became necessary to prove how much principle is superior to policy. (James Fenimore Cooper)
They who have reasoned ignorantly, or who have aimed at effecting their personal ends by flattering the popular feeling, have boldly affirmed that 'one man is as good as another'; a maxim that is true in neither nature, revealed morals, nor political theory. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
America owes most of its social prejudices to the exaggerated religious opinions of the different sects which were so instrumental in establishing the colonies. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
Should we distrust the man because his manners are not our manners, and that his skin is dark? View quote
James Fenimore Cooper
There are evils worse than death. View quote
James Fenimore Cooper