In the literal sense, there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights, justice and freedom – along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.

Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.

Upon the education of the people of this country the fate of this country depends.

We live in an imperfect world, and imperfect people surround us every day.

The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them.

Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

I hope that a move toward clemency with Judge Afiuni would be a step towards the importance of maintaining a properly functioning justice system.

Justice is truth in action.

Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is harmony in the house; when there is harmony in the house, there is order in the nation; when there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.

I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president – with the possible exceptions of Johnson, FDR, and Lincoln – just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history. But, you know, but when it comes to the economy, we’ve got a lot more work to do. And we’re gonna keep on at it.

The belief that the world is getting worse, that we can’t solve extreme poverty and disease, isn’t just mistaken. It is harmful.

For me, my secularism is, India first. I say, the philosophy of my party is ‚Justice to all. Appeasement to none.‘ This is our secularism.

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face.

And we have done more in the two and a half years that I’ve been in here than the previous 43 Presidents to uphold that principle, whether it’s ending ‚don’t ask, don’t tell,‘ making sure that gay and lesbian partners can visit each other in hospitals, making sure that federal benefits can be provided to same-sex couples.

If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.

Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body.

Africa will thrive.

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping?

Only the educated are free.

Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.

Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

Women have to be extremely careful about choosing something that they consider an act of defiance that can really be used to further their enslavement.

I think big business is a terrible thing for the spirit of the country, as our spirit is the best thing about us.

I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free.

Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known.

Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.

In terms of the legal matter of creating a contract between two people that’s called marriage, and allowing them to live together with the protection of law, it seems to me is the way we should be moving in this country.

I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.

I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts.

We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and Freedom will prevail.

The Bill of Rights is not an a la carte menu.

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.

Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief.

If you are living out of a sense of obligation you are slave.

Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals.

The lessons of history would suggest that civilisations move in cycles. You can track that back quite far – the Babylonians, the Sumerians, followed by the Egyptians, the Romans, China. We’re obviously in a very upward cycle right now, and hopefully that remains the case. But it may not.

We travel often to Asia, Africa, Europe, where they were born.

Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace.

Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.

In France there are, I think, less than one per cent of people who are too skinny.

Facts, like people, want to be free – and when they’re free, liberty is usually around the corner.

America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.

A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.

I see myself in all the people in the world who are suffering and who are very badly treated and who are often made to feel that they have no place on this Earth.

From an evolutionary standpoint, human consciousness has not been around very long. A little light just went on after four and a half billion years. How often does that happen? Maybe it is quite rare.

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.

Liberty consists in the power of doing that which is permitted by the law.

Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.

I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: ‚This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.‘ Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

Meditation is not to avoid society; it is to look deep to have the kind of insight you need to take action. To think that it is just to sit down and enjoy the calm and peace, is wrong.