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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.

James F. Cooper

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James F. Cooper
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More quotes by James F. Cooper

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The novice in the military art flew from point to point, retarding his own preparations by the excess of his violent and somewhat distempered zeal while the more practiced veteran made his arrangements with a deliberation that scorned every appearance of haste
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Everybody says it, and what everybody says must be true.
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It is the fate of all things to ripen, and then to decay.
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We live in a world of transgressions and selfishness, and no pictures that represent us otherwise can be true though happily for human nature, gleamings of that pure spirit in whose likeness man has been fashioned, are to be seen, relieving its deformities, and mitigating, if not excusing its crimes.
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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.
James F. Cooper
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Death is appalling to those of the most iron nerves, when it comes quietly and in the stillness and solitude of night.
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The expanse of the ocean is seldom seen by the novice with indifference.
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Liberty is not a matter of words, but a positive and important condition of society. Its greatest safeguard after placing its foundations on a popular base, is in the checks and balances imposed on the public servants.
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Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to public opinion.
James F. Cooper
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Near the centre of that State of New York lies an extensive district of country, whose surface is a succession of hills and dales, or, to speak with greater deference to geographical definitions, of mountains and valleys.
James F. Cooper
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Perfection is always found in maturity, whether it be in the animal or in the intellectual world. Reflection is the mother of wisdom, and wisdom the parent of success.
James F. Cooper
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Superstition is a quality that seems indigenous to the ocean.
James F. Cooper
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A single glance at the map will make the reader acquainted with the position of the eastern coast of the island of Great Britain, as connected with the shores of the opposite continent.
James F. Cooper
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It is seldom men think of death in the pride of their health and strength.
James F. Cooper
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Principles . . . become modified in practice, by facts.
James F. Cooper
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God planted the seeds of all the trees, continued Hetty, after a moment's pause, and you see to what a height and shade they have grown! So it is with the Bible. You may read a verse this year, and forget it, and it will come back to you a year hence, when you least expect to remember it.
James F. Cooper
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Individuality is the aim of political liberty.
James F. Cooper
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Battles, unlike bargains, are rarely discussed in society.
James F. Cooper
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An interesting fiction... however paradoxical the assertion may appear... addresses our love of truth- not the mere love of facts expressed by true names and dates, but the love of that higher truth, the truth of nature and principals, which is a primitive law of the human mind.
James F. Cooper
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Hebrews . This book is much superior to most of the writings attributed to St. Paul, though passages in the other books are very admirable.
James F. Cooper