Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority...

The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.

Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.

The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.

Socialism means slavery.

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.

Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty.

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.

It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others.

Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things.

The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.

The point is, the "best" technology or idea doesn't always prevail. Sometimes chance and the law of unintended consequences win out.

I can trust my friends. ... These people force me to examine myself encourage me to grow.

I hope for an America where no president, no public official, no individual will ever be deemed a greater or lesser American because of religious doubt - or religious belief.

I have worked alone and with a cast and enjoy the process both ways. There is more back-and-forth with a full cast, and you can feed off the other actors' performance.

There are vampires and vampires, and not all of them suck blood.

I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one's life, the foundation of happiness or misery.

I think teenagers bring a lot of intellectual sophistication. They're wrestling with big questions. It's just that, a lot of times they do that separately from adults.

Marketing isn't done by computers, it's done by people. And people who sense opportunity and have the confidence to be remarkable will always defeat defensive actions by people who have given up.

How often I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.

Asking for financial advice from a financial planner is like asking a barber if you need a hair cut.