
"Pythagorean Ethical Sentences From Stobæus" (1904)
Florilegium
The American Leviathan: The Republic in the Machine Age (1931) co-written with William Beard, p. 39
Context: If this statement by Judge Cooley is true, and the authority for it is unimpeachable, then the theory that the Constitution is a written document is a legal fiction. The idea that it can be understood by a study of its language and the history of its past development is equally mythical. It is what the Government and the people who count in public affairs recognize and respect as such, what they think it is. More than this. It is not merely what it has been, or what it is today. It is always becoming something else and those who criticize it and the acts done under it, as well as those who praise, help to make it what it will be tomorrow.
"Pythagorean Ethical Sentences From Stobæus" (1904)
Florilegium
“What is a law, if those who make it
Become the forwardest to break it?”
The Wolf and Shepherds (1776).
“Those who can, build. Those who can't, criticize.”
Quoted in his obituary in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1218.html
“Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.”
1770s, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
Context: Let those flatter who fear; it is not an American art. To give praise which is not due might be well from the venal, but would ill beseem those who are asserting the rights of human nature. They know, and will therefore say, that kings are the servants, not the proprietors of the people.
“People want to stand for something, which means opposing those who stand for something else.”
How to Understand Politics: What the Humanities Can Say to Science (2007)
Context: People want to stand for something, which means opposing those who stand for something else. In the course of opposing they will often resort to insults and name-calling, which are normal in politics though never in your interest. The demand for more civility in politics today should be directed toward improving the quality of our insults, seeking civility in wit rather than blandness.