Elihu Root

Human nature must have come much nearer perfection than it is now, or will be in many generations, to exclude from such a control prejudice, selfishness, ambition, and injustice. ”

Secretary of War Stanton used to get out of patience with Lincoln because he was all the time pardoning men who ought to be shot. ”

The growth of modern constitutional government compels for its successful practice the exercise of reason and considerate judgment by the individual citizens who constitute the electorate. ”

The line of least resistance in the progress of civilization is to make that theoretical postulate real by the continually increasing force of the world's public opinion. ”