Henry Adams

"Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man."

"He too serves a certain purpose who only stands and cheers."

"I have written too much history to have faith in it; and if anyone thinks I'm wrong, I am inclined to agree with him."

"Knowledge of human nature is the beginning and end of political education."

"Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts."

"Politics, as a practise, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds."

"Power is poison. Its effect on Presidents had always been tragic."

"Some day science may have the existence of mankind in power, and the human race can commit suicide by blowing up the world."

"The effect of power and publicity on all men is the aggravation of self, a sort of tumor that ends by killing the victim's sympathies."

"The Indian Summer of life should be a little sunny and a little sad, like the season, and infinite in wealth and depth of tone, but never hustled."