James Fenimore Cooper, (1789-1851) American Novelist Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [1-7] of 7 James Fenimore Cooper quotesJames Fenimore Cooper QuotesJames Fenimore Cooper Commerce is entitled to a complete and efficient protection in all its legal rights, but the moment it presumes to control a country, or to substitute its fluctuating expedients for the high principles of natural justice that ought to lie at the root of every political system, it should be frowned on, and rebuked.~ James Fenimore Cooper The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority. Unrestrained political authority, though it be confided to masses, cannot be trusted without positive limitations, men in bodies being but an aggregation of the passions, weaknesses and interests of men as individuals.~ James Fenimore Cooper It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, when perverted from its proper aim, is most productive of evil. It behooves the well-intentioned, therefore, vigorously to watch the tendency of even their most highly-prized institutions, since that which was established in the interests of the right, may so easily become the agent of the wrong.~ James Fenimore Cooper The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.~ James Fenimore Cooper 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 free man. He is left to pursue his means of happiness in his own manner.~ James Fenimore Cooper Liberty is not a matter of words, but a positive and important condition of society. Its greatest safeguard after placing its foundations in a popular base, is in the checks and balances imposed on the public servants.~ James Fenimore Cooper Unrestrained political authority, though it be confided to masses, cannot be trusted without positive limitations, men in bodies being but an aggregation of the passions, weaknesses and interests of men as individuals.~ James Fenimore Cooper Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print