Quotes from James Fenimore Cooper

You are young, and rich, and have friends, and at such an age I know it is hard to die!

The novice in the military art flew from point to point, retarding his own preparations by the excess of his violent and somewhat distempered zeal; while the more practiced veteran made his arrangements with a deliberation that scorned every appearance of haste

The gifts of our colors may be different, but God has so placed us as to journey in the same path.

The woods are but the ears of the Almighty, the air is his breath, and the light of the sun is little more than a glance of his eye.

A man without conscience is but a poor creature...

Nothing but vast wisdom and onlimited power should dare sweep men off in multitudes,' he added; 'for it is only the one that can know the necessity of the judgement; and what is there short of the other, that can replace the creatures of the Lord?

I have attended church-service in the garrisons, and tried hard...to join in the prayers...but never could raise within me the solemn feelings and true affection that I feel when alone with God in the forest. There I seem to stand face to face with my Master; all around me is fresh and beautiful, as it came from His hand; and there is no nicety or doctrine to chill the feelings. No no; the woods are the true temple after all, for there the thoughts are free to mount higher even than the clouds.

Patience is the greatest of virtues in a woodsman.

Tis a strange calling!' muttered Hawkeye, with an inward laugh, 'to go through life, like a catbird, mocking all the ups and downs that may happen to come out of other men's throats.

And am I answerable that thoughtless and unprincipled men exist whose shades of contenance may resemble mine?

It is the fate of all things to ripen, and then to decay.

I care not for your envy, or your hypocrisy, or even for your human nature.

Whatever may be the changes produced by man, the eternal round of the seasons is unbroken.

If a man believed all that other people choose to say in their own favor, he might get an oversized opinion of them, and an udersized opinion of himself.

And where, then, is your sweetheart, Deerslayer?" "She's in the forest, Judith—hanging from the boughs of the trees, in a soft rain—in the dew on the open grass—the clouds that float about in the blue heavens—the birds that sing in the woods—the sweet springs where I slake my thirst—and in all the other glorious gifts that come from God's Providence!

All sacrifices of common sense, and all recourse to plausible political combinations, whether of individuals or of men, are uniformly made at the expense of the majority.

The very existence of government at all, infers inequality. The citizen who is preferred to office becomes the superior to those who are not, so long as he is the repository of power, and the child inherits the wealth of the parent as a controlling law of society.

Slavery is no more sinful, by the Christian code, than it is sinful to wear a whole coat, while another is in tatters, to eat a better meal than a neighbor, or otherwise to enjoy ease and plenty, while our fellow creatures are suffering and in want.

Systems are to be appreciated by their general effects, and not by particular exceptions.

America owes most of its social prejudices to the exaggerated religious opinions of the different sects which were so instrumental in establishing the colonies.

Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to public opinion.

These families you know are our upper crust not upper ten thousand.

A monarchy is the most expensive of all forms of government, the regal state requiring a costly parade, and he who depends on his own power to rule, must strengthen that power by bribing the active and enterprising whom he cannot intimidate.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.