“Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to publick opinion. This is the weak point of our defenses, and the part to which the enemies of the system will direct all their attacks. Opinion can be so perverted as to cause the false to seem the true; the enemy, a friend, and the friend, an enemy; the best interests of the nation to appear insignificant, and trifles of moment; in a word, the right the wrong, and the wrong the right.” StatesMomentsSeemsGovernmentGivenNationsCausesInterestUnitedOpinionEnemyBreakUnited StatesSocietyConsequenceDirectWeakDefenseInsignificantTriflesWeak Points Author:James F. Cooper
“Society,--the only field where the sexes have ever met on terms of equality, the arena where character is formed and studied, the cradle and the realm of public opinion, the crucible of ideas, the world's university, at once a school and a theater, the spur and the crown of ambition, the tribunal which unmasks pretension and stamps real merit, the power that gives government leave to be, and outruns the lazy Church in fixing the moral sense of the eye.” WorldGivingIdeasRealCharacterGovernmentEyeSchoolSexTermChurchMoralOpinionSocietyFieldsMetsAmbitionTheaterUniversityMeritRealmsLazyCrownsStampsArenaPublic OpinionCradleFixingSpursPretensionCrucibleOutrunTribunals Book:Speeches, Lectures, and Letters Source: Speeches, Lectures, and Letters