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Government is, unquestionably, a science of compromises, but only of policies and interests, not of essential rights; and if of them, then the sacrifice must fall equally on all.

— George William Curtis The Present Aspect of the Slavery Question (1859)

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More quotes by George William Curtis

I know how subtle, elusive, apparently ineradicable, is the spirit of caste.

The Good Fight (1865)

There is no gentleman in America, but he who feels that every man is his equal in natural right, and who does not know that he is cheated if every man does not have fair play.

The Good Fight (1865)

While we read history we make history ... Every great crisis of human history is a pass of Thermopylae, and there is always a Leonidas and his three hundred to die in it, if they can not conquer.

The Democratic Party then, as now, was in open alliance with slavery, in a conspiracy against the Constitution and the peace of the country.

It is a wise old saw that warns us not to whistle until we are out of the woods.

The Good Fight (1865)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: George William Curtis (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.