95 Quotes by James Fenimore Cooper

The voice of him, who made the earth, whispereth in the winds; his breath is the movement of nature!

It's wisest always to be so clad that our friends need not ask us for our names.

Men are seldom struck by incongruities in their appearance any more than their own conduct.

Very few men attain enough of human knowledge to be fully aware how much remains to be learned, and of that which they never can hope to acquire.

History, like love, is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness.

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.

A great deal of undigested morality is uttered to the world, under the disguise of a pretended public virtue. In the eye of reason, the man who deliberately and voluntarily contracts civil engagements is more strictly bound to their fulfilment, than he whose whole obligations consist of an accident over which he had not the smallest control, that of birth ; though the very reverse of this is usually maintained undei the influence of popular prejudice.

Is it justice to make evil, and then punish for it?

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