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Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.

We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.

A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

The more we study the Indian's character the more we appreciate the marked distinction between the civilized being and the real savage.

When man learns to understand and control his own behavior as well as he is learning to understand and control the behavior of crop plants and domestic animals, he may be justified in believing that he has become civilized.

A civilized man is one who will give a serious answer to a serious question. Civilization itself is a certain sane balance of values.

I say that no man can be greater than the man who bravely and heroically sacrifices his life for the good of others. No man can be greater than the one who meets death face to face, and yet will not shrink from what he believes to be his highest duty.

Man is not made better by being degraded; he is seldom restrained from crime by harsh measures, except the principle of fear predominates in his character, and then he is never made radically better for its influence.

A strong, successful man is not the victim of his environment. He creates favorable conditions. His own inherent force and energy compel things to turn out as he desires.

The mountains, the forest, and the sea, render men savage; they develop the fierce, but yet do not destroy the human.