James Fenimore Cooper Quotes

96 Sourced Quotes

God has given the salt lick to the deer; and He has given to man, red-skin and white, the delicious spring at which to slake his thirst.

James Fenimore Cooper
Few men exhibit greater diversity, or, if we may so express it, greater antithesis of character than the native warrior of North America. In war, he is daring, boastful, cunning, ruthless, self-denying, and self-devoted; in peace, just, generous, hospitable, revengeful, superstitious, modest, and commonly chaste.

James Fenimore Cooper
God planted the seeds of all the trees," continued Hetty, after a moment's pause, "and you see to what a height and shade they have grown! So it is with the Bible. You may read a verse this year, and forget it, and it will come back to you a year hence, when you least expect to remember it.

James Fenimore Cooper
The idea of not having a Deity that he could not comprehend had long been one of Roswell Gardiner's favourite rules of faith. He did not understand by this pretending dogma, that he was, in any respect, of capacity equal to comprehend with that of the Divine Being, but simply that he was not to be expected or required to believe in any theory which manifestly conflicted with his knowledge and experience, as both were controlled by the powers of induction he had derived directly from his Creator. In a word, his exception was one of the most obvious of the suggestions of the pride of reason, and just so much in direct opposition to the great law of regeneration, which has its very gist in the converse of this feeling —Faith.

James Fenimore Cooper
All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity.

James Fenimore Cooper
The social duties of a gentleman are of a high order. The class to which he belongs is the natural repository of the manners, tastes, tone, and, to a certain extent, the principles of a country.

James Fenimore Cooper
As reason and revelation both tell us that this state of being is but a preparation for another of a still higher and more spiritual order, all the interests of life are of comparatively little importance, when put in the balance against the future.

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

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

James Fenimore Cooper
In a democracy, as a matter of course, every effort is made to seize upon and create public opinion, which is, substantially, securing power.

James Fenimore Cooper
Hebrews. This book is much superior to most of the writings attributed to St. Paul, though passages in the other books are very admirable.

James Fenimore Cooper
Trust to HIM. There are days in which the sun is not seen—when a lurid darkness brings a second night over the earth. It matters not. The great luminary is always there. There may be clouds before his face, but the winds will blow them away. The man or the people that trust in God will find a lake for every See-wise.

James Fenimore Cooper
The ability to discriminate between that which is true and that which is false is one of the last attainments of the human mind.

James Fenimore Cooper
Should we distrust the man because his manners are not our manners, and that his skin is dark?

James Fenimore Cooper
Tis hard to live in a world where all look upon you as below them.

James Fenimore Cooper
Chingachgook grasped the hand that, in the warmth of feeling, the scout had stretched across the fresh earth, and in that attitude of friendship these intrepid woodsmen bowed their heads together, while scalding tears fell to their feet, watering the grave of Uncas like drops of falling rain.

James Fenimore Cooper
Genesis. What an extraordinary history! It is impossible for us to appreciate conduct, when a power like that of God is directly brought to bear on it. Obedience to him is our first law.

James Fenimore Cooper
The demagogue is usually sly, a detractor of others, a professor of humility and disinterestedness, a great stickler for equality as respects all above him, a man who acts in corners, and avoids open and manly expositions of his course, calls blackguards gentlemen, and gentlemen folks, appeals to passions and prejudices rather than to reason, and is in all respects, a man of intrigue and deception, of sly cunning and management.

James Fenimore Cooper
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

James Fenimore Cooper
There is a destiny in war, to which a brave man knows how to submit with the same courage that he faces his foes.

James Fenimore Cooper
Contact with the affairs of state is one of the most corrupting of the influences to which men are exposed.

James Fenimore Cooper