James Fenimore Cooper > Quotes

“History, like love, is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“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

“Then as to churches, they are good, I suppose, else wouldn't good men uphold' em. But they are not altogether necessary. They call 'em the temples of the Lord; but, Judith, the whole 'arth is a temple of the Lord to such as have the right mind. Neither forts nor churches make people happier of themselves. Moreover, all is contradiction in the settlements, while all is concord in the woods. Forts and churches almost always go together, and yet they're downright contradictions; churches being for peace, and forts for war. No, no--give me the strong places of the wilderness, which is the trees, and the churches, too, which are arbors raised by the hand of nature.”
― James Fenimore Cooper

“Tis hard to live in a world where all look upon you as below them.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer

“Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“Is it justice to make evil, and then punish for it?”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“I've heard it said that there are men who read in books to convince themselves there is a God. I know not but man may so deform his works in the settlements, as to leave that which is so clear in the wilderness a matter of doubt among traders and priests.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“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, The Last of the Mohicans

“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 Deerslayer

“Your young white, who gathers his learning from books and can measure what he knows by the page, may conceit that his knowledge, like his legs, outruns that of his fathers’, but, where experience is the master, the scholar is made to know the value of years, and respects them accordingly.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“No! You stay alive! Submit, do you hear? You're strong, you survive. You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you . . . (Hawkeye / The Last of the Mohicans) 97”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“An interesting fiction... however paradoxical the assertion may appear... addresses our love of truth- not the mere love of facts expressed by true names and dates, but the love of that higher truth, the truth of nature and principals, which is a primitive law of the human mind.”
― James Fenimore Cooper

“My day has been too long. In the morning I saw the sons of the Unamis happy and strong; and yet, before the sun has come, have I lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“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, The Last of the Mohicans

“You are young, and rich, and have friends, and at such an age I know it is hard to die!”
― James Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans

“A man without conscience is but a poor creature...”
― James Fenimore Cooper, Pathfinder; or, the inland sea

“Advice is not a gift, but a debt that the old owe to the young.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Prairie

“The gifts of our colors may be different, but God has so placed us as to journey in the same path.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“The woods are but the ears of the Almighty, the air is his breath, and the light of the sun is little more than a glance of his eye.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer

“...it should be remembered that men always prize that most which is least enjoyed.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“In short, the magnifying influence of fear began to set at naught the calculations of reason, and to render those who should have remembered their manhood, the slaves of the basest passions.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“Nothing but vast wisdom and onlimited power should dare sweep men off in multitudes,' he added; 'for it is only the one that can know the necessity of the judgement; and what is there short of the other, that can replace the creatures of the Lord?”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

“Patience is the greatest of virtues in a woodsman.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, Pathfinder; or, the inland sea

“Equality, in a social sense, may be divided into that of condition, and that of rights. Equality of condition is incompatible with civilization, and is found only to exist in those communities that are but slightly removed from the savage state. In practice, it can only mean a common misery.”
― James Fenimore Cooper

“I have attended church-service in the garrisons, and tried hard...to join in the prayers...but never could raise within me the solemn feelings and true affection that I feel when alone with God in the forest. There I seem to stand face to face with my Master; all around me is fresh and beautiful, as it came from His hand; and there is no nicety or doctrine to chill the feelings. No no; the woods are the true temple after all, for there the thoughts are free to mount higher even than the clouds.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, Pathfinder; or, the inland sea

“It is the fate of all things to ripen, and then to decay.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Prairie

“We live in a world of transgressions and selfishness, and no pictures that represent us otherwise can be true, though, happily, for human nature, gleamings of that pure spirit in whose likeness man has been fashioned are to be seen, relieving its deformities, and mitigating if not excusing its crimes.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer

“That of all the 'oracies (aristocracy and democracy included) hypocrisy is the most flourishing.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Monikins

“I care not for your envy, or your hypocrisy, or even for your human nature.”
― James Fenimore Cooper, Pathfinder; or, the inland sea

“It is better for a man to die at peace with himself than to live haunted by an evil conscience!”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans