Public opinion's (n.) slave: the man ready to blush for what is right whenever people poke fun at it — ashamed to be seen in a leather apron.
Public opinion (n.) in the form of "What will people think" is the grave of a man's virtue and the throne of a woman's, for her honour depends on her reputation as well as her conduct.
Public opinion (n.) is the law graven not on marble but on citizens' hearts — the real constitution, which insensibly replaces authority by the force of habit.
Public opinion (n.) holds some men in bondage in every age: many who play the free-thinker today would, in the time of the League, have been fanatics.
Public opinion (n.) never cries out without cause: in China the prince always decides against his officers, jails the intendant when bread is dear, and through the seditious clamours he punishes finds just grievances to redress.
Public opinion (n.) enslaves by degrees: once you begin to submit to it in anything, you soon become its slave in everything.