His ear was to the sky.

He used to speak with infinite scorn of settling questions of righteousness by a show of hands.

He had a perfect faith in the American people and the people of Massachusetts, but it was a faith in the American people and the people of Massachusetts, governed by reason and not by passion, acting under constitutional restraints, listening ever for the voice of duty, a people acting not on the first impulse, but on sober second thought.

He was often in the minority, and once or twice in his life a bolter.

He was never afraid of being in the minority.