"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."
"Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it."
"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered ... deeply, ... finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience."
"The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government."
"Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty."
"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse."
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
"A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man, that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends; and that the most liberal professions of goodwill are very far from being the surest marks of it."
"Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government."
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
"To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country."
"I cannot conceive a rank more honorable, than that which flows from the uncorrupted choice of a brave and free people, the purest source and original fountain of all power."
"Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."
"I know [patriotism] exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward."
"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong -- because someday you will have been all of these."
"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow grow, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation."
"The liberality of sentiment toward each other, which marks every political and religious denomination of men in this country, stands unparalleled in the history of nations."
"Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government."
"I know [patriotism] exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward."
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
"Thirteen sovereignties pulling against each other and all tugging at the federal head, will soon bring ruin on the whole."
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."