A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
A promise must never be broken.
A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.
Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.
Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.
I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man.
I think the first duty of society is justice.
In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.
In the general course of human nature, A power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will.
In the main it will be found that a power over a man’s support (salary) is a power over his will.
In the usual progress of things, the necessities of a nation in every stage of its existence will be found at least equal to its resources.
It is the advertiser who provides the paper for the subscriber. It is not to be disputed, that the publisher of a newspaper in this country, without a very exhaustive advertising support, would receive less reward for his labor than the humblest mechanic.
It’s not tyranny we desire; it’s a just, limited, federal government.
Learn to think continentally.
Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.
Power over a man’s subsistence is power over his will.
Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing.
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.
The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.
There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent.
