Arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken.

A people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people, but if a king let his people slip from him, he is no longer a king.

It is to me a most affecting thing to hear myself prayed for, in particular as I do every day in the week, and disposes me to bear with more composure, some disagreeable circumstances that attend my situation.

What is the history of mighty kingdoms and nations, but a detail of the ravages and cruelties of the powerful over the weak?

When men know not what to do, they ought not to do they know not what

posterity who are to reap the blessings will scarcely be able to conceive the hardships and sufferings of their ancestors.

These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.