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

History is not a web woven with innocent hands. Among all the causes which degrade and demoralize men, power is the most constant and most active.

A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men?

Well, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.

I hope some future day will bring me the happiness of seeing my family again collected under our own roof, happy in ourselves and blessed in each other.

No one is without their difficulties, whether in High, or low Life, & every person knows best where their own shoe pinches.

These are 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.