There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost everything, especially of government policy, is an inseparable compound of the two, so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.

It is the quality of revolutions not to go by old lines or old laws; but to break up both, and make new ones.

He who molds the public sentiment... makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.

Do I not damage my enemies after i make them my close friends?

Character is like a tree, and reputation is like its shadow.

Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature can not be changed

Of our political revolution of '76, we all are justly proud. It has given us a degree of political freedom, far exceeding that of any other nation of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long mooted problem, as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind.