Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.

Nature secretly avenges herself for the constraint imposed upon her by the laws of man.

A man's admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.

In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less inclination toward doctrines which in any way threaten the way property is owned.

Consider any individual at any period of his life, and you will always find him preoccupied with fresh plans to increase his comfort. Do not talk to him about the interests and rights of the human race; that little private business of his for the moment absorbs all his thoughts, and he hopes that public disturbances can be put off to some other time.

I have always noticed in politics how often men are ruined by having too good a memory.

When the reality of power has been surrendered, it's playing a dangerous game to seek to retain the appearance of it; the external aspect of vigor can sometimes support a debilitated body, but most often it manages to deal it the final blow.