[L]iberty cannot be preserved, if the manners of the people are corrupted . . .

We cannot distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or know what obedience we owe to the magistrate, or what we may justly expect from him, unless we know what he is, why he is, and by whom he is made to be what he is.... I cannot know how to obey unless I know in what, and to whom; nor in what unless I know what ought to be commanded; nor what ought to be commanded unless I understand the original right of the commander, which is the great arcanum.

Everyone sees they cannot well live asunder, nor many together, without some rule to which all must submit.

[I]f vice and corruption prevail, liberty cannot subsist; but if virtue have the advantage, arbitrary power cannot be established.

There may be a hundred thousand men in an army, who are all equally free; but they only are naturally most fit to be commanders or leaders, who most excel in the virtues required for the right performance of those offices.

Laws and constitutions ought to be weighed... to constitute that which is most conducing to the establishment of justice and liberty.

Tis hard to comprehend how one man can come to be master of many, equal to himself in right, unless it be by consent or by force.