Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions.

If they [Mexicans] touch the hair of the head of one of our citizens, tell him [Commodore Dallas] to batter down and destroy their town and exterminate the inhabitants from the face of the earth!

In a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents.

The brave man, inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.

I am a Senator against my wishes and feelings, which I regret more than any other of my life.

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.

Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all political power be substantially concentrated.