Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions than ruined by too confident a security.

Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.

Make the Revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions.

My hold of the colonies is in the close affection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection. These are ties which, though light as air, are as strong as links of iron.

No sound ought to be heard in the church but the healing voice of Christian charity.

I am not one of those who think that the people are never in the wrong. They have been so, frequently and outrageously, both in other countries and in this. But I do say that in all disputes between them and their rulers, the presumption is at least upon a par in favour of the people.

The greatest crimes do not arise from a want of feeling for others but from an over-sensibilit y for ourselves and an over-indulgence to our own desires