No government ought to exist for the purpose of checking the prosperity of its people or to allow such a principle in its policy.

I consider how little man is, yet, in his own mind, how great. He is lord and master of all things, yet scarce can command anything.

To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed toward a love to our country and to mankind. The interest of that portion of social arrangement is a trust in the hands of all those who compose it; and as none but bad men would justify it in abuse, none but traitors would barter it away for their own personal advantage.

Taxing is an easy business. Any projector can contrive new compositions, any bungler can add to the old.

A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.

Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls.

Despots govern by terror. They know that he who fears God fears nothing else; and therefore they eradicate from the mind, through their Voltaire, their Helvetius, and the rest of that infamous gang, that only sort of fear which generates true courage.