All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing as they must if they believe they can do nothing. There is nothing worse because the council of despair is declaration of irresponsibility; it is Pilate washing his hands.

Men are as much blinded by the extremes of misery as by the extremes of prosperity.

The essence of tyranny is the enforcement of stupid laws.

There are cases in which a man would be ashamed not to have been imposed upon. There is a confidence necessary to human intercourse, and without which men are often more injured by their own suspicions than they would be by the perfidy of others.

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.

Liberty, without wisdom, is license.

You can never plan the future by the past.