The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

Honesty is always the best policy.

The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in.

I have the consolation to believe, that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation; and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.

It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.

Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind, than on the externals in the world.