Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to; and well has it been said, that if there had been no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine one.

The foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principle of private morality.

Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people. The general government . . . can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any despotic or oppresive form so long as there is any virtue in the body of the people.

I cannot tell a lie. I cut down the cherry tree.

To anticipate and prevent disasterous contingencies would be the part of wisdom and patriotism.

A good moral character is the first essential. It is highly important not only to be learned but to be virtuous.

To please everybody is impossible; were I to undertake it, I should probably please nobody.